https://www.ted.com/talks/david_r_dow_lessons_from_death_row_inmates?language=en
" if you tell me the name of a death row inmate -- doesn't matter what state he's in,doesn't matter if I've ever met him before -- I'll write his biography for you. And eight out of 10 times, the details of that biography will be more or less accurate." -David R Dow
Okay, so this isn't really an all encompassing fail prove plan to prevent murders. However, I do believe that David Dow makes a compelling argument on how we can "nip it in the bud" with a lot of the crime we see in today's society. This talk is about a death row inmate named Will who came from an extremely traumatic and dysfunctional background. When he was 5 his mom, who was schizophrenic, tried to kill him with a butcher knife. This resulted in Will being placed into the custody of his older brother until he committed suicide by shooting himself. After that he was passed from family home to foster home until he was mostly taking care of himself by age 9. In the above quote he says that there is a common thread to around 80% of the inmates on death row, they came from a dysfunctional family setting and had exposure to the juvenile justice system. David argues that before the four chapters of their "death row" story, these people had five chapters that intervention could have taken place to steer them off this path. He suggests that there are thousands of strategies that we could use to nudge these troubled youths off the path to a criminal career and I have to agree. This is part of the reason I am so passionate about children and youth; I believe intervening in a critical time in their lives can be a major diversion from a life of crime. In the Ted Talk, David gives just a couple examples of interventions :
- Free early childhood care for economically disadvantaged and otherwise troubled kids.
- Special school programs that target kids who have had contact with the juvenile justice system.
I believe more focus on trauma informed care will also be an intervention.
I have heard a lot about this show but have not found the time to look into it. I agree with you that intervening at at a critical time would be very helpful and can lead the individual down a different path. On the other hand, I also think about the influences that the individual has in their lives and how receptive they are to possible interventions.
ReplyDelete