Research topics for ENG180 or ENG170

1. Essay 3
Research Paper Topics

2. Letter/Essay
This essay will be written in the form of a letter (follow
business letter formatting) to a specific person.
 The person may be:
 The governor of a state: ex. Mario Cuomo
 The commissioner of a police force
 A judge
 A licensing board
 A congressperson or senator
 Possibly the President of the United States or another
federal official
Choosing the most logical person and finding out where to send
the letter will be part of your research process

3. OffLimitTopics
 Legalization or Decriminalization of Marijuana*
 The Death Penalty
 Abortion
 Any Topic You Have Already Written about—In fact, I
will expect you to use very recently published—2018
and 2019---data/sources.
* (Note: I would accept essays about the 2018 Farm Bill that allows “the
legalized cultivation and sale of hemp” but prohibits “anyone convicted of a
drug-related felony” from growing hemp for at least ten years past their
conviction date. See: http://ccresourcecenter.org/2019/01/31/federal-farm-bill-
legalizes-hemp-but-bars-participation-based-on-criminal-record/. Students
could write letters to their House Representative.)

4. ReviewThese
Links
 You should begin by exploring the links below just to see
what has been going on across the United States.
 Top Trends in State Criminal Justice Reform, 2017
https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Top-
Trends-in-State-Criminal-Justice-Reform-
2017.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=c340d859-d9ed-488a-88d0-
648b9f4ce7e6
 Top Trends in State Criminal Justice Reform, 2018
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/top-trends-state-
criminal-justice-reform-2018/

5. A Selection of
Possible Topics
Yes, you may choose one. These are topics I have
been thinking about or found out about while
conducting research.

6. Community
Courts
Should New York City institute more Community Courts
or are these courts too soft on crime?
Resources:
 https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2018-10-
31/cities-turn-to-community-courts-to-address-
nonviolent-offenders
 http://misdemeanorjustice.org/2017/07/broken-
windows-well-marked-exits/

7. NewYorkState
ParoleSystem
Does our current parole system in New York do enough to
help prisoners re-enter society? Is there a change—or
changes—you would make?
Resource:
 https://citylimits.org/2017/05/23/parole-rules-meant-to-
protect-the-public-can-make-inmate-reentry-hard/

8. Justicefor
Victims&Their
Families
 Although New York City homicide rates have declined,
most murders in poorer neighborhoods go unsolved (see
the Wall Street Journal article below). What can be
done to bring justice to families in poorer
neighborhoods? What can the police, the court system,
elected officials and community members do to address
this problem?
Resource (the full article is behind a paywall but you can
get access to article at the library---I have a copy of it
too):
 https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-has-record-
low-crime-but-in-some-neighborhoods-most-murders-
go-unsolved-11548936000

9. Treatmentfor
addictsinjail?
Should incarcerated addicts be given addiction
medication such as methadone or Suboxone or should
jails not be expected to act as rehab centers?
Resource:
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/As-deaths-rise-
NY-lawmakers-push-for-addiction-13392779.php

10. Restoringthe
Rightto Vote
If a person has been found guilty of committing a serious
crime such as murder, should that person have their right to
vote restored after they are released from prison? Or should
a person who committed murder never have that right
restored? (Note: New York DID recently pass a law extending
the right to vote for many felons no longer incarcerated. Do
you agree with the way the law has been written?)
Resource:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/08/05/if-you-
commit-murder-do-you-have-the-right-to-vote

11. Punishmentfor
KillingPolice
Officer
Should killing a police officer automatically be a federal
crime that carries the death penalty?
Resource:
https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/13/Cornyn-Bill-
Makes-Killing-Police-Federal-Crime/

12. Juvenile Offenders
andLifewithout
Parole
Should juvenile offenders ever be sentenced to life
without parole?
Resources:
 https://medium.com/@LawyersComm/cyntoia-brown-
william-barr-and-juvenile-life-without-parole-
caa05fe436c6
 https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Progress-
Watch/2018/1210/Why-more-states-are-giving-juvenile-
offenders-a-second-chance

13. Career
Restrictionsfor
Felons
Should a felony automatically prevent someone from
_______ [fill in the blank with an occupation/area you
want to investigate] serving in the military; becoming a
firefighter or police officer; becoming a nurse or doctor;
etc.?
Resource:
 https://eji.org/news/inmate-firefighters-blocked-from-
firefighting-careers-after-prison

14. Felonsand
Housing
“Felons in New York and the rest of the country are
regularly denied housing as no state or federal law has
been established to prohibit the practice. Legally,
property managers can deny a felon housing if they feel
the applicant is a potential risk.” – Jobs For Felons Hub
Should landlords and property managers be able to
automatically deny housing to felons?
Resource:
https://www.jobsforfelonshub.com/housing-for-felons/new-
york/#ixzz5eVQ8pA6O

15. Expunging/
SealingCriminal
Records
 Does the 2017 New York State law which gives “courts
[the] discretion to seal up to two convictions (only one
of which may be a felony) for all crimes other than sex
offenses and class A and violent felonies, after a 10-
year waiting period” go far enough or should all
criminal records be expunged after a certain amount of
time (or do you think no one’s criminal record should
ever be sealed or expunged)?
Resource:
 http://ccresourcecenter.org/2017/04/19/new-york-
surprises-with-broad-new-sealing-law/

16. Police
Investigation
Tactics:Mug
Shots
Should police be prohibited from using “open-ended”
mugshot searches with victims of crime?
Resources:
 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/nyregion/nypd-
mug-shots-false-identification.html
 https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/477-
eyewitness-identification

17. TheMentallyIll
Criminal
Should mentally ill people who commit crimes be treated for
mental illness at a mental health facility instead of being
arrested and sentenced to jail? Under what circumstances?
Resources:
 https://pilotonline.com/news/local/projects/jail-
crisis/article_001fb1f6-f418-11e8-af61-0739dc1083e5.html
 https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-mental-health-experts-
not-police-are-the-first-responders-1543071600 (Great
article, but it behind a paywall. Get the full article via the
Sojourner Truth Library databases.)
 https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2018/09/19/647270042/county-jails-struggle-to-treat-
mentally-ill-inmates

18. Focusing on a
Particular Case
Advocating for a Prisoner on Death Row

19. SpecificCaseof
aCriminalon
DeathRow
Choose a prisoner who is currently on death row
somewhere in the United States. Research his/her case
(do NOT over-rely on one source). Find out where in the
process the prisoner’s appeal has gotten and write a
letter to the appropriate judge advocating that the person
NOT be executed. Of course, you cannot argue in the
same way that a lawyer might, but you might see some
mitigating circumstances.
Resources:
 https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row
 https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/views-executions
 https://www.themarshallproject.org/next-to-die