re: Societal question: Would you trade the crime of today vs 70s-90s?

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I am feeling very burnt out. I try very hard to be the change but it’s extremely disheartening to be surrounded by people who are using their power and resources to undermine the things I stand for. This whole thing with restructuring the courts in New Orleans has really messed with me. I’m interviewing somewhere next week. I don’t see the point in what I’m doing anymore.

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Maybe time for a change of scenery. What you are doing is fighting one of the most entrenched and corrupt governmental systems, not just in tUSA, but in the world. I am not just talking about NOLA, but the state as a whole. Even my friends across the pond know about the corrupt politics down there. It will burn anyone out if they try to go against the current.

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What is your alternative? Explain.

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I haven't forgotten your question, I just am going to have to find time to answer it. It will likely be a lengthy response.

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No it isn't, and I was specific about why.

Gang members order hits from prison all the time. That's a crime. It's what Manson was convicted of.

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Ok, so rare exceptions, and it likely is done by gang bangers who should be in prison too, which further makes the point: quit being soft on crime.

I really do miss when black culture was wholesome oprah, family matters, and the most ghetto shite i had to experience occasionally was fresh prince of bel air.

Imagine if eddie winslow and lisa turtle were solidified for black youths to be their role models instead of tupac biggie foxy brown and flava flave

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Maybe time for a change of scenery. What you are doing is fighting one of the most entrenched and corrupt governmental systems, not just in tUSA, but in the world. I am not just talking about NOLA, but the state as a whole. Even my friends across the pond know about the corrupt politics down there. It will burn anyone out if they try to go against the current.

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I love living here. I’ve lived in other states (red and blue) and I’ve always just wanted to be back in New Orleans.

I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s impossible not to despair but I’m trying to be hopeful. It’s the Easter season still, after all. I was so so so upset last week. Like constantly on the verge of tears upset. One of the most positive and uplifting people I’ve ever met happens to be a guy who works for the Dept of Corrections. I kept thinking about him and how I just needed to call him because I knew he would be able to give me a pep talk. We used to work somewhat closely but he kept getting promoted and works for headquarters now in BR. Friday morning, he randomly walked into my office! It was honestly miraculous. We had a very long emotional talk. I told him I don’t think I’m the person for this job anymore. He of course tried to convince me that I am. He’s really a very special human. I feel very lucky to know him and have him as a friend.

A couple of hours later, I had a meeting with the chair of my dissertation committee. We talked about everything that was upsetting me about this situation and he told me I should get out of corrections to protect my own well-being, which is what I had told him is the idea I’m toying with. My husband thinks I should get out too but he’s very protective of me and doesn’t like seeing me so affected by things outside of my control.

I have an interview Wednesday for a role that has nothing to do with corrections. I’m sure I’ll get an offer. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I hate to quit just because things suck. The people most impacted by this fricked up system need advocates who care about them. But, at the same time, I don’t want exist on the verge of tears because it hurts my heart that horrible people exist and impose their evil ways on the people of Louisiana.

Sorry for the rambling post.

On a positive note, I finally saw my student who had been arrested yesterday. That was some desperately needed good news.

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What is your alternative? Explain.

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O.k.

This is just my opinion, but I think as long as we view crime and incarceration as an isolated problem, we keep losing.

The crime trend in the US and in much of the world followed a trend that no one can really definitively explain. Increasing through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and peaking in the 90s, then reversing itself and declining. And that didn't happen just here; it happened throughout much of the world.

Nobody really knows why. There are theories, but nobody can really say with any certainty.

However, there are some things we do know. We know:

Harsh punishments and long sentences do not deter crime. No matter how much people claim "common sense," it's just not true. It doesn't work.

High likelihood of being caught committing crimes does deter crime.

Being raised in a household without a biological father vastly increases the chances of children being incarcerated (85% of incarcerated youths have no biological father at home), becoming homeless, dropping out of high school, becoming pregnant as a teen, living in poverty...basically all of the things that contribute to the cycle and/or push the individual toward crime. And by the way, this is true even for fathers who are involved in their children's lives, but just don't live at home.

We also know that barriers to reintegration into society for ex-cons contributes greatly to recidivism. Obtaining housing and employment.

We also know that typical current prison conditions (overcrowding, exposure to trauma/violence, chronic idleness, solitary confinement) all contribute to inmates becoming more violent and more likely to re-offend when released, and we know that availability of cognitive behavioral therapy, vocational training, education, addiction and mental health treatment, and gradual supportive re-entry programs reduce violence and recidivism.

So I think we should be acting on what we know.

That means putting more police on the streets.

It means stopping the government incentivizing and subsidizing single parent homes.

It means reversing feminist propaganda. Here's the thing: propaganda works. For 60 years the propaganda has all been about women not needing men, women needing more than family to "be fulfilled," women needing a career, children being "resilient" (turns out they aren't), all kinds of families being equal, saying that farming your children out to strangers who make $15 an hour to raise your kids is harmless, etc., etc.

The propaganda has got to change from pro-adult individual to pro-family. And honestly, the way things are trending, probably not even pro-nuclear family, probably pro-extended family. We need to be promoting the benefits of extended/multigenerational housing, we need to be promoting the family instead of indulging individual preferences at all costs. We need to start teaching relationship skills in high school to improve the chances that marriages stay together. We need to eliminate no-fault divorce...whoever is at fault pays and (to the extent that they are responsible for the break up) they get nothing.

