Interview/ Reflection
English 21003, Section M
Professor Matyakubova
14 November 2017
Interview: Behind Bars
The act of criminal behavior can lead to imprisonment
for a prolonged period. The longer the sentence, the more corrupt a criminal’s
mental state is. Therefore, the U.S. Criminal Justice System should enhance
prisons by adding rehabilitation or educational programs, or sending convicts
to those programs instead of imprisonment thus lessening mass incarceration. Police
officers deal with arrests every day which resulted in an interview with a
police officer, that has been working in the police force for a year and would
like to stay anonymous. Based on this interview, I was interested in this
officer’s opinion on how fair the U.S. Criminal Justice System is and the
crimes that lead felons to incarceration.
How long have you been
working in the police force?
Interviewee:
A little over a year.
What influenced you into
coming to the police force?
Interviewee:
I just wanted to become a cop because I saw, when you go to college half of the
time, you come out with a degree and no job. So, I took the shortcut and became
a cop and I like it.
Where have you worked and
where do you work now?
Interviewee:
My last job, I worked as a TLC dispatcher. I was sending cars left and right
from different states and towns around New York, the Tristate area, and Canada.
Now I work as a police officer in Red Hook, Downtown Brooklyn.
How often arrests occur?
Interviewee:
As of right now, I have been working for one year and I had only four arrests,
but in the neighborhood I work in, arrests happen every day.
How often are arrests for
substance use?
Interviewee:
Those arrests occur very often, especially in the area I work in.
Do you think the area
they live in drive the convicts to commit those crimes, possibly because of low
socioeconomic status?
Interviewee:
Definitely. I feel like it does because it’s a common occurrence in Brooklyn.
For example, if you see a broken window and it doesn’t get fixed, it’s going to
happen again and again. So when a person uses any substance, whether its
marijuana, cocaine, whole nine yards, nothing is done about that. It spreads
and influences other people into using the same drug or something even worse.
Do you ever consider a
convict’s mental condition?
Interviewee:
Not always. Some people yes.
Are you able to identify
who has a mental illness?
Interviewee:
Yes I am, whether it’s prior history of a person’s mental illness, and we (the
police force) know about it or my coworkers tell me about it, that’s how I find
out.
Do you ever justify their
crime with their mental disability?
Interviewee:
To a certain extent. I feel as if someone who is emotionally distressed, half
of the time they can’t control what they do. However, a lot of people say that
they are mentally ill and they don’t have any disorder, so they use it to their
advantage.
Are there any gun related
conflicts?
Interviewee:
From my experience, no.
Should the government
reinforce gun control laws? Why?
Interviewee:
Yes, but actually reinvent because a lot of citizens should be able to carry
guns whereas other citizens shouldn’t be able to. If a U.S. citizen has a clean
record, then they should conceal a carry (carry their firearm in a hidden
form). Then God forbid if they run into a situation that they need to discharge
their weapon, they should be able to do it.
Do you find the U.S.
Criminal Justice System to be fair? Why?
Interviewee:
Yes, because from my experience the felons that were arrested at the precinct I
work at or the ones around me deserve to be arrested. The ones that don’t
deserve to be arrested usually have the help of their lawyers.
What’s your opinion on
rehabilitation or educational programs in prison?
Interviewee:
I think it’s good to have those programs because many convicts that end up
going to prison for many years, they need something to do in prison. I feel
like rehab and educational programs help them steer away from the crimes that
they used to commit. It helps them get a better education relevant to law or
whatever the case may be. Also, they get away from what’s illegal and do what’s
good, that’s how I see it.
Works Cited
Interviewee. Phone Interview. 1 November 2017.
Rahmah
Hussein
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
14
November 2017
Interview
Reflection
Conducting an interview was not as
difficult as I thought it would be. At first, I was very nervous because I’ve
never conducted an interview before, and on top of that, for an assignment.
Before thinking of the questions I needed to ask an interviewee, I had to
review my sources and see who fits best for the sources that I didn’t mention
in my first draft yet. My only two options were a lawyer or a police officer;
lawyers have very busy schedules but if I interviewed a lawyer I would ask
someone that studied law and went through cases with their defendant. On the
other hand, police officers are the ones that arrest suspects and it’s someone
that isn’t just worried about winning a case. So they’re both on different
levels but a police officer is what I found to be beneficial for my research
paper.
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