The COVID-19 pandemic had significant global impacts that affected all aspects of everyday life. One area that was particularly unequipped to handle these events was America’s criminal justice system. Events such as increased media coverage of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement further influenced the system. So how exactly did the pandemic as a whole affect the system, and what sorts of short term and long term effects are present? 

Area of Interest:

Pennsylvania (possibly New Jersey as well for a comparison model) 

Narrow down the time frame:

• Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
• Pandemic (2020-2021)
• “Post” Pandemic (2022-2023)

3 Major Components of the Criminal Justice System:

1. Law Enforcement:
   • Study Changes in Arrest Rates
     • Analyze how arrest rates changed across Pennsylvania before, during, and after the pandemic.
     • Consider racial disparities in arrest rates.
     • Collect data on arrest rates and COVID-19 infection rates.
     • Impact of BLM and Social Unrest:
       • Examine how increased media coverage and social unrest affected law enforcement practices.
2. The Courts:
   • Operational Changes
     • Analyze changes in court operations, including delays in trials and the shift to virtual legal proceedings.
     • The impact on access to legal representation and the quality of defense.
   • Study changes in prosecution rates and policy shifts.
3. Corrections:
4. Study changes in incarceration rates and prison conditions
5. Investigate policies aimed at reducing overpopulation and exposure to COVID-19, such as early releases.
6. Collect data on COVID-19 spread within correctional facilities.

Data Collection:

1. Types of Data Needed:
   • Arrest Rates in PA:
   • Incarceration Rates in PA:
   • Prosecution Rates in PA:
   • COVID-19 Spread Rates in PA:
     • General spread rates and specific rates within incarceration facilities
   • Recorded Changes in Policy
2. Sources
   • Arrest and Incarceration Rates:
     • Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
     • Pennsylvania State Police arrest records
     • Bureau of Justice Statistics
     • Local county jails and police department records
   • Prosecution Rates (?)
   • COVID-19 Spread Rates:
     • Pennsylvania Department of Health
     • Reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
     • CDC reports on COVID-19
   • Policy Approaches and Changes:
     • Official government releases and policy documents from Pennsylvania
     • Legislative records
     • News articles and scholarly articles 
   • Possible Comparison Data:
     • New Jersey Department of Corrections
     • Philadelphia Police Department and local jails
     • Comparative reports from organizations like the Prison Policy Initiative
   • Qualitative Information:
     • Reports from criminal justice advocacy groups
     • News articles and scholarly articles 

Analysis:

1. Short-term Effects:
   • Immediate Changes:
     • Analyze immediate changes in arrest rates, incarceration rates, and prosecution rates.
     • Study policy shifts and changes in law enforcement, courts, and corrections.
   • Policy and Procedural Shifts:
     • Analyze effects of policy changes, such as those aimed at reducing overpopulation in correctional facilities.
2. Long-term Effects:
   • Systemic Changes:
     • Lasting impacts on arrest rates, incarceration rates, prosecution rates, and policy shifts.
   • Public Attitudes:
     • How public attitudes towards law enforcement have changed.
     • Perceptions of justice and equity.

Conclusion:

• Immediate and long term effects
• Best Practices and Areas for Improvement:
  • Best practices implemented during the pandemic.
  • Areas for improvement in the criminal justice system.
  • Discuss how these insights can improve responses to future public health issues.

Platform:

• Debating between WordPress and ARCGis for presentation and visualization (leaning towards ARCGis) 
• Narrative Approach
  • Tell the story of how the pandemic affected the criminal justice system.
  • Highlight the factors that emerged as a result of the pandemic and how they altered lives and the system.
  • Discuss the long-lasting effects on legal system, law enforcement practices, and public perceptions of justice

  To do list

• Write down project goals and the scope
• What is not the scope of the project
• Go through the sources/evidences
• Decide which tool to use for my research-Considering storymaps/wordpress
• The order of pages on the website-will decide over time
• Have a glossary for the vocabulary-to be continually updated
• Find images – only got one
• Find other sources
• Find more information about the available treatments

Research Goals:

