Check out the first paragraph of this New York Times story about Philip Markoff, suspected of robbing, and in one case killing, women on Craigslist who were advertising massage. What does the set-up of the story say about what the author (and a specific general public?) finds surprising about this story? What assumptions are being made? How does race, class, and ideas of "normal" families play into those assumptions and the contrast set up at the end of the paragraph when Markoff is finally described as a "brutal predator"? What does this signal about not only how "crime" is constructed, but how who is expected to "do crime," and who is not, is not critically examined? What are the implications for those who are, as GIlmore pointed out, presumed to belong in the "criminal justice" system or the prison industrial complex?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/us/22boston.html
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
NY TIMES: Missouri System Treats Juvenile Offenders With Lighter Hand
New York Times article on success stories of juvenile justice system in Missouri - the Missouri Model.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Where they go and where their from:
After looking into Rikers prison history I started to focus in on the "Million Dollar block." A million dollar block is a neighborhood or block with enough imprisoned residents that one million dollars or more is being spent on prison costs. The cost of imprisonment is so high that it takes surprisingly few imprisoned residents to reach the million dollar mark, spawning the related "five million dollar block." In a million dollar block, more government resources may be spent on imprisonment than any other social or public services, raising a number of questions in extremely poor and crime-ridden neighborhoods.
The concept of the million dollar block emerged in 1998, when researchers in NYC began mapping incarcerations block by block, creating a visual representation of the number of people on watch block who were in prison. They identified a number of hot spot neighborhoods, where large numbers of former residents were in prison, and started calling them "million dollar blocks." By looking at these blocks, a number of trends of have been identified; such as a large number of citizens below the poverty level, along with a high number of minorities.
The Air Quality is Questioned in Long Island City
This diagram brakes down the CO2 emissions that are produced by the QueensBoro Bridge. This large piece of infrastructure creates a scare within the neighborhood. It also produces almost 74 tons of carbon a day, with 192,000 cars. To nutrualize this you would need over 500 trees.
This is a diagram showing the density of human traffic in relationship to Fortune.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
First step into 'Freedom', Off the Rikers Island bus
Adam Fifield, a journalist for the NY Times, reports about the first things that the formerly incarcerated people of Rikers Island are met with as they set foot off the bus in Queens Plaza, Long Island City. Fifield quotes Jennifer Wynn, author of "Inside Rikers: Stories From the World's Largest Penal Colony", "It's in the first few minutes at Queens Plaza that they make a lot of decisions that will affect the next six months to a year of their life." These few moments are the defining moments of whether the newly freed inmates will return back to their old ways. Upon getting off the bus, the men are immediately faceed with drug merchants, hustlers, prostitutes, gang activity and other temptations, which will drag them back into a life of illegal activity.
Through some interviews, the author also brings to light how important the mentalities of the guys stepping off the bus are, and how it affects the decisions that they make soon as they step off the bus.
I think that this is very important because in a our client's journey (assuming that our client, is not just the people would walk through the doors, but also any formerly incarcerated person), the point when he gets off the bus and meets a 'freedom', which is filled with illegal temptation, is probably the client's most vulnerable point. Therefore, I think that it would be a very effective point for potential clients to discover the benefits of Fortune and have the option to create a new life for themselves, as opposed to falling into the traps of their old habits.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)