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The Criminal Justice Arena with Dr. Peter Meagher

© 2016-2020 Walden University 1

The Criminal Justice Arena with Dr. Peter Meagher Program Transcript DR. PETER MEAGHER: Working with incarcerated, adjudicated, at-risk, high- risk young people is a high need. The criminal justice arena is vast in terms of how social workers interface with it. And we really could think about it from the prevention standpoint, the incarceration standpoint, post-incarceration standpoint-- from the prevention area is almost everything we do in social work-- is building up, strengthening individuals, building off of their assets, helping them find their own strengths and build off of those in every way that you can imagine, whether that's employment, addressing mental health issues, addressing pro- social skills.

Incarceration is-- many times we have social workers who work with both inmates and inmates who are ready to be released back into the community, helping them find and build their own strengths, address deficits, and be the best that they can be. And then there's the post-incarceration, which is the reintegration back into the community. And all of those levels, a broad frame that's been around for the last 10 to 20 years is an idea called restorative justice.

We've had decades of research of really high-quality research on practices of restorative justice and what that means to people in their lives down the road. We know that it decreases recidivism. People are less likely to offend. We know that people are more likely to pay back their restorative sanctions.

We know that victims feel better about the processes. So I would really inspire folks to look into the concept of restorative justice and the exciting place to be a part of restorative justice, and to help people actually heal, get better, and be stronger members of our community.

Two broad areas of advicea-- one is to know yourself. I think that's critical. And what I mean by that is, what do you like to do and who do you like to do it with? For example, I enjoy working with men. I enjoy working with men around issues of violence, masculinity, and power.

Some people just hate that, and that's not going to be good for them. So don't. Don't do that. So know who you like to work with and what, generally-- what are the topics? Where does your passion lie?

Find ways to improve yourself. Find ways-- go to conferences. Connect with others and continually improve yourself, so that you're on the cutting edge.

You know your field. You're challenging yourself, and you're bringing that kind of freshness back into your work with the folks that you're engaging with.

The Criminal Justice Arena with Dr. Peter Meagher

© 2016-2020 Walden University 2

One of the big payoffs that I had was I've had some of my clients circle back to me or I've seen them out in the community, and just glowing about the experience that they had, and what a difference that it made. And for me, what's important is to be a part of that change process, whether it's of an individual, a group, or a community, and seeing that change go forward and happen. That's very gratifying.

I think that the payoff is that these are young people who aren't often given positive attention. They're often given negative attention, and I think they are desperate for having somebody who is a firm, positive role model in their life. I guess I really want folks to look at the area of criminal justice in all of that range, from the prevention, intervention, post-incarceration, as a way to keep our community strong and safe.