Better Alternatives to Jail

Social Work Justice

Part A

Article Summary

Using a different approach towards justice, Newark Community Solutions offers better and personalized sentencing options to reform and not punish the offender. The normal sentencing options punish and lead to increased crime rates in the community. The Newark Community Solutions employs what has been learned from community courts and works towards implementing the same in the Newark Municipal Court (Center for Court Innovation, n.d.). The goal of increased sentencing options is to reduce crime rates, strengthen connections between courts and communities, and improve compliance with sanctions. A problem-solving approach to low-level cases in Newark ensures there are better methods for dealing with low-level cases, avoiding sending the offenders to prison.

The sentencing options offered to the judges include community service, educational assessments, short-term group counseling and treatment readiness classes, and monitored placement in community-based treatment. These alternatives focus on reforming and offering assistance to the offender. Fines and expensive short-jail terms have not effectively reformed the young offenders. Therefore, having a new system in place that offers guidance and counseling to the young offender was needed, and it has proven effective in reducing crime rates. The offender will receive two days of community service together with three days of counseling for a prostitution or drug abuse problem (Center for Court Innovation, n.d.). For longer sentences, the offender will receive a psycho-social assessment administered by the case manager or social worker, and they will work with the court to determine the best alternative to jail for the offender.

These strategies assist in reducing the number of incarcerated youths and crime in the community. Reforming the offender is the focus, and it is done through counseling and punishment. The goal is to demonstrate to the offender that what they did was wrong, so they get punished. After that, they receive counseling to guide them towards doing right and avoiding crime.

1. How would/could a social worker be involved in this case? Identify any limitations with the identified court program. Are there individuals who would NOT benefit?

A social worker would be involved in the case by administering the psycho-social assessment to the offender and making recommendations to the judge based on the assessment results. The goal is to ensure the offender is given an alternative to jail, but they still get punished for their crime. The social worker becomes the person who offers counseling to the offender and supervises them frequently to ensure they are not taking drugs. The counseling sessions will guide the offender, and the social worker can determine if the offender is reforming and willing to make amends in their life. The court will punish the offender by demanding they attend to community work for a given number of days. The social worker is charged with ensuring the offender attends to their community work and counseling sessions. These sessions are court-mandated, and the social worker will deliver a report to the judge reporting on the progress made and if the offender needs additional counseling time. Additionally, the social worker can guide the judge in identifying appropriate punishments for an offender based on their crime (Fanetti et al., 2015). Working closely with the judge, the social worker liaises with them, identifying an alternative suitable for the offender.

Social workers will also follow up on the young offender's schoolwork and offer educational assessments. It will be the social worker's responsibility to often meet with the offender and gauge their attendance and performance in school. The social worker will be responsible for visiting the school to determine the young offender does attend school and their behavior in school. After the court-mandated counseling, the social worker is responsible for recommending and placing the young offender in a community-based treatment where they will continue to receive support and guidance (Fanetti et al., 2015).

Limitations of the court program are that the offender might still not reform, they might skip community service and counselling sessions, and the social worker might not be available to offer counseling to the offender. While the court program has been praised for the support and assistance it offers to the offenders, there are chances that the offender will go through the program and still return to their offending ways. Some offenders are good at hiding their true intentions, preventing the social worker and justice system from identifying them. The court would sentence the offender to community service and counseling, and the offender can avoid attending them because they are freed and only need to make an appearance on the specified days. The chances of them skipping the sessions are slim, but there is still a likelihood of them running away and avoiding the sentence. Counseling is a vital aspect of the program and should not be avoided. However, there are chances the social worker might be overwhelmed with cases and not manage to attend to all of them in the given timeframe.

People are different, and the court program will assist some individuals but not all of them. Individuals who have been offending for long are less likely to receive considerable assistance from the program. The offender has to be willing to reform. If they are not, even if they attended numerous community work sentences and counseling, they will continue to offend. Individual backgrounds and family upbringing will impact the outcome of the program. Family background directly affects the outcome of the program on the offender. After counseling and community work, the offender should not be taken back to a home where they do not receive further support and guidance from the parents.

Part B

1. What are the top three things you take away from this Podcast?

The importance of well-written notes is the first thing that stood up from the podcast. Social workers should make sure they have well-written notes even if they never foresee themselves appearing in court (Singer, December 17th, 2012). In most cases, social workers who are not in the context of working with the law rarely see the need to document their work or write notes when handling a client. The whole idea is to ensure that if one is ever called to court and has to present notes about a client, the notes should be well organized, understandable, and separate facts from opinion. Having to prepare for court in a short time means one will miss some relevant information that could result in a case going against them or their client. Also, cases are won using strong facts and evidence, so the social worker's written notes will trump everything in court.

The second thing that stood up from the podcast is confidentiality. Social workers might not understand the aspect of confidentiality and privilege, and they might find themselves revealing information that should not have been revealed about their clients. Courts are not mandated to force social workers to testify if they do not have permission from their clients (Singer, December 17th, 2012). Therefore, it is within the right of the social worker to refuse to testify or indicate they cannot disclose information regarding their client. However, there are times when one would be forced to testify in court. For example, if you are a child protection worker and fail to work things out amicably with the client, the social worker might have to defend their case in court.

The third thing that stood up was cross-examination. When a social worker agrees to appear as a witness for a case, they will have to answer questions from the lawyer who requested their appearance and the other lawyer (Singer, December 17th, 2012). Questions asked by the lawyer who called the social worker are called direct examinations. Cross-examination refers to the questions asked by the other lawyer. These questions can be tricky and make one question their judgement (Singer, December 17th, 2012). Therefore, the social worker should be prepared to answer questions trying to challenge their honesty, impugn their credibility, and question their evidence.

2. Have you been to court regarding a case/client? If not, what are your thoughts/feelings/concerns about participating in court proceedings?

I have not been to the court regarding a client or case. The first time will be filled with anxiety and fear since one is unaware of what to expect and should be a new thing. The major question is how the case will progress, whether I will give credible information and whether the written client notes will support the case. Overall, all things will center around doing the best to give credible and correct information. However, fear creeps in after reading about cross-examination and how other lawyers try to question what you say, making it look like you are not certain about what you said. Practice on cross-examination is vital to ensure that one covers all bases when being cross-examined (Fanetti et al., 2015). There are many strategies to overcome fear, like attending similar cases and seeing what transpires, asking for a break if you feel attacked or not prepared to answer a question or any strategy that delays things a bit. I thought that every question asked must be answered, and it is interesting to know that I can confidently say I don't know the answer. After listening to the podcast, I have increased my knowledge regarding court proceedings and what to expect when called to court.