There are a lot of issues in ECE. The major project of this course is to choose a policy issue (state or national) and develop an advocacy plan. (We will talk more about that in the next module.) In this DB I want you to write two paragraphs. One paragraph will address an issue in ECE with which you are familiar, and why you know about that issue (you have read about it before, it is part of your position, other classes have addressed it…); include one resource about that issue (it may be one I have listed, it may be one you know about — new information for me is ALWAYS welcome!). The second paragraph should be about an issue that is relatively new to you. In that paragraph, address what you think you should learn more about in terms of the issue. Again, provide a resource about this issue (one I have provided or one you have found yourself).

You have options for the reply posts — is this new or old for you and if old — what do you know/what can you contribute? If new, does it also intrigue you? Adding resources to the discussion is always valuable.

 Take a moment to reflect on the various choices you made in the simulation and their outcomes. In one paragraph, discuss how both individual and societal factors influenced your decision-making and how these decisions can be understood using sociological concepts. 

  

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with over 2.3 million citizens in correctional facilities. This rate is partially due to the role of plea bargains in criminal sentencing. A plea bargain offers a concession to the defendant—usually less time behind bars—in exchange for pleading guilty to a lesser charge.

You are 26 years old and work as an overnight security guard at a community college making minimum wage. You have a 3-year-old son. You live paycheck to paycheck but have a small savings of $1,250 put away for emergencies. A coworker tells you they are looking for a new apartment and asks if you can hold a few boxes of stuff until they have moved into a new place. You agree to hold the boxes and put them in your car. It’s 5 a.m. on Saturday, and you’re on your way home from your shift. You are pulled over by the police, who say your car matches a description of someone they are looking for. They search your car and the boxes. Inside the boxes are pieces of jewelry and small electronics. They tell you these goods are stolen and arrest you. After being in county jail for three days, you see a judge and she sets your bail at $5,000. With a bail bondsman, it will cost you $500 to post bail. If you stay in jail, you might have enough funds to have a lawyer handle your entire case. Family members have been caring for your son.

Do you spend $500 from your savings on posting bail or do you stay in jail?

You post bail for $500

You are free from jail and return home to your family. Now you wait to be contacted by your state-assigned public defender and for your court date.

The median bond amount in the U.S. represents eight months of income for the typical defendant

Thirty-seven percent of incarcerated people have an annual income of $9,489 or less.

Forty-four percent of incarcerated people have annual income between $9,490 and $31,655.

You are fired from your job for missing work, leaving you with no future income. You use your savings to pay this month’s rent, with no money left for a lawyer.

You are assigned a public defender and your court date is next week.

Due to the amount of cases on your lawyer’s schedule, she is able to meet with you only one hour prior to your court time.The state’s prosecutor offers you a plea bargain.

You can plead guilty to a lesser felony and serve six months in jail or you can take your chances at trial, where this felony offense carries a minimum sentence of two years in jail.

You will serve less time in jail but you will have a felony on your record.Though you tell her you are innocent, your lawyer encourages you to take the plea bargain. You take the plea bargain

Though you tell her you are innocent, your lawyer encourages you to take the plea bargain. You take it, not wanting to risk two years away from your son.

Social control is the process through which individuals and groups in society are compelled to conform to social expectations.

The primary tool of social control is socialization, a process of teaching society’s rules to its members. In addition to socialization, sanctions may be used as tools of social control.Negative sanctions punish society members for failing to conform to social rules. One of the strongest negative sanctions a society can impose is imprisonment.Eighty percent of those charged with felonies live at or below the poverty line. About 90% of cases with felony charges never go to trial.Since the 1980s, the U.S. has seen an increase in individuals in jail who were not convicted of a crime. They simply took a plea bargain.Minorities and low-income individuals are more likely to take a plea bargain even when they are not guilty of the crime.

This is due to the perceived threat of a harsher penalty when they go to trial, especially without the means to afford a lawyer.

You are booked on the day of your court date and sent to jail. By taking the plea bargain, you are socially controlled through an extreme negative sanction, even though you were only an unwitting accomplice to a crime. Your period of incarceration, though brief, will likely have unforeseen negative effects, such as decreasing your employability after incarceration.

B.  Complete a needs-assessment summary to determine the health needs and risks of the virtual community in Sentinel City™ by using each of the following tools:

Note: These tools can be found either in the web links section or as an attachment to this task.

•  Demographics Assessment

•  Neighborhood/Community Safety Inventory

•  Windshield Survey

•  Population Health Scavenger Hunt

Note: The name of each of the four tools should be identified in the needs-assessment summary, along with a brief summary of how each of the four tools were used in the needs assessment.

1. Analyze the collected data using concepts of epidemiology and health determinants.

Note: Refer to these three sections of your COS for additional information: Epidemiology and Environmental Health, Epidemiological Data, and Application of Epidemiology.

C.  Formulate a community diagnosis for Sentinel City™ by doing the following:

1. Discuss the three problems for Sentinel City™ based on the Healthy People goals.

2. Discuss community resources (e.g., Sentinel City™ Affordable Housing Project, Better Health Clinic) that are available to address one of the problems identified in part C1.

3. Identify a primary prevention topic based on the problem you selected in part C2.

Note: See the attached “Primary Prevention Topics List” for guidance in formulating your topic.

D.  Discuss how you will apply the assessment strategies you have learned from the simulation environment to your community assessment strategies in your community.

