Student reflects on recent gun violence and mass shootings

 

Free-Writing Response

On September 4th, a student was on the bus to school, with a rifle and a knife in his backpack. Within two hours of arriving at Apalachee High School, he committed the deadliest US school shootings since the March 2023 rampage at the Covenant school in Nashville. Two teachers and two students were dead and nine, one teacher and eight students, were injured. The shooter, Colt Gray missed nine days of classes before the shooting and was charged with four counts of felony murder, and could face life in prison. But how did he obtain the gun? His father bought the gun as a holiday present for his son. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children (CNN).

As of September, there have been at least 49 school shootings, thirteen on college campuses, 36 on K-12 schools. The have left 24 dead and 65 others victims injured (CNN). In September, a man shot his wife and mother-in-law, while two children were there. When the police came, the man turned himself in. The wife was found dead, the mother-in-law was shot, and died later in the hospital. The reason for the shooting was a domestic dispute.

In Dec 2023, a gunman killed three faculty members on a college campus, he died in a shootout with the police. The gunman was roaming the UNLV's Lee Business School and opened fire around noon on their fourth floor. Since it was around noon, if the police had not killed the attacker, there could have been many more (PBS NEWS).

In the United States gun laws vary from state to state (Statisca)

This assignment is to work on a reaction essay for an hour, and I’ve spent my hour reading about mass shootings, school shootings, and gun violence, and now I’m out of time.  I do recommend the powerful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5ykNZl9mTQ.  My sister showed it to me a couple years ago.  Naturally, this topic should (and does) provoke stroke emotions. One of the many thoughts I have is wonder and anger. Why can’t our society find a way to stop these events?

Yes, the reaction essay is an assignment to do a free-writing assignment for just an hour, and freely express your feelings about an issue in social work or social welfare policies.  I think some students exceed the time limits to write more polished reactions, but the point is to allow students to share their feelings and thoughts.  In this case, the thoughts you’re sharing are mainly paraphrases of recent reports on mass shootings and violence. This is one of the more horrible aspects of our culture and society.  In a huge country with hundreds of millions of persons, one can expect the occasional atrocity committed by a few of the worst people subjected to the worst circumstances, but America has way more mass shootings, school shootings, and acts of tremendous violence than one should expect.  There is clearly something in our culture that is creating this situation.  I know that some degree of reasonable gun control laws ought to have a slight impact on the situation, but the sort of total gun bans and strict regulation of guns that might work in other societies would not work here because of the Second Amendment, and my understanding is that cultural changes will be more effective than gun control laws (although both would help) in diminishing these acts of mass violence.

For the time being, gatekeepers (school teachers, coaches, school administrators, school social workers, etc.) who have contact with children are learning to recognize signs that might predict who will act like this.  In the case of the September 4th Georgia school shooting, it seems the family was aware that their son was troubled and potentially dangerous. The authorities seem to agree, since they have charged the boy’s father with crimes for providing the gun. Since I was a child, I’ve thought that middle schools and high schools ought to teach some basic psychology to students, and that such content is just as important as math, science, English, and so forth.  Children can learn about healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships, and learn about friendships and romantic relationships, with the lessons drawing from research on family dynamics, domestic violence, marital satisfaction, and friendship.  Academics have studied these things, and we have a lot of basic knowledge that is no more difficult to understand than quadratic equations and the laws of thermodynamics, which are still taught in high schools, I think. Clearly, children should learn how to recognize signs of persons who are maladjusted and potentially dangerous, and also learn how to create a social environment that diminishes the risk that such people emerge and go on to commit violent crimes and atrocities. There is no harm in learning about the darker side of human behavior if the emphasis is on learning how to recognize it and create a community that does not encourage it. 

Violence prevention is an important field, but the gains we’ve made in learning how to prevent violence are not given much attention.  On the other hand, we (as a society) do give lots of attention to specific acts of violence.  My impression is that the news about violence does not inform the citizenry about what is going on in society or psychologically, and so most people are left with an impression that people are just getting worse, or more people are randomly becoming crazy and violent.  Thus, narratives about the importance of law and order as a way to stop waves of crime are embraced by people hopeful that such a turn in policies will remedy the problem (that they don’t understand).  

Attempts to have school social work internships receive compensation in Illinois

 On February 10, 2024, IL SB 2222 was filed by Senator Laura Fine to amend the Board of Higher Education Act. When passed, it would require social workers in schools to be paid during internships. From my knowledge, I don’t think there are other policies that require the same for other types of social worker students, or if it is different for BSW, MSW, and other degree level social work students. As a social work student, I would like for policies to require all social work students to have paid internships. IL SB 2222 is a good first step toward achieving this.

