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Denisse Franco
ENG 123 BE
Professor Cordes
October 1, 2016
Non Violent Crimes: Research Proposal
A research proposal is an outline of an essay that a writer is going to write about. In this
research proposal I will outline my research project that is based on the social problem of the
overflow of people in jail because of policies on non-violent crimes. Non- violent crimes occur
all over the world, however in America the number of people who are in jail for a non-violent
crime is much larger than the population of people who are in jail for crimes like murder and
rape.
The epidemic has been linked to the policies that society voted for. The purpose of this
proposal is to layout the information that will be represented in the essay that will written by the
end of English 123 BE. Therefore, I begin by highlighting why each of the sources used in the
essay are creditable. Then I will use the historical background to explain why America chose to
increase of sentences for prisoners who are punished with nonviolent crimes. Next, I will
compare two solutions and figure out which solution will work best for America. In addition, I
will reflect on the design portion of the project and analyze the research proposal and pinpoint
which eras still need to be enhanced more. Finally, I am going to reflect on the progress that I
have made and examine the sources that will be used in the essay.

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After researching the topic of non-violent crimes for four weeks I found multiple stories
of people who were released because of a new law that was passed called proposition 47. In
addition, the bibliography has about thirteen articles listed as sources, however based on the
criteria that given in the lecture only about seven of the article will be able to be used. Therefore,
I am going to have to research more about my topic to find more political stances and the causes
of increased sentencing for nonviolent crimes. Besides the set back of having to find more
resources, I have found multiple sources that give examples and statistics of the number of
people in jail for nonviolent crimes.
The types of sources that will be used are scholarly journals, periodical sources, and
Congressional Quarterly Researcher. The scholarly journals that are going to be used in the essay
are from professors at high ranked universities that have who have years of practice in the field
of law. Michelle Alexander is a professor at Stanford Law school. Her book called The New Jim
Crow which states that she has worked for the U.S. Supreme court and her field of interests is in
civil rights and the criminal system. Also, William Stuntz who was a professor at Harvard Law
school wrote a book on how the bill of rights affects our justice system before he passed away. In
addition, the newspaper and magazines that will be used to provide information on the
sentencing of non-violent crimes are written from well-known newspapers such as The New
Yorker, NPR and National Affairs. Within each of the new paper articles the writers have also
included sources from scholarly journals to defend their claims. Similarly, the CQ articles are a
reliable source because they give insight of the background information of each topic. They give
a templet of how to structure the essay. The sources are credible because they are the person who

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have worked in the law field for years or the writer of the sources quotes workers who have done
research on the topic.
The causes of a problem in society can be determined by the decisions made in the
government. In this portion of the research proposal I will determine the causes of the problem
by analyzing different policies and laws that where passed by the government. The problem of
increased sentencing has been a problem and can be dated back to the 1960s when there was an
increase of crime on drugs. Since there was an increase on non-violent crimes like trafficking
drugs, the governments solution to the problem was to increase sentencing so that people would
think twice about committing a minor offense. In 1986 a law was passed by the Democratic party
which caused mandatory sentencing for crimes. Then in the 1996, President Bill Clinton passed
another law called Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act which included three strike
rule. If the three strike rule was violated a person will receive a sentence of life in prison. In
addition, the number of years for a crime such as fraud, immigration and drugs trafficking was
increased. The result of Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and mandatory
sentencing are the main causes of why the majority of the people in jail are charged with longer
sentences for non-violent crimes.
There are many solutions to the problem of increased sentencing, but the two widely
debated solutions are to decrease the Truth in Sentencing law which forces prisoners to finish at
least 85% of their sentencing and reducing the 3-stike law so that it only applies to violent
crimes. The people who are against the 3- strike crime claim that it will go increase the
punishment for the people who committed a minor offense. However, the opposing argument is

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that it keeps the prisoners who repetitively commit crimes in jail. On the other hand, the
American Civil Liberties believes that the law truth in sentencing should be regulated because
the government is spending billions of dollars every year. In addition, it is not allowing the judge
to puniness a person based on the crime they committed. However, Michael J. Sullivan believes
that we need to keep it because keeps people who are committing violent crimes away from the
public. Getting rid of both of these polices will allow tax payers to save more money. In addition,
it will give the people who committed a minor crime a chance to regain life as a lawful citizen.
The thesis statement is very important in an essay because it gives an overview of what
the essay will be about. Therefore, it is crucial that students revise their thesis statement. My
working thesis is as follows: I will examine the reason for increasing a persons sentencing for a
non-violent crime by analyzing the history and political laws to find a solution to the growing
epidemic.
Finally, for the last portion of the multi modal project, I will create a website that will be
focused on the general public. I would like to include multiple graphs and statics that will give
background information of the problem. An example would be a graph that compares the direct
crimes that prisoners are being put into jail for. By adding more pictures to the website it will be
visually appealing to the reader because when people are reading a long article without any
visuals they tend to get distracted or confused by the information that is being represented to
them.

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After revising the research that was conducted, I noticed that a lot of the information that
was collected in the second week will not be used in the final essay. I had to find more valuable
sources that will support my opinion and the requirements of the paper. Therefore, I am still
currently looking for more information on the solution to the problem and who is proposing them.
On the other hand, the historical portion of the article has enough information to persuade the
reader that the causes of the problem began with the 1960s. However, the overall project is
going well and I am very interested in the topic because it directly relates to society because
when we do taxes a portion of our money is going to supplying necessities to jails.

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Works Cited
Alexander, Michelle. The Lockdown. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of
colorblindness. N.p.: New, 2012. 59-96. Print.
Blades, Joan, and Grover Norquist. This Is the One Thing the Right and Left Are Working
Together On In Congress 7 May 2014: n. page. Time. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.
Glazer, Sarah. "Sentencing Reform." Are Mandatory Sentences Too Harsh? 24.2 (2014): n.
pag.
CQ Researcher Online [CQ Press]. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. Gopnik, Adam. "Why Do We Lock up so Many
People?" The Caging of America. The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2016

Ditton, Paula M. United States. U.S. Department of Justice. 170032 Cong. Cong. Rept. N.p.,
Feb. 1999. Web.
Kaste, Martin. "Is It Possible to Let More People Out Of Prison, And Keep Crime Down?" NPR, 16 July
2015. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

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Knafo, Saki. "10 Ways To Reduce Prison Overcrowding And Save Taxpayers Millions." The
Huffington Post, 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
LIFE GOES ON: THE HISTORIC RISE IN LIFE SENTENCES IN AMERICA. The Sentencing
Project. The Sentencing Project Research and Advocacy for Reform, 2013. Web. 2 Oct.
2016.
Lehrer, Eli. "Responsible Prison Reform." National Affairs 2013: n. pag. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

Lussenhop, Jessica. "Clinton Crime Bill: Why Is It so Controversial?" 18 Apr. 2016: n. pag. BCC
News. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Mitchell, Michael. "The Causes and Costs of High Incarceration Rates." Weblog post. Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities. N.p., 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Petrella, Christopher. "Ten Ways To Reduce The Prison Population In America." Business
Insider 6 Oct. 2012: n. pag. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Prison Reform." Are Too Many Nonviolent Criminals Being Incarcerated? 17.13 (2007): n.
pag. CQ Researcher Online [CQ Press]. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

Shipley, David. "Mandatory Minimum Madness." Editorial. Bloomberg View. Bloomberg L.P, 26
Feb. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Stuntz, William J.. The Collapse of American Criminal Justice. Cambridge, US:
Harvard University Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 25 September 2016.

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, FS000067 Cong. (1994). Print.