Multimedios

When deciding on how to use the public resources in regards to the control of criminality, often politicians engage in reactive policies. Hard-line strategies of policing and incarceration are used as a way to please the electorate and keep popularity high as well. But in reality, keeping the approach to criminality on a reactive stance is only going to increase the costs of the penitentiary system and will tear apart and segregate communities that struggle to make a decent living. In his service at the Irish penitentiary system, John Lonergan discovered the particular characteristics of the imprisoned. Often left behind by the public social services, the delinquents were uneducated and illiterate people who left school at very young age. Without guidance and/or support from somebody else, those young dropouts ended up being caught in the hands of delinquency. Preventive policies, even when they may not be as popular as the reactive ones, have a remarkable impact on vulnerable communities and on crime. Providing education and opportunities for youth at risk proves then again to be the best investment a government can do to improve the conditions of its society.

The fact that 99% of sexual offenders go unpunished in the United States is the most direct evidence of a system of double victimization and lack of empathy. The present system of institutions and social norms doubts and sometimes justifies cases of sexual abuse and/or misconduct, which results in low rates of reports. Jessica Ladd created a webpage that covers this mistakes, Callisto offers confidentiality and support to those who were victims of sexual offenders by representing them in front of authorities and by linking them with past victims in order to help with their psychological recuperation. Our society is in a massive debt with all those victims who were forgotten by the system and initiatives like Ladd’s are tools helping us to prevent these situations from happening in the future.