Week 2: We’re back

Welcome back to my Senior Project Blog! As the beginning of my Senior Project kicks off, I used this week to focus primarily on work directly on my on-site location with extended hours in order to discuss key topics with my advisor. Now that a schedule has been arranged in the previous week, it has opened up a path for me to invest more time in working precisely on plea deals and begin taking notes on direct cases.

I began my week by reading over and analyzing Mrs. Giordanno’s thesis paper on the differences in plea deals between the Italian criminal system (where she wrote her thesis at the time) and the American one. Seeing as the distinctions she was making and noting of differences were on a purely procedural and objective scale it allowed for easier understanding and gave me a standing to better take notes on her work. Unfortunately the section addressing the Italian system of criminal processing was written exclusively in Italian so I had to dedicate my efforts directly to the section about the American criminal system. She discussed the many biases that are present in the system while also breaking down how the system itself operates on an objective level. It is crucial I understand her work as the first section in my deliverable will be dedicated to the procedural aspects of the system before diving into the work I’ve done directly.

The latter part of my week was spent working on cases that I will use and discuss in my paper and presentation. I overlooked discovery and public records of the accusers in order to see what exactly happened and how that could lead to the stipulations as noted in the plea bargain itself. For client privacy reasons I am personally not allowed to mention names and other specifics but the general information surrounding the case I am allowed to discuss so that works out well for my paper. 

Overall, recording this information and taking notes on my advisor’s thesis has proven to be an extremely large help and crucial to my work in that it allows me to gain information only accessible in the law office. I look forward to keeping you updated in the following weeks blogs