During week 2 of my SRP journey, I came to my internship site twice for 9hrs each. Personally, I feel like coming for these 2 full days instead of three short days will let have a complete look on how the office runs throughout the day.
Now that I've cleared up my new schedule, lets get into what my week has consisted of research wise.
Although this week had felt a little like last week in terms of what I did, the unique aspects of the different revocation hearings and the phone calls I witnessed were what made the week more intriguing. From all the revocations that I've witnessed and watched, this week I saw two inmates not get revoked. This was extremely shocking to me since the inmates are usually revoked because they violated their parole frequently enough. So you must be thinking to yourself (or not), what made these cases different, well I'm not quite sure but lets dive in:
The first inmate to not get revoked (since I've been there) received violations for having negative UA (drug tests), and the drug of choice was HEROIN. I am not going to lie, it shocked me that the board gave him a second opportunity to go on parole despite the dirty UAs, especially since I had previously seen revocation hearings with a similar case that obviously got revoked. From what I observed, I feel as though the board's decision was based on the fact that he would not have been released from prison until 2019 and that he seemed very regretful and willing to change his life (I was kind of rooting for him), thus he was granted another chance.
As for the second inmate, he was violated for drug paraphernalia, specifically marijuana. According to the inmate, the marijuana did not belong to him. He said that he had given a friend a ride and that he left the drugs in the inmate's car. How was this found about? He was pulled over and his car was searched which led to the discovery of the marijuana. This was only his first time in the system and he had had no prior history with drugs...
Personally, I feel like the intensity of these two cases are very different. How does one with multiple negative UAs for heroin get the same punishment as someone who unknowingly possessed marijuana? Is possessing worse than using? Does race have any play in the situation?
I know that my main focus is on the victims, but I can't help but to speculate on such peculiar scenarios, if that makes any sense..
In regards to victim support, I witnessed a few phone calls between the advocates and a parole officer as well as another victim. These phone calls forced me to see how misinformed victims are as to what they can do to protect themselves, and receive help... Sometimes, victims are unaware that the Arizona Victim Services even exists. It is things like this that prove why my research is important in today's day and age.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope I catch you next week.
-Frida
P.S. I got a few requests to make vlogs, if you are interested in that, please indicate so in the poll.
