This week we had our outlines/preliminary research due. I posted my outline in another blog post on this site. Please add any comments you deem necessary!
With that being said, I spent most of this week working on planning the outline of my story, what my focus was, what my main questions are, and who I can interview. My main focus is on the opinions/voices of police officers, since their work is involved with the legalization of marijuana. The main questions I want to ask are: How would the legalization of marijuana effect police work? Would it make their work more effective? Or do they think that it is beneficial to keep our laws the way they are? What is the difference between arresting someone for marijuana versus giving a citation? How does marijuana charges effect Purdue students? What are police officers opinions on marijuana in general? Have you stopped arresting students for marijuana?
I want to find the number of arrests (with concerns to marijuana) over the past 5 years as well as the number since Illinois has legalized marijuana. I think statistics are very important to this story and I want to get as much direct evidence from the policemen themselves in my interviews.
The prior sheriff I had as a professor responded to my email this week. He unfortunately is unable to meet with me due to health reasons, but he did give me names to interview. Purdue Police Chief John Cox, Lt. Stason Wiete, and Dr. Bert Useem (Professor of Sociology) were the names I was given and want to interview. So far I have reached out to Dr. Bert Useem and asked for an in-person interview. Next week, I plan to reach out to the other two once I learn a little more about interviewing in class.
Carly's COM497 Blog 