Thoughts and News on Criminal Justice and Correctional Policy in California
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Back on Track Graduation
Two weeks ago, 15 formerly incarcerated men and women graduated from the San Francisco District Attorney's program Back on Track. The video above, from a 2007 news segment, provides an introduction to the premise of the program. The program has a record of dramatic recidivism reduction, but very few participants. Nevertheless, it might be the herald of similar initiatives.
Looks like a good program. I wonder what the breakdown is in terms of the profile of participants (gender, age, parenthood status, offense). I wonder if that makes a difference. Just thought it was significant that the participant they profiled was a mother (maybe that provided some extra motivation to straighten herself out).
I hope they do pay attention to accountability though. It only takes one bad call and someone in this program screwing up bad enough and this program (and Kamala Harris) could get "Willie Hortoned".
Tom, the folks who are targeted for Back on Track are nonviolent drug offenders. It's a program sponsored by the D.A.s office, so they'd be very cautious about letting people in if they believe they should be in prison.
3 comments:
Looks like a good program. I wonder what the breakdown is in terms of the profile of participants (gender, age, parenthood status, offense). I wonder if that makes a difference. Just thought it was significant that the participant they profiled was a mother (maybe that provided some extra motivation to straighten herself out).
I hope they do pay attention to accountability though. It only takes one bad call and someone in this program screwing up bad enough and this program (and Kamala Harris) could get "Willie Hortoned".
Tom, the folks who are targeted for Back on Track are nonviolent drug offenders. It's a program sponsored by the D.A.s office, so they'd be very cautious about letting people in if they believe they should be in prison.
Point taken, just keeping tabs on the risks, as it were.
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