The main reason I believe that paid internships for social work students would be good is to raise the quality of living for these students. Often, social work students have to live in literal poverty when interning since they do not have a source of income. This limits what they invest into their well-being, such as food, doctors appointments, hygiene, and other basic necessities. If a social worker’s wellbeing is being compromised because of their unpaid internship, then they are not likely to put their best effort into their internship. This can cause their “employers” to either 1) be less likely to hire these students after they graduate and/or 2) for the student to lose their passion and interest for social work. 

Also, the state has an insufficient supply of school social workers, so the financial incentive encouraging students to pursue a school social worker track and do an internship in a school social work setting will help address the difficulties school districts are having in hiring a sufficient number of qualified school social workers.

Internship employers are less likely to hire these students after they graduate because these students – as mentioned before – might not have been putting in the effort they could have if they had had the money to get the resources they needed to improve their quality of life. The low quality of life, along with the stress that comes with most if not all social work jobs, could increase the likelihood that students will lose their passion for the field. On top of an internship, social work students might also be taking classes. Many students feel pressured to complete their degree in a short time span if they are depending on scholarships or other time-limited financial aid that would prevent them from doing the internship separate from classes. Perhaps they want to get working in the field as soon as possible to start making money as soon as possible. Whatever the case, these students also are taking on more responsibility that lessens their quality of life during an unpaid internship. 

The other reason social work students should be paid during internships is because they are the future supporters of the people in need of help in our society. Why does society – specifically, the government – not lend a hand to social work students when they are invaluable to our society. Any social work higher education requires students to learn about social welfare policy, meaning that social work students will have acquired tools to advance their advocacy in these classes. These students need the time and energy to fully engage themselves in these courses for the knowledge in these courses to be truly beneficial for their careers. Without a good quality of life, they are unable to invest themselves in such a class.

There are many ways people, especially social work students, can advocate for paid internships for these students. A few months ago, I tagged along on the 2024 NASW-Illinois Chapter Advocacy Day, which is where social workers advocate for certain social work-related policies in bills. One of the policies that we advocated for was IL SB 2222, and I supposed it ended up being implemented! The idea of meeting our representatives, people who I deemed too powerful to talk to beforehand, was terrifying. However, after doing so, I learned that they are quite literally people that represent us, and we need to talk to them so they know what we want – or convince them that what we want is best.

So far, SB 2222 hasn’t been passed by a floor vote, so I think it’s still a proposed amendment. You could offer a slip in support of it, I suppose. I was hoping it would be passed, but it seems there will be no veto session, and that suggests it will have to be passed in the next General Assembly.  Unpaid internships are legal if the intern is working at a non-profit or charitable organization, or if the intern is working at a for-profit company but the primary benefit is to the intern rather than to the company. There are rules (a seven-point test) to determine if an intern is a primary beneficiary of their field placement or internship at a private for-profit company. I’m not sure about working for a government agency or non-profit, but the standards would be different.  There are grants already to help child protection agencies and schools pay stipends to students who do internships, but my understanding is that in Illinois it’s not easy for schools and agencies to get those grants (they are not large grants, not many are given out, and the application process is burdensome). 

Another law that NASW Illinois chapter supported, and was passed into law, was the one about awarding 53 scholarships to students aging out of state custody to pay for their higher education (IL SB 3138 now Public Act 103-0943.2024-08-09).

You can follow this bill at the General Assembly website, or scroll through the many bills supported or opposed by NASW-IL to see its status at the Bill Tracker webpage at the NASW-IL website.

I am in agreement with you that social work students who do internships at schools should not have to pay for their internships.  Ideally, social work students should not have to pay tuition for any of their internships, and they should receive minimum wage compensation for their work.  However, there may be practical problems in forcing this desirable situation upon all internship sites.  But, for internships at public schools or public agencies, including state agencies, public housing authorities, Area Agencies on Aging, and those sorts of public sector sites, I think the state has the ability and the resources to at least cover the cost of tuition for those internships, and ideally cover the tuition for the internships and also provide a stipend for the student, and perhaps a bonus for the social worker who is supervising the student in their field placement. All the justifications you gave in your reaction essay are good reasons why this should be done.

Police Misconduct

 Law enforcement is an institution that holds immense power—the state’s monopoly on the use of coercive force is placed in the hands of law enforcement. The public has created institutions of law enforcement that everyone must rely on in the most dire of situations. With such power comes a responsibility to the public: persons serving in law enforcement must act with honesty and transparency. In return for holding the public’s trust and the power to use violent force, law enforcement personnel have obligations. The public should be able to trust in the assumption that those of us who are docile and without armed protections can rely on law enforcement to serve and protect our communities. 