  

SOCW 6051: Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice

Week 8

Response to Discussion: Religion and Privilege

For citizens in some countries, religious oppression is common and long standing. While freedom of religion is guaranteed in the U.S., religious intolerance still exists. According to the Equal Opportunity Employment commission, the number of lawsuits filed for religious discrimination doubled between 2000–2010 (Pledger, 2011). Social workers must be alert for the complex ways that religious privilege functions. By creating an awareness of the privilege given to some while marginalizing others, social workers can understand how this bias impacts their clients.

By Day 07/23/2021

Respond to at least two colleagues by selecting one of their examples to review further. Research and report on a situation in which that group experienced treatment on the other end of the spectrum of oppression or privilege, either in the present day or during an earlier historical period.

Colleagues Respond: Diana Thorne 

RE: Discussion – Week 8

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A situation in which members of a religion, experience privilege can be demonstrated in one week in the lives of the “Smith Family”. It is 1 week before Christmas. The Smith family consists of mom, dad, and twin girls ages 10. The Smiths are an all-American Christian family. Their week starts on Monday morning where mom drops the kids off at their elementary school. As the mom drops the children off at school, she and the dad can rest assured that their children will be taught and administered by teachers who share their Christian faith. Their children will also have friends who share their Christian faith and values (Adams et. al., 2018). The dad drives his suburban that has a bumper sticker that states “Jesus Saves” to work proudly and has no fears of his vehicle being vandalized while he is at work (Adams et. al., 2018). Once the dad arrives at work, his boss reminds him of the office Christmas party tonight. The dad and his boss take their Christian work-based holiday party privilege for granted as it is widely supported by the other employees as the norm. 

The boss makes an announcement that the company will shut down for the entire week of Christmas as a bonus to the employees to celebrate the religious holidays. During the rest of the week, the family continue to shop at stores that have an abundance of Christian items for the family to practice their faith and celebrate the Christian Christmas holiday while being greeted warmly with salutations “Merry Christmas” (Adams et. al., 2018). Later that Sunday morning, the Smith family attend observed Christmas services with their church congregation where they’re able to worship freely, without fear of violence or threat (Adams et. al., 2018).

A situation in which members of a religion, experience religious oppression are Muslim college students being targeted for wearing the hijab and practicing the Qiblah, which is the direction Muslims face when praying. The majority Christian students and staff feel uncomfortable when non-Christians practice their faith and religion. The dominant Christian groups feel threatened that their established normative religion and dominant identity are being challenged (Adams et. al., 2018). Dalia from the Ted Talk explained how marginalized religious groups like Muslims are targeted and discouraged to congregate to worship by inflicting fear and violence as a means to control (Mogahed, 2016).

References

Mogahed, D. (2016, February 23). What it’s like to be Muslim in America. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_mogahed_what_it_s_like_to_be_muslim_in_america

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Catalano, D. C., Hackman, H. W., Dejong, K., Hopkins, L. E., Love, B., Peters, M. L., Shlasko, D., & Zuniga, X. (2018). Readings for diversity and social justice.

Colleagues Respond: Ja’Sharee Bush 

RE: Discussion – Week 8

Top of Form

The connection between privilege and religion is Christians have the advantage and receive praise and are the dominant group. Examples of Christian privilege are as simple as placing a bumper sticker on your car about your faith without fear of vandalization, Holidays surrounding the Christian faith are widely supported (ex. Christmas), and Christians are not pressured into celebrating someone else faith that may conflict with theirs (Adams et al., 2018). These are privileges that Christians think nothing of because they do not have to worry since they are the dominant group, Muslims, Buddhists, and other religions are criticized for embracing their religion. They are forced to conform to the norm or worship in silence. Muslim individuals engage in prayer throughout the day and have days and time dedicated to prayer, instead of having the freedom Christians do to worship, Muslims miss these services or must find a way to engage in their religion.

People from other religions become targets, an example is a Muslim community. The Muslim place of worship (Mosque) would be attacked, and negative publicity followed the Muslim’s traditions. They also marginalized Muslims by having school calendars cater to Christian children, giving them days off to engage in Christian traditions (Adams et al., 2018). Christians have more freedom to worship as they please and other religions are criticized and targeted for believing differently.

Reference 

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castaneda, C., Catalano, D. C. J., DeJong, K., Hackman, H. W,… Zuniga, X. (Eds.). (2018). Readings for diversity and social justice (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge Press.

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 Please follow Rubric Detail

Responsiveness to Directions

8.1 (27%) – 9 (30%)

Discussion posting fully addresses all instruction prompts, including responding to the required number of peer posts.

Discussion Posting Content

8.1 (27%) – 9 (30%)

Discussion posting demonstrates an excellent understanding of all of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and Learning Resources. Posting provides significant detail including multiple relevant examples, evidence from the readings and other scholarly sources, and discerning ideas.

Peer Feedback and Interaction

6.75 (22.5%) – 7.5 (25%)

The feedback postings and responses to questions are excellent and fully contribute to the quality of interaction by offering constructive critique, suggestions, in-depth questions, additional resources, and stimulating thoughts and/or probes.

Writing

4.05 (13.5%) – 4.5 (15%)

Postings are well organized, use scholarly tone, contain original writing and proper paraphrasing, follow APA style, contain very few or no writing and/or spelling errors, and are fully consistent with graduate level writing style.