NCJ Number
195543
Journal
Journal of Correctionl Education Volume: 53 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 77-83
Date Published
June 2002
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper describes an anti-violence creative writing program.
Abstract
Correction education professionals and published writers in Alabama have together created and disseminated "Writing Our Stories." Students ages 12 to 18 who are in the Department of Youth Services (DYS) custody study creative writing for up to 9 months and their work is published in an anthology as part of their therapeutic regimen. The program is now in place at three DYS campuses. Boys and girls who enter the DYS school district confused, frustrated, angry, and unsure of their future, can now, through poems, short stories, and personal narrative, say what is on their minds and in their hearts, finding a way to be usefully articulate. The program's success is seen primarily in the anthologies but also in statements about how writing helps students control their anger or talk to people who have harmed them. Troubled youth who enter DYS may emerge as potential young adults with a stronger self concept and with writing skills that can equip them to contribute to the communities from which they have strayed. Figures, addenda, references