User:Subaitar34/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

 * Name of article: Life imprisonment in the United States (link)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * I think this article is best for my chosen topic because it refers to the specific goal my PE organization is trying to target with their Drop LWOP campaign and petitioning, while also including a section on parole. It will be useful for my understanding to learn about the root of the problem they are trying to address, and what other methods are being used, because this is what I've been researching so far for my Katz Memo and Needs Talk (pt 1) assignment. Therefore, this will allow me to know exactly how an article can be improved or learned from due to my familiarity with the research and topic.

Lead evaluation
The lead is short but informative, setting up an article based on the statistics and definitions of different types of life sentences. It doesn't really start with a sentence that explicitly states what the article is about, but instead uses a statistic directly about life imprisonment. I've noticed the beginning is not bold, and it didn't really go over the topics that are addressed with the subheadings, just continued with statistics and maybe brief inclusions of other topics, again not explicitly. However, the lead is informative, easy to read, and fairly concise, not including information that isn't present in the article (if anything, it might just be missing an overview of what it includes). Overall, the lead is informative but not the best fit for the article, in my opinion.

Content evaluation
The content is there and has potential to grow, as now it only covers a few topics. It also doesn't seem up to date, as the latest information comes from 2012. I think the article would benefit from having more information on organizations fighting life imprisonment (like CCWP and many others) and the other takes on life sentencing in the incarceration system. It does link back to another article just on Life imprisonment in general but that also doesn't seem to add much. If anything, it could link to other crimes that usually lead to life imprisonment, and definitely more information on parole boards.

Tone and Balance evaluation
The article does a good job remaining neutral with no clear biases, but it is perhaps too passive in its execution. It would benefit from actually including opposing viewpoints and causes equally, and discussing or at least linking to the opinions on parole boards, etc. The article is very short and doesn't include many aspects. In this sense, the only overrepresentation happens in relation to other topics, and I believe the article relies heavily on the history and establishment of the life sentence and less on its current day impacts and causes.

Sources and References evaluation
There are 25 sources listed, which, from my first impression, seems to be plenty for an article of this length. Many facts are linked to a source, but there are notations of a citation being needed after a couple facts. The sources themselves are thorough but not up-to-date, which is surprising because it seems to be last updated in 2019, but using information from 2013. The article itself seems to rely heavily on sources from the 80's, which is where most of its information seems to come from. From the links I've checked, they do work. Overall I'd say the references are strong but can improve by filling in the gaps that are present and bringing statistics and information up-to-date.

Organization evaluation
The article is concise and clear, with no clear spelling or grammatical errors. The structure is fine, though I'd say it could be more inclusive to reflect more of the topic. In my opinion, the topics aren't covered as in-depth as they could be, though fairly spread out. The organization could improve from fleshing out the subjects it's broken down to, either by adding to them or creating new subjects entirely.

Images and Media evaluation
No images were used, so not much evaluation possible here. If anything, the lack of media could be a source for improvement, though I'm not sure what picture exactly would fit best. Perhaps a picture from a famous life imprisonment trial, or even just a picture of prisons/prisoners in general could be useful imagery towards the topic.

Talk page evaluation
This article is part of the Crime (Start/Mid) and United States (Start/High) WikiProjects. At the moment, the talk page is used mostly for logistic edits, like for grammar and citations. There is also some kind of conversation on the references to the specific cases included in the article, mostly on clarification for how they were used. There is also an attempt to bring some of the information more up-to-date, though not much, and there is some warning to watch out for false information. So far, no large structural edits have been proposed, though I'm glad to see there is discussion anyway on the certain opinions on the topic. Not much is said to include more topics, which is something I might consider bringing forward once I have a better idea of what I would like to add to this article, if I choose this one..

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions

The article seems to be in the process of reaching its full potential, still having plenty of room for improvement, in my opinion. The article is good in its objectivity, and briefly including some important topics than can be expanded on further. Its drawbacks lie in its lack of detail and opposing opinion, which is where it could be developed further. Therefore, I would say this article remains slightly-underdeveloped but has a very good foundation to be built off of, along with active people on the talk page to work with, too.

Optional activity

 * Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

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 * Link to feedback: Talk:Life imprisonment in the United States