And we need to bring back social shame. Shame is an excellent societal tool when harnessed to promote the right behavior. Society becoming shameless is a terrible development.

Moving on, acting on what we know, I think that reducing overcrowding by sentencing non-violent offenders to house arrest with an ankle monitor is preferable to them being inside. That would free up 40% of the capacity of state prisons just by doing that one simple thing.

Provide the services that have proven to reduce recidivism: addiction treatment, CBT, etc. for prisoners in and out of prison.

Labor as a sentence for a crime has been ruled constitutional, so I would make it part of the inmate's sentence to work to offset their expense. And I'm not talking about making license plates; I guess there would be a subset of inmates who could only do unskilled labor, but for the ones who were capable of doing more and earning more money to offset their sentences, they should have prison programs in which they could do more.

For example, that 40% who is now on house arrest with an ankle monitor might not have the skills set to be able to work from home, so the prison should have a program in which they train them in some kind of work that they can do from home and require them to do it.

Conditions in prison should be more like being in the military than being an animal in a cage. There's a big difference in stern demeanors and contexts and highly regimented and controlled life when the intention is to build someone up rather than tear them down.

I'd do prison just like the military. New prisoners would get an actual boot camp just like the Marines, then training, then a job. (And that goes for the non-violent criminals on ankle monitors too).

The prison still controls when you get up in the morning, when you go to bed, when you eat, when you shower, etc., etc. But the idea would be to instill discipline and give purpose.

Those who demonstrate trustworthiness would get more autonomy, those who start fights or otherwise demonstrate untrustworthiness would get less.

You get the idea. Incarceration doesn't have to be "soft" to get better results.

And then have some sort of re-introduction and support program for when they are discharged.

Now again, I'm not an expert and there may be fatal flaws in some of my suggestions for running a prison; someone who knows more about these things may be able to apply the principles better than I. I'm less interested in the details than I am the fact that we at least know some things that work and we almost entirely ignore them.

We keep doing the same stuff and when things don't go the way we want, we just cry for more of the same when the same is what's not working, yet we know other stuff that will.

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We see news stories every week of career criminals attacking innocents. Why are they not in prison? Soft on crime policies favored by liberals.

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Nope.

This has been explained to you a dozen times.

You might find 1 person out of 1000 who has actually been convicted of violent crimes who was just let go.

What you are seeing when you see those sensationalistic click-bait stories is one of two things:

1. Someone who has committed multiple crimes before, but the crimes were all misdemeanors and the person did serve misdemeanor time (or pay misdemeanor fines) for those crimes

or

2. Someone out on bail awaiting trial for some violent crime.

Wanting to lock everybody up who spits on the sidewalk only makes problem #2 worse. It only adds to the backlog of cases. And clogs the jails...why do you think the judges do this? In rare cases, sure, there's an activist judge being a hyena, but in the vast, vast majority of cases it's because the jails are already jammed full.

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Good luck on the interview. A change is many times a good thing, especially for the soul.

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Thank you. I appreciate it. Although I don’t always heed it, I value the insight and advice of people who have more laps behind them than I do.

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Hopefully your student keeps working towards his education and can change the course of his life. Many here believe that is not possible, but I know that many people do in fact change.

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I’m going to do everything I can to ensure he does. All his new charges are being dismissed. He still had a warrant from his last arrest due to a clerical error (which I swear happens more often than not) which is how the new arrest initiated.

He texted me the same day he bonded out to let me know he was out. That meant a lot to me.

I took a day off last week to stay home and feel sorry for myself. A graduate of mine started his own mobile detailing business and I got to be his first customer that day. He did a pretty good job too! I’m so proud of him.

I had a young lady for a student a few years ago. She was such a trip. Sweet as can be but very much “in the streets.” No children though! She was 24 or 25. She didn’t end up getting anywhere academically (just wasn’t serious about it at the time) but we definitely bonded. A year after she was off paper, she texted me from her new number telling me she had moved out of the city and had a job working the front desk of a hotel. She sent me a video tour of her apartment. I’m so proud of her. It was very humbling that she wanted to share that with me.

I feel like I’m a momma to these people. That’s what my friend at DOC said Friday. People like me are the mommas and people like him are the daddies (he carries a weapon and has a badge). I know people here mock me for caring about people they view as less than but I truly believe every single person has a purpose on this earth that’s much bigger than themselves. I want to make sure I’m living according to my purpose and helping others live theirs as well.

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 I value the insight and advice of people who have more laps behind them than I do.

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Did you just call me old?

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I feel like I’m a momma to these people. That’s what my friend at DOC said Friday. People like me are the mommas and people like him are the daddies (he carries a weapon and has a badge). I know people here mock me for caring about people they view as less than but I truly believe every single person has a purpose on this earth that’s much bigger than themselves. I want to make sure I’m living according to my purpose and helping others live theirs as well.

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Rehab works much better than incarceration. People must pay for the crimes they commit, but we must try our best to ensure they do not recommit.
Teaching people that becoming a productive member of society is a very important calling. I am just not sure that it can be a long term calling. Way too many downs can be experienced and these cannot be good for you. Hold your head high for the successes and if you make a change, remember those and forget about the downs. They were not your fault. You can only change those who understand they can change. Sadly, there will always be those who will never understand that.