Week 6, Assignment 2: Blog Post

One of the worse instances of plagiarizing I ever personally encountered occurred at Los Medanos in 2005 during the Spring semester. There was this very talented writer for the college’s community and campus paper, "the Experience", writing a series of rather articulate book reviews for the entertainment section. As the semester continued this writer’s reviews began receiving a number of accolades from readers and became one of the main attractions of the paper. When the time for the annual JAAC awards arrived the Experience won several awards alone on the book reviews.

Unfortunately, as it is often the case, when something appears to be too good to be true it almost certainly is.
Despite working as Feature's Editor, I never read the book reviews because such had nothing to do with my section, so I had no ideas something was “hinky” about the situation. Regardless, an instructor read one of said reviews sometime later, and recognized a one or two paragraphs he recalled having read earlier in a different publication. It turns out that the reviews were being plagiarized from a reviewer that worked out of NY.
When this deception was revealed to the head of the Journalism Department, she personally confronted the suppose writer about the accusation. Unfortunately the student confessed to the plagiarism of several articles, and was summarily suspended. In the spirit of integrity the head of the Journalism Department issued a statement about the incident in the next issue, and informed the JAAC why she was returning the awards.
Plagiarism is not only morally dishonest in the way a student can claim success and credit for someone else’s hard work. This form of dishonesty also completely cheats the very student engaging in such an act out of the knowledge. Even if a person successfully plagiarize the work of someone else they have only achieved a hallow victory. The passing grade might have been obtained but the curriculum has not been learned by the individual. If a student spend most of their academic career getting by through plagiarism they will not be a professional in whatever field they are trying to become a part of.

I cannot claim to have learned much new from this assignment, but I am really happy to know these sort of assignments are being taught to students on a regular basis. It is so easy to get behind in one class or another, then in desperation, attempt to plagiarize one's way out of problem. At other times students can make an honest mistake. Really, this issue is covered, though in much simpler ways, in classes as early as kindergarten: be fair, do not cheat, tell the truth, and do not take what is not yours.

Week 5: Blog Post

Time, and time again it has been irrefutably proven that a lack of resources, opportunities, and an increasing disproportion of wealth acts as an excellent accelerate for criminal elements afflicting human societies. This is especially true concerning the formation and existence of gangs. Such results have been well documented even before Victorian era, British slums of Old Nic, and much has not changed in modern times from the streets of Chicago, Chihuahua, to Kingston and Moscow.

Prevention methods for youth offenders can come in many forms, such as after school activities, summer jobs, community building projects, and team sports. In more serious cases involving "at-risk" youths who may have already committed offenses, come from broken homes, or have joined gangs, mental health programs such as therapy can also be introduced to the equation. With more violent or aggressive youth, who demonstrate a chronic disregard for others, some theorize that pharmaceutical aid, in tandem with rehabilitation programs can produced greater results.

My only concern, when concerning medication, is that too much can be given, or only medication will be given, while forgoing any other form of rehabilitation. There must be strong regulations and guidelines in place to prevent this sort of negligence.

Assignment 2: Blog Post

The more I research the topic the clearer it becomes that the old ways of dealing with Juvenile Delinquency is inefficient at best, and nearly criminal at worst. Locking children away, treating them like animals, and handing out harsh penalties seem to have done nothing other than exacerbate our already bloated prison systems, as juvenile facilities serve as a pipeline to adult facilities. Regardless of how many gang members are arrested, such does not solve the problem, as the conditions that led to the formation of these groups still exist. Our young people serve as the fountain of youth for criminal groups, and they will continue thriving as more youths simply replace those who are locked away our killed, ensuring these gangs never die. We need a far different, more coordinated, and precise method of eliminating the causes of criminality, and not just keep treating the symptoms.