Paying off Huge Benefits at Low Cost

An article about Ohio's re-entry program proves that recidivism can be lowered
if the needs of those trying to re-enter society are met.

"One of the first of its kind in the country, Richland County Re-entry Court has worked this way for 10 years, processing 1,000 or so felons like Marshall, who've served at least six months in state prison.

In the movies, they're outfitted with a freshly-pressed suit, $100 in cash and a pack of cigarettes.

In real life, they barely get bus fare and emerge clad in a penitentiary jumpsuit.

"I call them the vast unready," Judge James DeWeese said of re-entry court participants. "They're uneducated, unskilled, unemployed, unhoused and unused to self-government. It's surrogate parenting."

The program can lend help in many forms.

One man had to get his teeth fixed for work, which federal grant money paid for. Others need glasses, food or bus fare. All of them need jobs."

In a 2006 study, Ashland University professor Jeffrey Spelman found 124 of nearly 600 re-entry court participants, just 4 percent, were arrested for a felony within one year of successful completion of the program. The average recidivism rate nationally for those who did not participate in a re-entry court program was 44 percent in the first year.

Why are we not duplicating this program everywhere?

Hard to Believe but True

A former bank robber became a jailhouse lawyer in prison who
specialized in petitions for certiorari. His work so impressed the
Solicitor General that he is currently assisting this ex-con to get into
law school.
This is truly a must read article that shows redemption is a possibility with
positive results for society and individuals.

What is Proper Punishment

15-year-old Phoebe Prince, a student at South Hadley High School in
Massachusetts, committed suicide after being bullied both at school
and online.

This is not the only student suicide attributable to bullying ; an 11-year old
who lived in Springfield, Massachusetts, is believed to have taken his own
life after he was repeatedly called "Gay." The school had been notified about
the bullying, but the boy would not name the others involved. The parents
are suing the school administrators and the school district.

Bullies have existed for centuries, but not cyber bullies. Because what is
posted remains ad infinitem, the harm is no longer limited to the attackers
and the victim.

There are a number of proposals making cyberbullying an offense. How will
this proposed law be allowed to stand in the face of our right to free speech?
Free speech has been limited when it incites to violence: you cannot scream
"Fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire.

The laws of libel are civil penalties: money assessed to compensate for damages.

Should Congress and state legislators be petitioned to legislate criminal
penalties for on-line bullying. How will we define bullying? If I call attention to
the fact that you are obese (you weigh 200 pounds and are five foot three feet tall),
is that cyberbullying when what I wrote is true?

As we advance in the world of technology, we encounter new problems and must
begin to decide what society will and will not accept as behavior involving the
new technology.

What do you think we should do about the problem of cyber bullies?

Shackling Juveniles No Longer Allowed in New York

In an article in the New York Times, it was reported that
"The new policy, contained in a memorandum issued Monday
by Joyce Burrell, a deputy commissioner at the state
Office of Children and Family Services, prohibits shackles from
being used under any circumstances for youths held at so-called
nonsecure and limited-secure youth prisons. Those facilities
typically hold youths who have committed nonviolent offenses
equivalent to misdemeanors." The office defines shackling as linking
together handcuffs, feet cuffs and a waist belt.

It is hard to understand why the term "prison" is used to classify
a facility that is non-secure or even limited-security whose residents
have committed the equivalent of misdemeanors.

Exceptions are made for those youth considered to be violent or
dangerous. The correction officers union is planning to sue
because it is felt that officers are being put into dangerous situations.

When a juvenile is transferred, handcuffs are allowed to be used but
only for frontal cuffing.

The new orders come after a lawsuit brought against the Office for Children
Juvenile and Family Services where the finding concluded that staff
were routinely violating rules.

Other changes will undoubtedly be made in the New York juvenile facilities
amid a growing number of reports of abuse taking place.

It is important to keep a watch on the situation to determine if there are
unexpected consequences that emanate from the new law.

Would taking steps to provide mental health and other services to these
youth instead of placing them in facilities be a wiser choice? New York is
facing severe budget cuts that will undoubtedly impact the services that
can be provided.

Do you agree with the policy? Why? Why not?

Child Abuse reported to be down; but is it?

Federal Study Finds Dramatic Decline In Abuse Of Children

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A new federal study documents a dramatic decrease in
serious child abuse, especially sexual abuse, reports
the Associated Press. Experts credit law enforcement
crackdowns and public awareness campaigns.

The findings are in the National Incidence Study of
Child Abuse and Neglect, a Congressionally mandated
study conducted periodically by the Department of
Health and Human Services.

A lot of questions are raised by the study, but the headlines
of the article about the study bother me the most. The study
ended in 2006 well before the downward spiral of
economic troubles that started with the housing market and
foreclosures and continued into unemployment and people
losing money in stocks and assorted investments.

Four years is a very large time lag. Have cases of sexual abuse,
mental abuse, psychological abuse, and physical abuse of
children truly declined? If there is a reported decline, can we
believe that children are no longer subject to abuse or that
cases are no longer being reported. Or are the signposts
of the possibility being overlooked in larger classrooms and
more impersonal neighborhoods?

In the past, it was the norm for senior citizens to remain in
their own homes, except for major disabilities, and know
everyone in the neighborhood and the generalized schedules
of each. Today many active seniors are moving into senior
citizen complexes; more and more households have working
women; fewer people really know and visit with their neighbors.
All of this creates barriers to spotting signs of abuse in both
children and adults.

Add to the above a culture where people do not want to be
involved and are fearful that reporting a potential problem
will put the reporter in the middle of a police investigation and
possible reprisal actions.

Let's hope that the headline continues to be true to this day, but
keep a vigilant eye out for a child who needs intervention.

Associated Press