The Richmond Juvenile Detention Center’s Post-D Program offers many services to those in the program and there are criteria people have to meet to be in the program; they then have to go through an approval process. McConnell’s article talked about how after the increase of youth incarceration with no chance of parole due to minors being sentenced like, or even worse, than adults, it is finally on the decline. This is because people have realized that their brains aren’t fully developed and they have a better chance of being rehabilitated. It made sense to me that dealing with the issues at the root, within the community, was the solution that the people in the video and articles were working toward. However, I found it interesting that the plan was to create more prison centers within these communities. To answer who the incarcerated youth are, they are both violent and sometimes nonviolent offenders from the ages of 14-21 who are sentenced to juvenile life without parole. Most of the ones in Bon Air are from the eastern region of VA, about 75% are from towns 1+ hour away from the facility.

I think that I have made progress toward the class goals as I look for many opportunities to share in class but I also try my best to keep everyone in mind during discussions. In regards to the Endeavor goals and their questions, I think that I am making good progress toward the class goal of utilizing writing as a tool for reflection. These prep notes as well as class notes/class note responses have helped me to work on explaining and elaborating about my thoughts and experiences. My learning philosophy statement would probably be that learning is best done through hands-on experiences and reflection of said experiences followed by reflection of my personal thoughts but then more importantly the thoughts of my instructor or expert in whatever field I am learning about.

  • Question for McConnell:
    • How did you and your law students assist in the parole of those 17 youth offenders?