Exam 7: Cohesion

The kind of community that the people who have harmed and those who have been harmed will need is one that focuses on the needs of its members more than its own needs.

When the authors of text refer to cohesion, they are referring to the attributes of a community that through sustained practice over time, demonstrate self-giving love

People coming out of prison bring with them an assortment of needs upon release that can present nearly overwhelming obstacles to successful reintegration.

According to the text, because poor and marginalized people generally come from poor and marginalized communities it is not reasonable to expect communities to offer relationships, respect, and resilience to those who have caused harm and those they have harmed when those are also needs of the entire community.

According to the text, trauma creates situations in which the goal is to minimize the impact of trauma on people by building their resilience. This is one reason it is important for facilitators in restorative encounters to allow the parties themselves to work out their best solution even if the facilitator believes there might have been a better conclusion.

Prison usually damages existing relationships that those who caused harm had with family members and friends before they were imprisoned.

According to the text, the role of the community in reintegration is critical because they can be high in relational connections.

Crime-related policies that have been presented as race neutral have had a disparate impact on those communities. This has led to the mass incarceration crisis with its devastating impact on people and their communities we have discussed.

People who have been harmed by crime are not subject to stigma.

There are overwhelming personal, societal, racial, and spiritual obstacles facing people being released from prison, obstacles for which the community has some responsibility.

While individuals may experience trauma, their communities cannot.

Three important components to cohesion are relationships, respect and resilience.

According to the text, community-based options to help with re-integration include:

The three components of trauma include an event, experience and effect.

Generational patterns of disrupted families lead to increased offending. Another name for this disruption of families across generations is intergenerational trauma.