Research Paper: Factors that affect prosecutorial charging decisions in capital and non-capital punishment.

Research Paper:
Each student will write a research paper in the area of courts and sentencing. Research questions
will be provided for students to choose. The paper should begin with an introduction of the issue
and discuss the importance of the question. Next, there must be a thorough literature review from
journal articles and/or scholarly books that include empirical findings to address the research
question. Discuss the theoretical framework and summarize prior research findings. Based on
journal articles/books utilized, the last section of the paper should focus on the evaluation of
prior research (including methodology), contemporary sentencing policies, and/or
court/sentencing reforms, whenever relevant. Also offer some thoughts on what is to be done.
This research paper should be 10–13 double–spaced pages and include references. The text of the
paper must be more than 10 pages. The reference list must include a minimum of 15 sources (no
more than four of which come from assigned readings on the syllabus and at least ten of which
are empirical studies with the main purpose of research directly linked to your topic). Make use
of all sources identified, and they should be equally utilized in the research paper. The research
paper will be due on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 and is worth 100 points toward the final grade. A
late research paper will incur a reduction of 3 points for each day it is late, including the due
date. The completed research paper must be submitted to Brightspace’s Assignments. The
research paper turned in after the end of May 18, 2023 will not be graded, and the student will
receive a grade of zero. In general, students can expect the submission to be graded within 5–7
days and see feedback in the place where the paper is submitted.