Research Proposal Memo - Essay Example

PROPOSAL MEMO ASSIGNMENT Re: Purpose: This memo is to ask for permission and additional resources to enable us carry out a research on the population of petty drug offenders in your prison and produce a discussion as to whether they should be kept in prison or taken into a rehabilitation center with the later more advisable to reduce the high population in prisons.Background:According to Carson (2013), the number of people sentenced to prison in 2012 alone were196, 574 under federal jurisdiction.

99,426 of them were sentenced because of drugs related offenses, 72,519 - "public order, 11,688 - violent offenses, and 11,568 due to property related offenses. As it is evident the overpopulation in prisons is due to petty offences that can be resolved by taking the accused to rehabilitation centers and then releasing them back to the community to be productive in the society other than locking them behind bars where they end up meeting worse criminals and turning out to be even more dangerous.

Proposal:The research will investigate the population of the prison according to each type of crime determining the number of drug offender ratio with other serious offenders in the prison. Methods: The research will require documents indicating the population of the prison and the types of crimes each was charged with to facilitate the research and also requires interviewing of the prisoners so as to disclose their thoughts on the subject.Working references:Carson, E. Ann, and Daniela Golinelli.

Prisoners in 2012: Advance Counts. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013.Chandler, Redonna K., Bennett W. Fletcher, and Nora D. Volkow. "Treating drug abuse and addiction in the criminal justice system: improving public health and safety." JAMA 301.2 (2009): 183-190.