1. Creating awareness of the Sickle Cell Diseases/Symptoms and available treatments and *accessibility in Sub Saharan Africa.
2. The reason why sickle cell is prevalent in Sub Saharan Africa-(SSA)
3. Create awareness of the new treatment CRISPR by focusing on the pros and cons of the treatment and the concerns about the gene editing technique
4. How CRISPR is administered
5. How to decrease the burden of Sickle Cell Diseases
6. Compare the economic data from the SSA countries with projected CRISPR prices to determine accessibility-average household income and the cost of the treatment.
7. CRISPR is a cure while the available treatment -difference is that CRISPR is a cure

Question I’m trying to answer/The scope of my topic

If CRISPR  is fruitful, then can it be made available to the demographic that mostly needs it i.e the demographic in SSA

Research topic(up for consideration):

The efficacy of CRISPR in treating SCD and the feasibility of its accessibility by patients in SSA

Not in scope:

1. Sickle Cell Diseases prevalence in other parts of the world
2. How the available treatments are administered- as this may detract from the main focus of the research which is CRISPR
3. The timeline of CRISPR 
4. The Science behind Sickle Cell-try to keep the content simple for easier understanding

Background

Sickle Disease

• Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hereditary disorder of hemoglobin (Hb) characterized by inheritance of two abnormal Hb genes, at least one of which is responsible for the production of HbS is the gene that is responsible for sickle cell diseases.
• SCD is as a result of a point mutation in the gene of an individual
• The sickling of red blood cells  damages its membrane and causes them to become dehydrated and more rigid than normal. Furthermore, these cells tend to become abnormally adherent to the endothelial lining of blood vessels.
• It has been universally invisible because of the lack of awareness about the disease among the local health policy makers and the public that is mostly affected by SCD
• The most common is sickle cell anemia-resulting from homozygous Hb-SS
• SCD is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa(SSA)-the region in Africa below the Sahara Desert
• SSA has 47 countries some with a higher prevalence of SCD than others
• Fun fact! Sickle cell Disease was first discovered by Dr. James  Herrick

Symptoms of SCD

1. Hypercoagulability-high thrombin generation,platelet activation
2. Vaso-occlusion- due to hypercoagulability
3. Increased susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal infections
4. Acute chest syndrome
5. Stroke
6. Splenic sequestration-when sickle red blood cells block the blood vessels in the spleen causing it to swell and become painful.
7. Priapism- a condition of prolonged erection for males of all ages

Timeline for SCD

(the source of the dates os from the internet-hope to get a journal with better chronology)

• 1910: James B. Herrick first described SCD in Western medical literature in an article about a West Indian student with unusual red blood cells. 
• Verne Mason, a medical resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, named the disease sickle cell anemia in 1922.
• 1956: The SCD gene mutation was discovered.
• 1960s: Blood transfusions began to be used as a treatment for SCD.
• 1972: Federal programs for SCD were established.
• 1995: A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that the anticancer drug hydroxyurea could reduce the painful complications of SCD. The FDA approved hydroxyurea for treating adults with SCD in 1998.
• 1997: Periodic blood transfusions were shown to reduce the risk of stroke by 90% in children with SCD who are at risk for stroke.
• 2012: Researchers showed that bone marrow transplants could cure some SCD patients. However, bone marrow transplants have challenges, such as donor availability and potential complications.
• 2017–2021: Additional medications were approved to treat SCD, including L-glutamine, crizanlizumab, and voxelotor.
• 2019: Gene-editing therapy was first used to treat SCD.
• December 2023: The FDA approved two new genetic therapies to treat SCD

Available Treatments

The available treatments for sickle cell manage the symptoms of  sickle cell diseases but they are not cures.

The available treatments increase the lifespan of individuals suffering 

Glossary:

SCD-sickle Cell Diseases

CRISPR-Clustered Regularly Interspaced  Short Palindromic Repeats – a gene editing technique for treating sickle cell

Allele-alternative form of a gene

Polymerization

Homozygous

Heterozygous

Hb-hemoglobin

SCD-sickle cell diseases