Reframing Non-Informational Matter, Essay Example

The governor’s crime reduction campaign should work on three general levels: on the level of early crime prevention, of reforming the punitive system, and of reducing recidivism rate. Early crime prevention is arguably the most comprehensive matter of all; it should include special attention to the young both in families and educational institutions because juvenile delinquency is often “the root of all evil” while young criminals unable to abandon illegal activity despite rehabilitation programs. It should also concentrate on regulating substance abuse (strive for elimination of the illicit market, increase the level of literacy in terms of medication abuse etc.) because a large proportion of crimes are drug-related. The reduction of recidivism rate is a complex matter. Roughly speaking, recidivism arises from poor rehabilitation and socialization after the expiration of a prison term and from psychological traumas associated with incarceration period. A reform of the punitive system may include wider introduction of the methods of alternative punishment such as unpaid work or electronically monitored curfew, community supervision and immediate sanctions (fines, parole and probation release etc.).

Therefore, the governor should seek advice with different experts. Naturally, she should consult the national statistics concerning different aspects of criminality to see which problems should be most urgently addressed. To do this, she will use the help of the national statistics bureau. However, first-hand experience may be more important in this case than dry facts, which means that she will not be able to do without legislators, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system. Moreover, without there cooperation she will not be able to reform the system if needed. She will also have to work with the representatives of educational institutions and healthcare providers as well as the police to get an insight in the problems of juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. Finally, she will need to consult the specialists of various rehabilitation institutions.

A task force should be a multi-disciplinary team of lawyers, sociologists, educators etc. It may be reasonable to enroll people whose names are popular with the public to win more credit to the project.

It would be only natural if the governor addressed each potential appointee of the task force in his / her own language. There might be no point to tell the lawyers about poor psychological situation in schools. However, if she tells them that one of her aims is to reduce caseload on the courts (which the courts are sure to suffer from with ever increasing crime rates) and make legal practices less complex, they are more likely to be willing to take part in decision-making process. The educators should be told that the campaign will focus of ‘difficult children’ and help them find a legal and respectable place in the society. True teachers who are not indifferent to the fates of their disciples will not be deaf to such an appeal. Healthcare providers will be glad to hear that substance abuse will also be addressed because abusers are far from being easy patients; moreover, they present considerable threat to the drugstore staff. The multi-disciplinary nature of the task force, and, respectively, the multidimensional nature of the problem and the task, should be emphasized from the onset. It will be stated that the appointees will have to work in close cooperation benefiting from the difference of their experience. People of different professional communities tend to enjoy the attention of each other because they can get immediate responses to interdisciplinary questions.

In addressing the public, the governor should first of all draw their attention to the eloquent statistics. It might not be wise to stress the economic losses brought about by high incarceration rates. Instead, the governor may ask her people to combat the common evil – high crime rates – together. She should say that time in prison has become a habitual stage of life for too many citizens of Utopia. Too many people ruin their lives and the lives of their dearest ones by committing crimes and getting inevitably punished for them instead of being helpful and creative, building happy families, clever careers and in the long run – a powerful state. It should be emphasized that people who are currently getting a ruinous experience of doing time in prison might have become good professionals, artist, fathers and mothers instead. She should encourage people to be more attentive to the young and also to those who are trying to step from the legal platform in their activity. Those people might be miserable and neglected rather than ill-intended. The governor is sure to be asked what funding her campaign will get provided the state budget was shrinking. In response, she should come to the economic benefits of reducing incarceration rate. She should also make clear who is going to be involved in policy-making and what steps are to be taken.

The barriers of communication that are bound to appear within the task force are first of all connected with difference of interests and attitudes resulting from the variety of professions and the complexity of task. In my opinion, the most natural way of overcoming the barriers is by effective management of collective work including leadership, clear program, time constraints etc.

In communicating the principles of the plan to the operational staff, it is important to stress that the plan is devised to help the state at all levels and that the operational staff are sure to benefit from the positive outcomes of the campaign. To reduce the number of barriers which may arise, we have composed the task force of people of different professional spheres and preferably having first-hand experience in procedures associated with prevention and punishment of crime. However, we cannot expect the campaign to run absolutely smoothly. It might require many professionals, for example in schools, to completely review the accents in their work and give more attention to neglected and ‘difficult’ children – potential juvenile delinquents. It can be even more challenging to reform the existing punitive system at least for the simple reason that it takes time and effort to get used to the new one. It is important that together with the new plan we should communicate our national values and ideals and to let each individual feel that he / she is making an essential contribution to the undertaking of national importance.