My State of Purpose

Growing up in the projects of North Philadelphia during the 1980’s had a tremendous impact on my life. It ultimately led to my decision to pursue a path in criminal justice. I was raised by my grandmother and mother. I also lived with my two younger siblings in a small apartment in the Richard Allen projects. It was known as a “hot spot” for criminal behavior. The street reeked with pessimism, poverty and learned helplessness. In the midst of all this madness, my grandmother and mother did their best to raise my younger siblings and taught us to look above our current situations in an attempt to groom us for success. Shootings were rampant, in fact it had become protocol to turn off the lights and duck on the floor whenever they occurred. Crime ran the streets but alas my childhood overall was ok. However, there would be certain life changing events that would occur that would make me the person that I am today.

The second incident that made a profound effect in my life had happened during my early adolescence. I developed a genuine friendship with my neighbor (this time with a boy my own age). We were inseparable for several years. We were your typical young boys. We enjoyed playing sports, engaging in mischievous behavior and had developed an interest in girls. Two days before my 13th birthday, we were on his front door steps, talking about what presents I had wanted for my birthday. There were loud gunshots that came from down the streets. This was not an uncommon sound since there were often gunfire among rival gangs. On this particular day, as we looked down the street, there were two men running towards us. We stood in shock watching them, petrified and unable to move. Before I knew it, I saw my friend’s head get blown completely off, and his brain splattered against his door. It looked like an egg that had been cracked open. The other guy held a gun to my head, at this point yelling at the guys that were running after him, this ordeal felt like forever. There is a period of time from that point I had blacked out and literally do not remember what happened. All I remembered was being in the ambulance, crying profusely as the female EMT had held me in her arms. I learned that I was not harmed but the EMT responders thought I was hit since I had blood gushing on the back of my head. What really happened was that the perpetrator held a gun to my head until he was able to make a clear getaway around the corner. He had pushed me to the ground which had caused a minor concussion. I made light of the situation because for the next couple of weeks, my grandmother (whom I was living with at the time) made my favorite meals and gave me an increase in my weekly allowance. However, I was saddened, not so much that my friend was murdered (which was painful), but by the way he died… It was unforgettable.

Lastly, my mother’s mental health diagnosis had sealed my interest in social science. My mother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She had never disclosed this information to me but her therapist inadvertently told me what was going on. There were only a handful of times in which she had exhibited alarming behavior. She would have crying spells and I had no idea what was going on or how I could provide her with comfort. She often had physical fights with my grandfather in the hallways, and as these occurred I would hide in her room to escape these frequent episodes. Eventually she was stabilized and prescribed the right medication which ultimately permanently stopped these outbursts. These three specific events (and others) had sparked my interest in both Psychology and later Criminology.

The courses that interested me at Regis University were the MSCR 604 Contemporary Issues in Criminology, MSCR 605 Criminal Psychopathology, MSCR 640 Transnational Crime, and the MSCR 660 Cyber-Criminology. I am looking to teach Introduction to Criminology course, at a junior college, do criminal profiling with a law enforcement agency for a few years before enrolling into a PhD program in Criminology. I would like to teach the importance of research and how certain theories such as “Strain theory”, “Labeling Theory”, and “Social Learning Theory” are essential in understanding human behavior. I am also interested in teaching how certain theories such as Ceseare Lombroso ‘on atavism had been refuted. It is sine qua non for my prospective students to learn how Criminology has evolved over time. I would like to teach police officers on about the pathology of serial killers and sex offenders. It is imperative that law enforcement personnel do not watch crime shows in which this field is glamorized and assume they have what it takes to be successful in apprehending and understanding criminals.

Essay question 1

As an undergraduate student, there were four courses that shaped my interest in pursuing a career in Criminology. Those four courses were Social Psychology, Psychopathology, Introduction to Law Enforcement and The Nature of Crime. Overall, the courses covered topics such as the “Bystander effect”, “Groupthink”, Kleinfelter syndrome, Labeling theory, eyewitness testimony, antisocial personality disorder, and twin studies in explaining criminal behavior. I enjoyed pairing up with fellow students for study groups and group presentations. For my Psychopathology course, I was instructed to create a psychological disorder. I created a disorder called “Athleta Disorder”. In order for one to be diagnosed with this disorder one had to exhibit symptoms of extreme agitation and be preoccupied with a sport beginning at least 15 years of age. A patient had to be so preoccupied with either playing a sport or watching a sport that it interferes with the patient’s social, work and personal relationships. As a result, many patients are often loners, change employment or are terminated often and may have been divorced several times. The patients may often turn to crime to vent their frustration and support themselves financially between employment. This was my first assignment as an undergraduate in which I had an opportunity to incorporate creativity with science. As a graduate student, I had done my thesis on the differences of symptoms between men and women with Borderline Personality Disorder. I had used a questionnaire to collect my data. My data showed a significantly high percentage of the male participants had a criminal record compared to their female counterparts.

