snwallace

1 Vote

John 10 years, 10 months ago on Two die in traffic accidents

I saw the accident on JFK.. it was so uneal..like a movie or a xbox game. All you see is this grey or sliver or Lt. blue car come flying down the highway. Then you hear this crash and see bright orange sparks coming up of the highway. The "mercedes' car is actually pushing a white car down the highway and the sparks are coming from it. Bright, orange, firey sparks Then there was this big ball of fire and both cars are in the bushes. One lady got out and they pulled the other one from the white vehicle. They didn't bother with the male because they say he looked deceased. The male and female in the Mercedes seem to be ok. But everyone at the scene say the Mercedes passed them coming from out west 'flying". And some expected them to crash by the way they were driving. May the soul of the man who lost his life needlessly R.I.P.

2 Vote

John 10 years, 6 months ago on Shock tactics: Pupils to spend a night in the cells

According to Dr. DeMichelle, Senior Research Associate American Parole and Probation Association, “Scared Straight” programs rely on a deterrence-based strategy that fails to consider the driving mechanisms of deterrence. These mechanisms include: certainty of receiving a punishment or negative stimuli following a behavior, and swiftness of the punishment or negative stimuli (referring to temporal proximity of punishment to the unwanted behavior).

In other words, punishment or negative stimuli must be presented shortly after the unwanted behavior. The minister must also note that there are persons who are on bail for two, three and maybe four murders, and persons who have long criminal records. Young men Their interaction with prison and court system and adult inmates did not deter them from further criminal activity. In fact many continue in that life until they are found shot dead.

Maybe that is part of the problem with crime in the Bahamas: punishment or negative stimuli must be presented shortly after the unwanted behavior. We have persons who have committed crime, including murder, on bail for to long before they are brought to trial.

Even Sandilands has stopped giving shock treatment and replaced it with medications and intervention that is based on positive reinforcement.

1 Vote

John 10 years, 6 months ago on Shock tactics: Pupils to spend a night in the cells

While Dr. Nottage acknowledges that the major problem may be that at least 80 percent of children come from fatherless homes or home without father figures, he now intends to introduce a 'shock treatment package" to deal with teens who go awry of the law. Research shows that these 'scared straight' programs do not work. In fact some research shows that they are, more harmful than not intervening at all. If something positive is missing out of a persons life, then you must replace it with something POSITIVE. Hence the government may need to get more male teachers into the school system, even if it means hiring retired police and other male civil servants to go in and do classes if only on a part time basis Research shows that the effects of growing without a father has effects on a child, especially males throughout their entire life and is only lessened by things positive . Children have enough shock and drama in their everyday lives without being expose to prison cells and jails, where their safety may not be certain.

According to Jaime Hale: “Controlled studies show that boot camp and “Scared Straight” interventions are ineffective, and even potentially harmful, for delinquents.” — Lilienfeld et al, 2010, p.225

‘Scared Straight’ is a program designed to deter juvenile participants from future criminal offenses. Participants visit inmates, observe first-hand prison life and have interaction with adult inmates. These programs are popular in many areas of the world.

The basic premise of these programs are that juveniles who see what prison is like will be deterred from future violations of the law — in other words, “scared straight.” “Scared Straight” emphasizes severity of punishment, but neglects two other key components of deterrence theory — certainty and swiftness (Mears, 2007). Nine trials met the criteria for the study. The researchers’ results indicated “the [Scared Straight] intervention to be more harmful than doing nothing. The program effect, whether assuming a fixed or random effects model, was nearly identical and negative in direction, regardless of the meta-analytic strategy.” In other words, Scared Straight not only doesn’t work, it may actually be more harmful than doing nothing.

Another meta-analysis showed “Scared Straight” interventions could possibly worsen conduct-disorder symptoms (Lilinefeld, 2005). A meta-analysis conducted by Aos and colleagues (2001) showed that “Scared Straight” and similar programs produced substantial increases in recidivism (chronic relapse into crime).

Evidence indicates that “Scared Straight” and similar programs are simply not effective in deterring criminal activity. In fact, these types of programs may be harmful and increase delinquency relative to no intervention at all with the same youths.

1 Vote

snwallace 10 years, 6 months ago on Shock tactics: Pupils to spend a night in the cells

Hi john can you give me a call in the morning? My number is 3287112. You can call after 9am. I want to ask you something

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1 Vote

John 10 years, 6 months ago on Deputy PM: Media delight in nation's discontent

Quote from Guardian story above, "Mr Davis said: “I do not know why they would take down the signs with the murder count on them. That’s a fact. The fact is there were more than 490 murders in this country. We cannot run away from that. We cannot hide the truth and we cannot suppress the facts, we have to address the issues of crime.”

When you throw stones, you should not live in glass houses

1 Vote