Yet, in the event that we feel we may be in grave danger, it has become more of a liability to civilians to rely on law enforcement to protect us. We are harassed by the same people we sought to protect us. We are arrested for (non-existent and unconstitutional) “crimes” of insulting the ego of police officers. We are murdered in our own homes by the hands of law enforcement, who we called to keep us from harm, whose hands we put our lives in in exchange for protection, and then made out to be a “crazy fucking bitch” when we are literally executed in a situation where we felt we could banter with these people as normal human beings.

Some may say these claims are far-fetched and anti-police. The reality is that these are occurrences that are unnervingly common. The question is, how did we get to this point? Law enforcement officials are required background checks and references, meaning the public should generally feel secure in the choices the Police Department makes when it comes to hiring police officers. As previously mentioned, there is an assumption that law enforcement has the responsibility to the public, the very people they are hired to serve, of trust and transparency. But what happens when an officer exhibits bad behavior, questionable tactics, and overall reveals themselves to be a danger to the public? Does the police department have a duty to the public to disclose such information?

The easy answer to that question is, yes. Law enforcement has a legal duty to report legal misconduct by a police officer to the department, which should force the department to either act to reprimand, or rehabilitate said officer, ensuring no other misconduct continues. The unfortunate reality is that often these procedures are not followed as required. When they are not followed, dangerous misbehavior falls through the cracks. Rather than addressing issues that can be corrected so that the public maintains the feeling of safety and trust we should have in police officers, misconduct is not reported and results in dangerous individuals choosing their position of power over protecting the safety of the public. This is all too true in the case of officer Sean Grayson and Illinois resident Sonya Massey.

Sean Grayson, a former officer who worked for the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office, worked at four different police departments before executing Illinois Resident Sonya Massey in her own home. Before landing his position at the Sangamon County office, there were multiple allegations of misconduct that had gone unreported that allowed the former officer to freely transfer from department to department before his final fatal act of the shooting of Massey. Grayson successfully switched police departments after an unlawful arrest of a citizen who he lied to about a warrant for their arrest (which never existed) in order to illegally arrest him, leaving the civilian with to deal with the repercussions of unfounded allegations that left them with months of legal fees, missed work, and a community completely derailing his reputation. Grayson’s misconduct was never reported nor questioned, leading to the fatality of Sonya Massey.

Unfortunately, the lack of transparency between police departments is not uncommon. Law enforcement seems to be more concerned with protecting their “brothers in blue” than executing the mission they were hired to complete, which is protecting civilians and the general public. Government agencies do not set high enough standards to report police misconduct, or bring consequences to police departments who blatantly disregard the responsibility to their agency and to the public to report misconduct to prevent loose cannons from pointing a gun at your face because you said something they didn’t like. The same people who are paid by the public to protect the public ultimately have free reign to do what they want, when they want—and to shake things up, we give them a gun to solidify the power they already assume they have over everyone else who is not part of the kinship we call the police department. From start to finish, law enforcement needs to be deconstructed to be reconstructed to serve the people in a way that does not make us fear for our lives when we need help. Transparency in police misconduct is paramount to prevent officers from misbehaving and transferring unscathed from one department to another. There needs to be consequences for departments that have knowingly withheld legal misconduct of police officers to prevent another unnecessary, unjustified death of an innocent person. Although we cannot change the past, we can choose to force law enforcement to not only take accountability, but correct behaviors that could lead to fatalities—such as the unjust murder of Sonya Massey.

Our blissful ignorance of secrecy within law enforcement cannot continue.

The public is at risk. 

Our complacency in allowing law enforcement to hide misconduct about the same individuals who use their badge as a shield to do whatever they want is a detriment to society. 

The public is at risk. 

The very people who are paid by us to protect us are clearly not feeling a sense of responsibility to us to keep us safe.

The public is at risk. 

Doing nothing to help create policies to ensure law enforcement is not abusing their power puts the public directly at risk. This is inexcusable, unfathomable, and desperately needs to change. 

