At least 5 specific sources and an Outline Proposal for the research paper must be submitted for this assignment. An annotated bibliography briefly describes the main subject area, and the arguments presented in the relevant article or text. In addition, your annotation must devote 1 paragraph to addressing why you have selected each source for this particular assignment and how it will contribute to your Thesis Statement. Thus, for example, a criminology textbook is not an adequate source. At a minimum, you need two academic journal articles and one case. Newspaper or magazine articles will not be counted towards your five sources. The Outline must be composed in full sentences, and not in point form. It must state a specific Thesis and set out each supporting paragraph. For each supporting paragraph, you need to state the Topic Sentence (the first sentence of each paragraph that identifies the "topic" or the sentence and also links that topic back to the Thesis Statement) along with the major supporting arguments that you will use in each paragraph to prove the correctness and veracity of your Thesis Statement. A weak Thesis Statement is: Possession of Marijuana in Canada should be abolished as a criminal offence. A strong "specific" Thesis Statement is: Possession of small quantities of marijuana in Canada should be abolished as a criminal offences because Canadian society no longer attaches a criminal stigma to this act, the legalization would generate additional government income and the current offence is rarely prosecuted but wastes precious legal resources. Topic Sentence Rule = Every topic or paragraph in your essay should be relevant to your Thesis Statement and every sentence within your paragraph should be relevant to your Topic Sentence.

Topic: Should youths (ages 12-17 years) ever be sentenced as adults?