YOU DECIDE: Chapter 8



  1. kinsey heucke

    An interesting idea that stood out to me throughout chapter 8 was the issue of cooperative and collaborative groups and the improvements that were advocated for. Healthcare, environment, education, and corrections are all important in our everyday lives.

  2. Jennifer Dessel

    Chapter 8 discusses that the biggest problem that justice administrators face is how to improve an inmate’s chances for parole success. I found this interesting because it has been an on-going issue for decades and it is something we as a society have a hard time finding a solution for.
    In order for us to help inmates with parole success we need to have a rehabilitative system with punishment because their needs to be a deterrence aspect as well. For them to return to society they also need to receive job training and education so they have the tools to contribute to society once they are released. Job training will better equip them to survive outside of incarceration. Also, once released they often can’t find a place to stay and return to the same community so we would need funding to help formerly incarcerated individuals to get back on their feet. I hope as we graduate we can help solve this issue and find solutions to help lower recidivism and have a positive outcome on parolees.

  3. Nancy Torres

    Chapter 8 discusses how inmates do not have the necessary tools once released to find suitable jobs. This, in turn, sets them up to fail especially when it comes to parole. The chapter discusses how important it is to have inmates learn these skills because as it is in California, there are more jobs than there are qualified and skilled workers for these jobs. The “lock them up” rhetoric isn’t helping anyone. Most of the inmates serving time in prison will eventually be released and it is important for them to contribute to society and gain the tools necessarily to stay afloat and not return to prison. Hiring inmates while they are still in prison is a great way for them to learn responsibility, learn skills, and make some money while serving time. They, unfortunately, do not get paid very well in prison which may disincentivize the idea of working. If private companies teamed up with public prisons, they could do a lot of good and help train inmates. Even possibly help them get jobs once they are released. This chapter sparked some really good points and made me think about the population locked up that is not getting the tools they need in order to be successful once released or out on parole.

  4. Pricila Madrigal

    “The US cannot afford to return predators that producers back into out community. Training new work-force entrants, namely ex-offenders, is certainly important to attaining that goal” (Dr. K. Garth-James). I definitely agree with this statement. I believe the best way to for an offender to become a producer in a society is to get a job and contribute like the rest of us do. The only way that this can really happen is if they are getting the sufficient training while they are incarcerated. Society is constantly changing and a long with that so does the workplace. Inmates need to be trained with the correct skills that they can use when they get released. If public-private partnerships is the way to do this I believe it is something that California should strive for.Inmates need to be given every opportunity possible to be able to be successful in society

  5. Adriana Avalos

    From this chapter what stood out to me the most was the idea from the previous chapter that prison is a breeding ground. This point is made directed at Muslim gangs who use prison to recruit, but in my opinion this is relevant to everyone. Not everyone who ends up in prison is meant to be there, but because of the way our criminal justice system works they are sometimes put there without a choice. Once this happens they pick up tricks or join gangs in order to stay alive. These tactics then stick with them once they leave prison and then create predators instead of consumers for our community. If we had more private sectors as partners in prisons then there would be less people incarcerated and more being giving other chances to improve their lives. Having more people in charge of prisons or being partnered with them means less pressure on wardens and staff and more chances for inmates to get their voices heard and not be locked up for long periods of time or at all.

  6. Kaylee Luiz

    One of the more interesting topics from chapter 8 was how it pointed out that the just “lock’em up” approach does no benefit society. I do believe in punishment, but I also think that the current system and policies now just make it easy for people to locked up and not properly dealt with. There needs to be more training for people who are in prisons for them to gain work skills and basic skills needed for everyday function so they will not become a debt to society once released.There needs to be more focused on the needs of the people.

  7. While some people are wanting to have the “lock em’ up” mentality, other people are understanding the strain that puts on our economy. What is really strange is how although the US puts so much money in putting these people away hurting our economy through tax money and other finances, it is hurting our labor force as well. The US cannot afford to return these predators into producers because they do not have the necessary finances to do so. If they stopped hemorrhaging so much money into the prison system and investing into the inmates themselves we would see an increase in our labor force and increase in our economy which allows for growth. This, in turn, will allow for tax money to be spent elsewhere. If people in the government understood that these people will eventually come out and investing in them so when they did finally come out they did not fall victim to the revolving door we call our justice system.

  8. Danielle McCreadie-Spurgeon

    On page 151, under Recommendations for Government Action, I found the idea of using “recidivism risk-profile to educate policy makers, victims, and community stakeholders.” I think this is an important topic to discuss; recidivism rates are so high because of the lack of jobs, housing, support and other opportunities to survive is so low. Our community will always be fearful, and feel as though offenders will never rehabilitate; however in reality it is because of the inability to survive without committing crimes. As a result, is necessary for everyone to be educated on this fact so that in the long run something can change about recidivism rates.

  9. Joi Fisher

    After doing more research on McClesky v. Kemp and the implications that its resulting decision had to set legal precedent, I think the Supreme Court dropped the ball. At the same time, I understand the position the Justices were in. If they had voted differently, it would have opened all justice institutions to questions of racial bias and discrimination. As a student doing work in criminology, I see how an alternative decision could be damaging to the justice administration institution. On the other hand, as a black woman I can’t help but wonder what necessary institutional changes would have resulted from a different decision. There are blatant racial biases in the implementation of the death penalty, particularly as it pertains to the gross overrepresentation of black men on death row. Furthermore, people who are in favor of the death penalty are more likely to be selected to serve as jurors on death penalty sentencing trials. As a result, these trials more likely result in death sentences than not – in spite of race. Personally, I believe the death penalty should be abolished on the grounds that the United States is one of the only Western countries with such a punishment still in place. Additionally, capital punishment is not economically feasible, has no apparent statistical deterrent effect (states with the death penalty have higher incarceration than those who don’t), and there may very well be innocent people on death row (considering our current system isn’t focused on innocence as a standard but rather presence or absence of guilt). The only reasonable argument in favor of the death penalty is belief in retribution which is more ideological but still understandable in some cases. I guess we will have to see how this conversation manifests itself in national legislation in the coming years.

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