I had decided to take advantage of an opportunity to study French in France . I lived there for over 6 years while studying at a language school. I passed the DELF B1 and B2 which are Diplôme d’etude en Langue Francaise. Upon returning back to the United States, I had continued studying French in order to improve my level in French in order to be a more desirable candidate for admissions into a Canadian university and employment for when I plan to move to Canada.

I am currently employed as a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Specialist at Warren E. Smith Health Center (WES). It is a treatment facility based in Philadelphia, PA that works with participants that have mental health concerns, addictions and many have criminal records. I facilitate treatment groups, monitor participant’s progress, work collaboratively with members to gain access to quality health care, drug treatment, employment and housing.

I was employed as a case manager at Leaders in Community Alternatives (LCA). It is a service provider program in Oakland ,California, that provides adult and juvenile programs , electronic monitoring with GDP tracking. Many of the clients were formerly incarcerated or were awaiting trial. My duties included but were not limited to writing individualized treatment plans with client’s input to improve their quality of life and to prevent reentry into the prison system, informing probation officers about their client’s progress, connecting my clients with additional services such as housing and employment. Many of the clients were repeat offenders while some were convicted of misdemeanors. What I most enjoyed about my job was advocating for a range of services for my clients, helping them see their full potential while working through their resistance.

I had worked as a Rehabilitation therapist at Telecare Heritage In Oakland, CA. It is an inpatient psychiatric facility that provides treatment to patients that are presented as a danger to themselves or others. Before entering this program, patients are placed on a legal hold which requires mandated treatment for at least three days. I facilitate treatment groups, do assessments and do notes on participant’s  progress in the program. The groups I facilitated were  Symptom Management, Handling Strong Emotions, and Coping Skills. These groups are designed to help patients learn effective strategies to manage stressors that triggered their aggression and psychiatric symptoms. The patients I treated mostly had  Bi-Polar, Schizophrenia or a personality disorder diagnosis. Most of my patients had a prior criminal record. There were two patients I remember well with a lengthy criminal record.

The first client was a middle aged male. He was on a legal hold for attempted suicide. I conducted coping skills groups that day. He admitted during the group that he was a registered sex offender and that he was afraid that he would re-offend. During the group, the members were very uncomfortable listening to this client’s testimony including one member who was molested as a child. After the group, I had individually spoken with both patients to assess their safety and to see if the group was beneficial. This particular experience had given me the opportunity to work with a criminal and a victim of a horrific crime.

The second client I had worked with was a young male who was placed on a legal hold for mandatory treatment due to frequent violent behavior towards his mother. He was 15 years old during his first arrest. He had assaulted his math professor. Since then, this patient had gotten into several physical altercations with former employers, co-workers and girlfriends in the past. I had worked with this patient both in groups and one-on-one. He was always pleasant and I learned a great deal about his past and what stressors had triggered his explosive behavior.

I had worked at Geel Community Services as an Activity Coordinator. It is a day program in the Bronx, NY which provides individually tailored support to patients who are homeless with a mental illness.  I worked collaboratively with patients to create their treatment plans. These plans consisted of living independently, obtaining employment, and having additional support to help them improve the quality of their lives. Some of my patients had a criminal history so part of the challenge was to help them find the support they need to be law abiding citizens.

How I want to make a difference

Many People have an alarming view of what and how to make a difference. For example, they often refer to change by making a Miss America speech or a Presidential speech. In order to be plausible about making a change, it is imperative to discuss in detail what you have done, what you are currently doing and what you will do in the future to better yourself and others. In the past, I had worked diligently to educate myself on psychiatric disorders to provide education on wellness, therapeutic strategies and to give my patients a sense of hope. Currently, I facilitate wellness groups, work collaboratively with patients that live with mental illness as well as possess a criminal record , and in the future , I aim to work with clients who are also in the judicial system, provide healthy options to both at-risk youth and recent parolees. I also intend to work with the police department to educate personnel in police criminal profiling, and participate in community groups to reach out to both children and youth. I would like to get involved early with the children to establish preventative measures and to focus on crime prevention.

I wish to gain a better understanding of criminal behavior. I am aware that is a generalized statement so I will be more specific. For starters, I had researched the faculty members who focused on paraphilia, criminal personalities, serial murderers, Forensic Psychology, trial competency and Insanity Evaluation. I intend to gain a deeper understanding in each of those topics so I could identify alarming behavior, work closely with prevention programs to identify potential offenders in an effort to deter possible future criminal acts , and teach police officers about the characteristics of serial killers and sex offenders. In closing I would also like to counsel victims of criminal activity. I specifically wish to work for the Crime Prevention Program as a Criminalist or for the Mendocino Major Crime Task Force Division as a profiler. I would also like to teach a Criminology course at a Junior College in Canada..

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