Substance abuse and how it impacts either criminal activity or victimization.

Develop a research question regarding substance abuse and how it impacts either criminal activity or victimization.
Identify your dependent and independent variables.
Conceptualize/define your dependent and independent variables
Tip: you may want to look at previous research to see how it is defined in the literature.
Operationalize the dependent and independent variables for measurement.
For example, if you were to operationalize gender you may do it by asking respondents to identify their gender as either male, female, or other. Or you might have them answer if they identify as cis-male, cis-female, trans-male, trans-female, or other.
There are many ways to measure variables/concepts. Choose the one that you feel is best for your research question.
You may also provide the question you would ask respondents as a way to show your operationalization.
Justify your variables and your measures.