Sources:

Farrah Anderson, S. S. and D. O. (2024, September 17). Holding police accountable. Illinois Times. https://www.illinoistimes.com/news-opinion/holding-police-accountable-19035307 

Farrah Anderson and Sam Stecklow, for I. I. and the I. R. W. (2024b, September 13). Deputy charged with murder had issues during previous employment. Illinois Times. https://www.illinoistimes.com/news-opinion/deputy-charged-with-murder-had-issues-during-previous-employment-18843001 

This is more like a formal essay or editorial than a casual one-hour writing exercise to do a personal reflection, but that's fine.  Perhaps you are just someone who has collected her thoughts and considered what needs to be said on this issue.  It seems clear that police departments that had hired Mr. Grayson had a legal and ethical duty to report his misconduct and problematic behaviors to a state database, and this information should have been available to the Sangamon County Sheriff's office when they were making the decision whether to hire Mr. Grayson.  It also seems that the Sheriff's office had not adequately created a culture of service and respect for civilian civil rights, as the body-cam footage from the murder of Sonya Massey shows that the officer did not stop Mr. Grayson's escalation of the situation.  Also, Mr. Grayson had been through sixteen weeks of extra training after being hired by the sheriff's department, and evidently the training did not allow his trainers to spot his problems, nor did the training correct his problems. 

    In addition to the Illinois Times articles you've referenced, I'd like to add some links to websites that may be of interest. 

The Marshall Project's articles about police accountability. 

The Henry A. Wallace Crime Public Database run by the Police Integrity Research Group. 

The 2015 report on the investigation of the Ferguson Police Department (Department of Justice Civil Rights Division)

For information on how to file a complaint and what federal laws may protect people from local law enforcement officers, consult the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

On a personal note, someone in my family worked at the federal law-enforcement level for some years, and basically did two types of tasks: intercepted and interrupted the importation of controlled substances into the United States; and he organized and took part in operations to arrest corrupt local police.  Later on, this person may have participated in other activities outside the United States corresponding to some of these roles. I have had conversations with this person about his opinion of local law enforcement, and my impression is that he has a very low opinion of the quality of local law enforcement and the way local police and sheriffs may violate the rights of citizens. He's a strict "law-and-order" sort of person with very high ethical standards, but he is not a knee-jerk supporter of police; in contrast, he is suspicious of local police and always ready to question and doubt their claims. 

Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

It's no secret that the regulation of guns in this country needs some reform. It’s not uncommon for firearms to be sold online without the proper license to do so and without the buyer passing a background check first, both of which are standard practices to buy and sell guns in the United States. For decades citizens have cried out to their elected officials to do something about this issue, and while there have been policies implemented to try to stop guns from getting into the wrong hands, none have been successful in stopping the illegal sale of guns to felons, domestic abusers, or even minors who try to use unlicensed gun dealers as their ticket to owning firearms. By supporting the new changes being made to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, there is a hope for a future where students will no longer fear the threat of a school shooting while attending their classes. 

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a federal law that was passed in 2022 during the Biden-Harris administration which aims to help create safer communities for Americans by modifying gun control laws, mental health services, and school safety programs. The new changes being made to the law would cover any possible loopholes that are still allowing the wrong people to bypass the law and purchase guns. It would do this by creating clearer and more strict guidelines to ensure that firearm dealers must become licensed to continue to sell, removing loopholes for gun shows and online sales, and ensuring that all licensed gun dealers are performing background checks before selling. 

Much of the gun violence in America is caused by unlicensed gun dealers selling to people who would not have passed a background check. Even the tragic Columbine shooting in 1999 was the result of minors buying firearms from an unlicensed dealer at a gun show. Supporting these adaptations to the law and urging your representatives in Congress to do the same could be the difference between your child coming home from school or not one day. 

Illinois End of Life Options

 As some of you may know, the Illinois senate is currently looking at the Illinois End of life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (SB 3499). This legislation would allow a person to obtain a prescription medication they make choose to self-administer, to allow them a quick and peaceful death. Death is not always a short process, and can sometimes drag out and be excruciatingly painful, despite extensive efforts by the Hospice care team. I believe passing Bill 3499 would be beneficial to the patients in Illinois. It is well thought out with its criteria and safeguards.  

Allowing this type of drug to be accessible to patients can be dangerous and have some serious risks. The bill requires that the individual must be able to self-ingest the medication, have a life expectancy of 6 months or less, and be in a sound state of mind. To help prevent coercion, two physicians must assess the patient to deem them eligible and educate them on their end-of-life options. There are also provisions protecting the medical staff involved from liability and allowing the patient to change their mind at any time. With the requirement that the patient must be able to self-administer, this puts the patient in control of the situation.  

Having an option like this can bring extreme peace to a patient facing the end of life. Dying is a new experience for us all, and it can be scary with all the unknowns as a patient. No matter how much the medical team will educate you, knowing that there is still potential for long term suffering can cause man patients to become anxious. Other states offer end of life medication, and often the patient does not use the medicine. It is mostly that the patient is looking for the assurance that it will be peaceful, and they have the option if needed.  

