Tag: criminal justice system

Peer Supervisor George Chisum, who's been clean from addiction for 26 years, leads a group session in the intensive outpatient program (IOP) at the Connections Withdrawal Management Center in Harrington, Delaware.

The Corrections Component in the Justice with PEACE System

What if jails were able to reduce recidivism by 50% over a three-year period (based on rearrest)? Well, 50 years ago, that’s exactly what we did. How did that happen? We developed a comprehensive and integrated program aimed at multiple stakeholders, and implemented it systematically through five phases: readiness, awareness, acquisition, application, and follow-up. This post will address all five phases of the Corrections component of the Justice in PEACE system I overviewed in the Read More

Title: Nulle chose ne peut être détruite | Author: Bruno Malfondet | License: CC0

Disruption, Destruction, and Distraction

Independence Day 2017 “Power can be very addictive, and it can be corrosive. And it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere.” —George W. Bush, 2017 Disruption can be for better for worse. Luckily for me, the two major disruptions in my life turned out for the better. In 1968, at age 23, I was sent to Vietnam as a soldier in Military Read More

Illustration for the ‘Mansion. Mizgir.’ fairy tales (1910), by Heorhiy Narbut

Experience and Expression

Spending 8 years in juvies and jails certainly changed my perspective on what it feels like to have all your values violated. Fortunately, I was serving time as a counselor for incarcerated inmates in county jails and juvenile delinquency “homes” — not as a convicted felon in a federal prison. I had no trouble responding to inmates’ experiences and helping them find more constructive ways to express themselves. These days I’m wondering if we are really jailing the right people.

Red Budlea | Author: Kevin Pulker | License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Consciousness and Culture

“Love is the motive, but justice is the instrument.” —Reinhold Niebuhr I have had a lot of heroes in my life. There are, of course, the historically popular figures like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Einstein, Churchill, and the Roosevelts (Teddy, FDR, and Eleanor). Add there are people currently living who make my list as well, like Nicholas Kristof, Gloria Steinem, and Barack Obama. As a result of some recent books Read More