Melissa Malpass

ENG 123
Prof. Reid
Summer 2016
Research Proposal

The purpose of my proposal is to lay out a plan for the research project I will be working
on the next few weeks. First, I am going to establish the current problem, next I will review my
sources, then I will highlight the history of the problem, followed by discussing possible
solutions to the problem. Lastly, I will propose a working thesis and design for my multimodal
project.
As a nation, the United States has the highest prison rate in the world. At the state level,
in 2014 California had one of the largest prison population rates and the highest rate of
recidivism. The ramifications of such high recidivism rates are far-reaching, from a fiscal, moral,
and social standpoint. The fact that California has one of the highest rates of recidivism is not
being debated, however, the ways in which to reduce the recidivism rates is a contentiously
debated topic. One current solution to the problem is the Ban the Box policy. The intention of
this initiative is to give ex-criminals who are seeking employment a fair chance in the hiring
process by eliminating the criminal conviction question on job applications. Employers would
not be allowed to inquire about criminal convictions until later in the application process.
The research process has involved looking up a wide-range of topics. From issues as
broad as mass incarceration, recidivism on the national and state level, re-entry programs for excriminals, and the social, economical, and moral consequences of imprisonment, to those as

narrow as intervention programs aimed at preventing crime at the juvenile level, current
solutions to recidivism in California, and the idea of re-instating the institutionalization of the
mentally ill. Throughout this process I followed many rabbit holes and was led to a number of
potential and compelling topics to write about. Ultimately, I was most moved by the stories,
scholarly articles, and first-hand accounts I read about the challenges ex-criminals face upon
reintegrating into society and how, despite serving time for their crimes, the stigma of being an
ex-convict never goes away and can lead to a lifelong struggle of discrimination,
disappointments, and desperation. After finding the topic I was most passionate about I narrowed
my search further to focus specifically on ex-convicts in California, the states incredibly high
rate of recidivism, and what is being done to help remediate it.
Of all the sources I have discovered thus far, several of the most important ones are the
scholarly articles I have found through the librarys online database at Cal Baptist University,
current statistics, charts, and graphs I found through Google searches that led me to government
agency websites such as the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the
Bureau of Justice Statistics, and advocacy websites such as The Sentencing Project. There are
also several newspaper articles I have read from reputable sources that have helped establish
issues that are current and relevant.
In the history portion of the project I will chronicle Californias burgeoning prison
population by briefly comparing incarceration rates in California prior to 1977, when
indeterminate sentencing was in place, to post-1977 when the Determinate Sentencing Law was
enacted and the population of California prisons greatly increased. I will then discuss how
Governor Jerry Browns passage of the Californias Three Strikes Law in 1994 contributed to a
continued focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation and was responsible for the the ongoing

inflation of the prison population. Following the brief historical background of the states
increasing prison population I will discuss several laws that were passed with the intention to
help the prison population by reducing penalties for certain crimes and restrict the use of the
Three Strikes Law for non-violent offenses, such as Proposition 47 which does the former and
and Proposition 36 which does the latter. Considering high prison populations impact the number
of criminals who get released and, statistically are more likely to recidivate than not, it will be
important to discuss legislation that has been passed to help criminals re-integrate into society,
such as the Alternative Custody Program of 2010.
Since the historical background portion of the research paper will be based on hard facts
and laws that were passed in California, I feel one of the sources that will be most helpful for me
in this section will be the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website which
has an extensive amount of information regarding regulations, statistics, and rehabilitative
programs, along with so much more, as it relates to the California criminal justice system. The
areas in which I need to conduct further research include finding more information on successful
rehabilitation programs in California (what contributes to their success, how these programs
differ from their unsuccessful counterparts, etc.) and more information regarding initiatives that
are in place to limit the restrictions and challenges ex-criminals face when applying for housing
and employment.
Considering one of the most influential factors in determining whether or not an excriminal will recidivate is an individuals ability to maintain stable employment it is imperative
that they are able to enter, or at least attempt to enter, the workforce without being discriminated
against because of their criminal history. Presently, one of the policies aiming at doing this is
known as the Ban the Box initiative. Many states have already passed Ban the Box, which

restricts employers from asking about the criminal history background of applicants on their
application, however, the laws vary in each state and have not been adopted in every county.
Many opponents to this law are small business owners who fear they will be susceptible to
negligent hiring lawsuits if they hire an ex-criminal and something goes awry. Another concern
of employers is that if they dont hire someone once they discover they have a criminal record
that the possibility of them being sued for discrimination increases dramatically.
The following is my working thesis for the research paper: Since an individuals ability to
acquire stable employment greatly contributes to whether or not they recidivate and that having
to disclose past criminal convictions on an application significantly reduces the likelihood of an
ex-criminal of getting hired, I will argue that it is better to implement Ban the Box legislation
in every city in the state of California than to focus on rehabilitation programs that, although
giving ex-criminals valuable and much needed work skills, do not prevent employer
discrimination during the initial hiring process. More research needs to be done on finding
opponents to the Ban the Box initiative, facts regarding how limiting the criminal background
history question truly is on the hiring process, and also on information indicating where it has
been successfully implemented and has positively affected recidivism rates. Regarding the
design medium for my project, I believe creating a website will be the most rhetorically effective
route for presenting information on my topic. The reason for this is because of the number of
facts and statistics that will be used in my research. I feel using charts and maps embedded in the
website would be the most visually compelling way to present the facts. Also, I have found
several videos that include interviews of ex-criminals discussing the struggles they face once
they are released from prison, specifically on finding employment, that would be an effective
way to strengthen my argument supporting the importance of Ban the Box.

Working References

Blades, Joan; Norquist, Grover. This is the One Thing the Right and Left are Working Together
on in Congress. Time. 7 May 2014. Time. Web. 12 May 2016

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (2015). 2014 Outcome Evaluation

Report. Office of Research 2015. Retrieved from http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research
Branch/Research_Documents/2014_Outcome_Evaluation_Report_7-6-2015.pdf

Clear, Todd R. and Schrantz, Dennis. Strategies for Reducing Prison Populations. The Prison
Journal. 91.3 (2011): 138S-159S. Web. 25 May 2016

Ferner, Matt. The GOP Argument Against Criminal Justice Reform Just Got Dismantled.
Huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post, 17 Feb. 2016. Web. 25 May 2016

Grommon, Eric L. Prisoner Reentry Programs: Penetrating the Black Box for Better Theory and
Practice. LFB Scholarly Pub Llc., 2013. Web.

Glazer, Sarah. Sentencing Reform: Are Mandatory Sentences Too Harsh? CQ Researcher. 10
Jan. 2014: 25-48. Web. 12 May 2016.

Harmon, Mark G., Salisbury, Emily J., Sundt, Jody. Is Downsizing Prisons Dangerous? The
Effect of Californias Realignment Act on Public Safety. Criminology & Public Policy.
15.2 (2016): 315-341. Web. 24 May 2016

LeFrak, Francine. Reframing Reentry: National Reentry Week. Huffingtonpost.com.

Huffington Post, 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 24 May 2016

Lehrer, Eli. Responsible Prison Reform. National Affairs. 2013. National Affairs. Web. 12 May
2016

Oliver, Brian E. My Sentence Is Over But Will My Punishment Ever End. Dialectical
Anthropology. 34.3 (2010): 447-451. Web. 24 May 2016

Steiker, Carol S. Mass Incarceration: Causes, Consequences, and Exit Strategies." Ohio State
Journal of Criminal Law, 9.1. (2011): 1-6. Web. 12 May 2016.