Week 6: slight change of course

Welcome back to my Senior Project! Now that we are officially around the halfway mark, it’s important I mention some changes to my overall paper and presentation. Unfortunately I believe it’s best I should scrap the questionnaire. Now this might come as a shock because over the past couple weeks I’ve outlined how I will structure my work and the questionnaire has been an integral part of my process. However, as the days come and go I realize it is very difficult to accumulate enough trusted responses to formulate a cohesive argument about the perception of plea deals which was my intended goal. Unfortunately many lawyers and state government officials, like the DA’s office, simply do not have enough time to answer high school students’ questionnaires. I had put this as one of the biggest hindrances I might run into during my research in my original proposal. What I had foresaw had come true. People and experts simply didn’t answer the questionnaire that I had posted. So with a heavy heart I must get rid of the questionnaire from my work due to a lack of responses.

On the flip side however, things have been going great for my on-site research. I have discussed specifics about the case I am directly working on and gathered data on the defendant. This data is not confidential and can be found on public records if looked for so I will be allowed to discuss it in this paper. Some of this data can include charges brought unto the defendant, final sentencing, and police records of the crime. However, some of the data I will be able to share is exclusive to work I’ve done at my on-site. This can include a memorandum of the time and place of the crime as noted by the police and the attorney’s work.

Overall, this week had a bit of unfortunate news but the rest of my work has been right as rain and we are sailing through blue skies. Come back next week for more updates!