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Peer Review

Tossing Away the Keys

Reviewed:
Feb 16, 2009 by Criminal Justice
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.0 stars
Content Quality: 4.2 stars
Effectiveness: 4.2 stars
Ease of Use: 3.8 stars
Overview:
This is a case study of changes in sentencing policies in the State of Louisiana. It presents issues through he eyes of inmates serving life sentences, without possibility of parole, in Angola State Prison. Included are comments from selected prison officials who have lost confidence in the inflexibility of the policy. The site also provides a transcript so students can read what is being said. This is appropriate for a course on Corrections at either the undergraduate or graduate level.
Type of Material:
Case study
Recommended Uses:
Class room discussion, Homework
Technical Requirements:
Browser, Real player, Sound card
Identify Major Learning Goals:
To outline some of the instated consequences of sentencing offenders to “life without the possibility of parole.” Expose users to opinions of inmates and corrections officials who have first hand experience with Louisiana’s life sentence policies. Trace the evolution of capital sentences in Louisiana. The student will get a different and real perspective on lives of convicts.
Target Student Population:
Select high school students, college students, interest groups
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
None

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:
• The site presents issues of crowding, expense, and violence as well as the human suffering caused by an inflexible sentencing policy. • Students get to hear individual perspectives through audio. • Students get a realistic look at prison life, including prisoners’ hopes and dreams.
Concerns:
The site is light on independent research data to support some of the narrator’s statements about the impact of life sentencing policies in Louisiana. Presents only the inmate’s accounts of how they came to be incarcerated. May be driven by a liberal agenda

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:
• Hearing the prisoners’ voices is powerful for students. • Explains their own experiences in prison, rather than reading from a textbook. • It presents the human cost of life sentences to both inmates and staff.
Concerns:
• We don’t know if the prisoner experiences are the same still. • Limited perspective from one individual. • Does not present any input or opinions from legislators, citizens, or victims.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:
• Excellent for presenting the emotional impact of a life sentence and the peripheral consequences associated with depriving human beings of all hope for improving their situation. • Having the transcript and audio helps students with different learning styles • Good for students with disabilities • Snapshots of individuals would be helpful.
Concerns:
• Does not explore the powerful emotional issues which precipitated the hardening of legislative attitudes toward life sentences. • Audio won’t play with Safari browser • Hard to listen to just the audio. • Did not function properly on a Mac.
Other Issues and Comments:
At just over 25 minutes, the audio portion is short enough to be used to stimulate class room discussion of sentencing policies such as “Three Strikes” and other “get tough” policies.
Creative Commons:
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