It is no secret that Stevenson blames the justice system for the mass incarceration of mentally ill individuals, as he outlines in chapter 10 of Just Mercy. However, I would like to investigate the correlation between the mentally ill and the impoverished. If there is a strong correlation, I want to investigate Big Pharma’s role and shift the focus onto them for making the prices of necessary medication too expensive for individuals below the poverty line.
I want to know if there is a correlation between poverty and mental illness; does poverty make individuals more susceptible to mental illness, and can poor, mentally ill individuals afford their medications? I would like to address Stevenson’s accusation against the justice system and suggest that maybe there is another culprit for the mass incarceration of the mentally ill. I will use qualitative research, relying on outside cases, articles, and books accessed from the Davidson Library. (I have not yet located an outside court case, but am working on it)
Stevenson says the justice system is to blame for the mass incarceration of mentally ill individuals. I say that poverty and Big Pharma are to blame.
I like the way you set yourself up in conversation with Stevenson, deploying a they say/I say template. Can you drill down a bit to a specific argument Stevenson makes in the chapter where he actually discusses mental illness? (Ch. 10 is a bit vague!) Doing so might help you focus your investigation more narrowly. Big pharma and poverty are two huge topics in themselves, and even if you can find a point of intersection, you’ve got a lot of ground to cover!
Please include Works Cited for all assignments.