The Illinois End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (SB3499) would be a powerful addition to Illinois. Everyone deserves the right to be able to pass away peacefully, and with as little anxiety as possible. This bill covers all necessary precautions to assure the safety of Illinois residents, and it should be passed.  

Education Programs in U.S Prisons

 The current United States’ prison system has led to mass incarceration and a very high recidivism rate. Mass incarceration refers to the U.S having the highest incarceration rate in the world, and has led to a prison population growth of five hundred percent over thirty years. Including those in local jails, there are more than 1.9 million Americans incarcerated today. The United States also has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world. In a ten-year study done to measure re-arrest recidivism for persons released from state prisons, over eighty percent of people who had been incarcerated were arrested again before the end of the study. There is a saying often heard when talking about prisons that refers to prisons as schools for crime. With all of this in mind, the question of how to end mass incarceration and the high recidivism rate in the U.S must be answered, or at least we must be blaringly loud in asking this question of our elected officials. I believe that providing education and vocational training programs within prisons is an important and necessary (but not sufficient) good first step. 

Not only do I believe that educational programs in prisons would be beneficial from my own morals and worldview, but the statistics support this idea as well. Researchers have found that inmates who participate in educational programs while in prison have forty-three percent lower odds of being reincarcerated than those who did not participate in the education programs (Davis, et. al. 2013). The RAND study also found that education and vocational programs helped with employment for inmates after their release. Employment after release for those who participated in said programs was thirteen percent higher than those who did not. Inmates who participated in vocational training programs were twenty eight percent more likely to gain employment after release than those who did not have the vocational training (Davis, et. al. 2013).

 Not only has the research shown that education and vocational programs within prisons help to lower recidivism rates, but they’re also cost effective. Results from the largest meta-analysis of education programs in prisons showed that with “a one-dollar investment in prison education reduces incarceration costs by four to five dollars the first three years post-release” (Davis, et. al. 2013). Findings from this same study have also shown that the cost per inmate for education programs is about one thousand and six hundred dollars. Re-incarceration costs are about nine thousand dollars per inmate, showing another reason as to why education programs in prisons are cost effective. 

Education is something that everyone should have access to. Without proper education, the options for someone to make a successful living become smaller and narrower. Now add the burden of having a prison record on top of that and your options are depressingly limited. Without the opportunity for education, you have no opportunity for growth. As it has been said many times before, knowledge is power, and knowledge has the power to change someone’s life. I ask my readers to take the information given about how beneficial education and vocational programs in prisons can be and reflect on how this could improve both individual lives and society as a whole. Education and vocational training programs within prisons can help save money, reduce U.S recidivism rates and tackle mass incarceration, and open the doors to a new life for many people. The next time you are given the opportunity to vote on policies and laws relating to the criminal justice system, keep these things in mind. 

Reference 

Davis, L. (2013, August 22). Education and vocational training in prisons reduces recidivism, improves job outlook | Rand. https://www.rand.org/news/press/2013/08/22.html 

Student says the Death Penalty is Imposed in a Racist Way

  It’s no secret that African Americans are heavily overrepresented in the criminal justice system. But today, I want to narrow the scope to talk about the racial disparities in the death penalty. In 2019, 52% of people on death row were black individuals, however, African Americans only make up about 13% of the United States population. Furthermore, a black individual is 17x more likely to end up on death row if their victim was white. This study reveals the implicit and explicit biases that the criminal justice system is plagued by. 

The best way I can explain the racism occurring in the criminal justice system is by telling you the story of Troy Anthony Davis. He was a black man executed by lethal injection on September 21, 2011. He was accused of the murder of a Georgian police officer; a crime he swore he did not commit. Leading up to the execution, the state was asked to reconsider the decision because 7 of the 9 witnesses withdrew their testimony. Despite this, the state moved forward with their decision to execute Davis. 

Troy Davis is not the only black man who was racially targeted in the criminal justice system. Pervis Payne is a black man who has been on death row for 33 years. He was sentenced for the murder of a white woman, a crime that he never plead guilty to.  Not only is he a black individual, but he also lived his whole life with a learning disability. This may have also played a part in the court’s decision to sentence him with the death penalty. 

It is crucial that we stand up for the black individuals that don’t have a voice. Go to events and get involved to stop this injustice. This needs to be done for African Americans like Pervis Payne, Troy Davis, and all of the other black individuals who suffered this racism. As spoken by Troy Davis, “The struggle for justice doesn’t end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davis’s who came before me and all the ones who will come after me.”

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, this is the article that I used to get my information: https://innocenceproject.org/troy-davis-pervis-payne-race-death-penalty/