NCJ Number
171607
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 61 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1997) Pages: 47-52
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The author describes her "20 years of addiction, criminality, and incarceration" and how her probation officer's support and drug treatment enabled her to make positive changes in her life.
Abstract
She candidly describes her life as a teenage alcoholic and polydrug abuser and then as a heroin addict, as well as her string of crimes, including burglary, forgery, and armed robbery. She also recounts her encounters with the criminal justice system, from juvenile hall to Federal prison. For most of her prison career, she took college classes and earned an associate of arts degree in general education. While living in a transitional housing program after her release, she continued to work full-time while attending school on the weekends until she earned a bachelor of arts in humanities. She also participated in a 6-month intensive drug treatment program. She acknowledges that an offender must assume responsibility for his/her life, but the criminal justice system must provide the opportunity and a qualified staff to guide a motivated offender on the path to a positive, law-abiding life. She advises that the criminal justice system must continue to challenge its old paradigms for dealing with felons in order to create more viable circumstances for change. If more chances were available, then possibly more felons and parolees would be successful.