Carly Kovach

Professor: Adam Padgett

English 102 Section 33
September 22nd, 2016
Criminal Justice
Context: My topic of interest resides within the boundaries of the Criminal Justice System. For
starters, I have always been intrigued by what truly goes on during an intense court case, mainly
from the Judges prospective; however, the lawyers who represent the criminals also grab my
attention as well. When I was in high school I had the opportunity to take a trip through the
Virginia Beach Court House. I was allowed to sit in on any court case taking place that day, and
also talked to a few of the inmates who were willing to share their stores. Of course these stories
were not about doing time for murders, rather, more realistic events that could happen to us if we
were to go down the wrong path in life. For example, one of the men we listened to speak told us
how he was doing time for three DUIs. He was an innocent kid; graduated high school, enrolled
in college, and trying to find a financially stable job for after graduation. Sadly, he let one
summer change his life for the absolute worse. He told us how one bad decision led to many
after, and before he knew it there was no way to fix the damage he had created. I know that
sometimes people go through really rough times in their lives only to thrive in the years to come,
but I could not stop thinking about his situation after his talk. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I
know that DUIs are not something that accidentally happen to people. Driving under the
influence is a choice he decided to make, and with that comes necessary consequences. After
listening to inmates, we were taken into an example of what one of the cell bunks looked like
that the inmates were required to live in. We then received a tour of the underground jail that

held the criminals who were undergoing trials before getting their definite sentence. To the
average person, this might not have been something they would have participated in, but to me, it
was one of the most interesting things I have ever gotten to do. It really allowed me to break out
of my comfort zone and see what life is like as either a judge or an attorney. That was the day I
decided when I went to college I would minor in criminal justice! Having that experience drew
me to the specific area of the Criminal Justice System that I want to research more in depth has
to do with the number of different reasons people today are becoming incarcerated. It seems as if
more states are legalizing marijuana nowadays, and I wonder, if the incarceration rates would
decrease if all 50 states were to legalize it. This is not to say that I am trying to convince my
audience that I think marijuana should be legalized. This paper is strictly about the criminal
justice aspect, with incarcerations due to marijuana being used as evidence.
One article I found talks about how the states whose prisons house the majority of
convicts are more willing to rethink the drug laws and become more lenient. The leniency comes
from the fact that more people are beginning to believe in finding help and treatment for lowlevel drug offenders rather than forcing them to do time with people who have committed much
more serious crimes. This is not to say that if someone started using hard-core drugs such as
heroine on a regular basis they should not be penalized. That situation is completely different
because the person using and/or dealing is putting their self and others in danger. Since the
article focuses on low level drugs, marijuana is definitely the first drug that comes to mind that
fits under that category. I believe that is due to abundance of research proving its non
addictiveness and medical benefits. Hard-core drugs are different from low-level drugs because
they have the ability to kill people upon overdosing. Low level drugs include ones in which
remain illegal, but do not have the same life threatening effects. The author of this article, Drew

Desilver does not seem to out-right give his opinion, however, you can tell that he supports the
rethinking of drug laws due to the bias evidence used as support.
Another article found that indirectly relates to my research topic talks about how more
people are starting to believe that drug offenders need to be given help for their addictions rather
than jail time. With regards to low-level crime drugs such as marijuana and non prescribed pills
such as Vyvanse and Adderal, the article states, As a growing number of states ease penalties
for drug possession, the public expresses increasingly positive views of the move away from
mandatory sentences for non-violent drug crimes. Less amount of sentences for drug cases will
have a positive affect on the incarceration rate, and over time we will begin to see a decrease in
the amount of prosecutions. I do not think that this article or the one previously mentioned have
any intention of forcing their readers to agree on a certain thought. Rather, these articles are
simply stating information about the government and war on drugs, and how eventually laws
may very well be changed and certain drugs legalized. I think that these articles serve the
purpose of getting people to read more about the topic and generate their own idea of what they
believe and why they choose to believe what they do.
The third article I found argues that our country is incarcerating too many people with too
long of a sentence. The article goes on to talk about how in the past year President Obama and
the Attorney General Eric Holder have generated plans to reduce mass incarcerations and fix the
Criminal Justice System as a whole. The article bases most of their information about United
States Citizens being ready to renegotiate the War on Drugs from a new Pew Poll from Pew
Research, which is where the other two articles were located.
Inquiry: My inquiry questions focus more on the criminal justice system as a whole. The first
question I have is, What other aspects other than drug use would affect the lowering of the

incarceration rate? Rather than just saying marijuana should be legalized, I feel like other areas
of interest can affect it as well. For instance, if more people were intensely educated on the
dangers and effects of drunk driving, the incarceration rate could decrease due to the fewer
amount of DUIs that would occur. A second question I have is, To what degree will drug
offenders be exempt from jail time and sent to rehabilitation centers? I completely understand
that people with drug problems need to focus on receiving help to become sober, however, if
these drug offenders are experimenting with hard core drugs which lead them to receive a DWI
or any other violation, I do believe they should receive some jail time. Lastly, my question is,
Would it help the incarceration rate not only to decrease, but remain a smaller number for good
if there were stricter rules regulated that focused on making sure people do not resort back to
their own ways once their treatment is finished? This has to do with the fact that many hard core
drug offenders are smart enough to manipulate their way around receiving help, and once they
are released see no issue with going back to their old habits. This issue is something that directly
needs to be addressed.
Next Steps: I do think my research questions are researchable because there are many people
with educated opinions on these topics and helpful ideas that are on their way to being
discovered. I certainly have my own opinion when it comes to these research questions and I
know I will be able to indirectly voice it through my evidence. I specifically like this topic for a
research paper because it forces you to think outside of just seeing this as a vote for the
legalization of a drug to fix our problems. Researching this will allow me to understand both
sides of the argument, whether you believe in giving offenders help rather than jail time, or you
firmly believe that people should pay for their wrong-doings. I would love to find information
from different point of views, including judges, police officers, attorneys, and rehabilitation

specialists. I really do think this research paper will help educate me more on the Criminal
Justice System as a whole, something I am looking forward to the most, while also finding out
more on what directly affects the incarceration rates in the United States.

Works Cited
1. DeSilver, Drew. "Feds May Be Rethinking the Drug War, but States Have Been Leading
the Way." Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.
2. Motel, Seth. "Americas New Drug Policy Landscape." Pew Research Center for the
People and the Press RSS. N.p., 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.
3. Caumont, Andrea. "Americans Skeptical of Value of Enforcing Marijuana Laws." Pew
Research Center RSS. N.p., 2013. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.