Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Frida Guzman

Hello Everybody,Happy Frida Friday,and welcome to my blog!

My name is Frida Guzman and I am currently a senior at BASIS Scottsdale.

Here is some classified information about myself:

When it comes to binge watching shows on Netflix, I am the queen. From How to Get Away with Murder to The Office, I have no specific genre to conform to, I enjoy it all...except for action movies… I tend to be all over the place when it comes to music too. I could go from listening to Radiohead to dancing to DJ Snake.




Although my charter school has a strong STEM emphasis, I have always been more drawn to the intricacies of the humanities and social sciences. Discussing literature and delving into different historical events have always lifted my mood in a school where calculus and computer science were fun hobbies for most students.

My personal interests ultimately led me to my passion: social justice.


Throughout my life, I have always been captivated by the legal system. Everything about it was interesting to me. In fact, to me it was always important to focus on equality and social change within our society as not only have I read about the inequity, I have also personally witnessed it.

This led me to my senior project at the Arizona Department of Corrections: Victim Services. More about that below:


For the next few months, I will be using this blog to document my journey and findings for my Senior Research Project. At BASIS Scottsdale, the seniors do not attend school for their third trimester and instead conduct a research project in which they pose a question and take part in an internship in attempts to gain access to specific information and potential answers that could assist the research question.


For my research project, I will be participating in an internship with the Arizona Department of Corrections: Victim Services to further explore the support and treatment that victim’s receive once a verdict has been reached. Through this internship, I will be able to witness all aspects of victim support and representation and assess where the criminal justice system is lacking and where it is successful. Along with this, I will be doing my own research in which I review different studies about the criminal justice system and potentially interview important individuals within it to gain more insight about the topic at hand. At the end of these few months (10 weeks) in May, I will present on my findings and my experience as a whole.

I hope that you stay tuned to find out what happens on my journey ahead.

-Frida Guzman 



25 comments:

  1. Dearest Frida, I love your intro...have you ever thought about vlogging? You seem to have mostly great taste in music and TV, which I admire - although not as much as I admire your hunger and drive for equality and your passion for history and the truth. I am so excited to follow you on this journey and see what you make of your findings and observations! Also...I love the gif you used.

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    1. Hi Danielle, Thank you so much for your comment... Don't worry I will continue my use of gifs throughout my blogging journey. As for vlogging, yes, I have heard of it, but I am not sure how interesting I could make them... Anyways, Thanks for your feedback!

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  2. Hi Frida! I thoroughly enjoyed your first blog post (especially the candid paragraph about your tv show habits). In terms of the research project itself, I think an important question to keep in mind is what kind of representation and aid exists for those who are not victims but rather those who are accused. A good resource to look into regardless is a documentary called “Gideon’s Army” which explores the role of litigants who face criminal charges and how the lawyers who defend them face immense difficulty. Anyways, I look forward to reading more about the blog, especially how victims receive the much-needed support and how the criminal justice system has foibles that policy and certainly rulings can amend.



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    1. Kayvon, thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated... In regards to your question, I was actually planning on doing my research on the suspect's point of view initially, however, I could not find an adequate internship that would fully allow me to experience/see the suspect's side... So far, I have seen that victims do not receive the necessary representation, and that is often lost within the media since the media tends to victimize the suspect.

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  3. Hi Frida! I'm liking your introductory post; I think that your voice comes through well in your writing. This is a really interesting topic and I'm excited to learn about it as you go along. I have one question though. What aspects of victim support and representation will you be able to see? Are there no privacy/legal issues surrounding your viewing of these aspects?

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  4. Hey Frida! (I love that name by the way) I'm Alexis. Nice to meeting you! You have the BEST taste in gifs by the way... #TwentyFirstCenturyCompliments... After reading your beautifully written introduction, I found myself asking a few things. For one, if you had to choose between freedom or equality, which would you choose? I believe we should all be asked this question. The answer can say a lot about a person. Have a wonderful night and I'm intrigued to hear your response!

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    1. Hi Alexis, you seem to have found yourself in quite a philosophical battle... I admire your way of thought process for sure. Personally, to me equality is a bit more important because I would prefer if everyone had an equal cost of living as well as an equal opportunity to succeed, instead of how our society is currently set up.

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  5. My other question would be, what do you think are the weaknesses and strengths of our justice system before researching further into the topic? Do you have any evidence to support your opinion?

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    1. Hi again! I feel like a current weakness that continues to exist is the biased nature of the major players within the system, whether it be the judge, lawyers, jury members, whoever it maybe, it does not ensure that a fair trial and process was conducted...

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  6. Hi Frida, your project seems really cool and so do your gifs. I'm also interested in the legal system and I'm excited to see the progress. Where do you think the legal system is most lacking?

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    1. Honestly, I feel like it is most lacking an unbiased community that can come to a decision without prejudice..

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  7. Hey Frida! My name is Grace and I really enjoyed your first blog (especially the part about Radiohead) :). My first question is are you assessing the perspective of these victims purely from your research, or will you be able to speak with some of them? Secondly, what drew you to humanities, specifically in regards to social justice? I'm excited to see what you discover through this project!

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    1. Hi Grace, I think what mainly drew me to social justice issues was having the experience of witnessing discrimination firsthand.

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  8. Hi Frida! This project sounds so interesting and I can't wait to learn more! Your research plus your work with the DOC sounds like a great opportunity to explore your interests! Who are some of the people who you hope to be interviewing??

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    1. Hi! I hope to be able to interview a few victims and/or attorneys who have faced the criminal justice system and are aware of its impact.

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  9. Hello Frida! I cant say I didn't enjoy your introduction. I specifically enjoyed how the style of your writing directly corresponds to the way you speak. I have one question, what are your predictions for your future findings?

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    1. I am coming into this with very few concrete predictions so it's hard to pinpoint.

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  10. Hi Frida. This project has piqued my interest due to the the subject at hand. I cant wait until the final result of your researched. Good luck!

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  11. Hi Frida,
    I find your passion for social justice admirable and I love the fact you are focusing on the victims experience, as typically the suspects receive most of the attention in cases/trials. My only question for you is are you only focusing on a single type of victim, or a wide range?

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    1. As of right now I am focusing on a wide range of victims, but am limiting my self to specifically Arizona if that makes sense.

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  12. Hey Frida! I'm a huge junkie for TV shows too - especially those about the US Justice System! I'm super excited to learn more about the social backlash of this!

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  13. So far it seems like you are having a great time. We all miss you at school. I was wondering how you felt about the different aspects of our current judicial system? Thank you!

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