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Mandy Thompson posted:I don't see why they couldn't have allowed him to transfer to a secular drug program that isn't run by evangelicals. Even the "secular" programs aren't really irreligious. The 12 steps are woven into nearly every treatment program there is--even expensive, high end clinics whose clients believe they're paying for something a cut above. Even an authentically secular program, however, doesn't guarantee he wouldn't have been forced into some idiotic group therapy with homophobic strangers and bullies. The expectation in all cases is that your existing friends and support are replaced with a new group of potentially toxic, certainly unstable addicts, many of whom use the program as a personal dating service and have even shittier attitudes than judges and probation officers (assuming they're complying with the program and not just dealing to the people in their group to begin with) because they're essentially adult converts whose induction into the group wasn't all that different from hazing. Maybe there was a perfectly viable alternative, but courts are unbelievable petty when it comes to their captives and can set all sorts of arbitrary rules based off of what the high school educated social worker thinks and what the Judge remembered reading in a magazine once about addiction. Basically all these diversionary programs are meant to represent the "softer side" of justice but actually have the effect of creating potentially worse outcomes than the draconian sentences they are meant to insulate from criticism. Offenders typically receive a combination of probation and terrible and/or non-existent mandated care that guarantees they'll be cycled back into the system sooner or later, often at a greater expense and more time served than if they had just gone to jail to begin with. Arbitration is a separate issue but its no wonder that places that claim to treat addiction need a way to insulate themselves from lawsuits. The consequences for failing at that particular gig are totally catastrophic and the mental health community responsible for treatment is hilariously ideological to the point of blaming addicts in their own programs for not making the recovery they paid for. Edit: All of this is not to mention the fact that the courts are not qualified to diagnose mental health issues to begin with and have absolutely no business mandating any kind of treatment, often overruling private assessments in order to do so. Woozy fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Nov 9, 2015 |
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Nov 9, 2015 19:43
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Sucrose posted:Still sounds better than going to jail, or would if it didn't involve forcing non-Christians into Christian programs, which shouldn't be loving offered unless there's an equal secular program available. It sounds better because you're not one of the guys who finally just executed his sentence and did way more time than he would have after years of being harassed by probation, missing work, and shaken down to the tune of thousands of dollars in fees for random drug testing, monitoring, and whatever else. Most of the people who end up in the system more than once recognize that jail is a way better deal, particularly if they qualify for work release or house arrest. The trouble with probation for drug offenders is that is has absolutely zero tolerance for relapse, which is a nearly impossible standard for drug addicts who have never been treated before. Anyone who can make it through 2-5 years of supervised probation without getting violated and serving even more time than they would have was probably never in any serious need of treatment to begin with! The expectation of these sorts of programs is that literally everything in your life gets worse but you manage to stop using. The advantage of jail time is that it ends, making it at least in principle possible for the offender to turn things around before being shuffled back into the carceral system.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:16
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:Seems like actually having gone to jail would disqualify you from way more jobs than probation since people seem to think jail can't reform people but probation somehow can. I mean, the job hunt is basically over once you have a conviction no matter what the sentence ended up as. Clearing your criminal record is next to impossible no matter how long or how good you've been when it comes to these sorts of crimes and it doesn't matter anyway because your employment record for the years you were on probation is a big red minimum wage flag, not to mention the fact that there are a thousand different databases through which to conduct a background check and none of the people who operate them care that your official record was expunged.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:34
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