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Bridgewater College, May Day bed racing, undated
No full textArchival photograph from Bridgewater College Special Collectionshttps://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/may_day_photos/1061/thumbnail.jp
The Negative Effect of Criminal Labeling on Community Reentry in the Harrisonburg Area
Get PDFWhen a person is convicted of a crime, they are assigned the label of being a criminal. After their conviction, felons are punished for their actions, often through prison sentences, and once these sentences are completed, they are expected to reenter society. However, as described in Labeling Theory, the criminal label carries a social stigma that poses many challenges to successful community reentry. Society’s negative attitudes toward released felons are perpetuated by misguided policies based on the principles of incapacitation and retribution. As a result, criminal offenders are permanently marginalized and face restrictions on housing, employment, and other aspects of community involvement. These restrictions provide a barrier to successful community reentry, which many cannot overcome, leading to the high rates of recidivism and reincarceration of released felons that the recent crime statistics reflect. To assess the effects of labeling theory on a local population, a study was conducted in which 14 residents of Gemeinschaft Home, a local therapeutic transitional housing program in Harrisonburg, were interviewed. These individuals\u27 responses indicated that they experienced the barriers to successful community reentry associated with the criminal label in a pattern similar to those that the criminological theories predict. These results indicate that, while large-scale reform is necessary to destigmatize the criminal label, smaller-scale efforts are possible and necessary to improve the chances of successful reentry and reduce the risk of recidivism
Bridgewater College, The sidelines and bleachers at a football game, probably 1950s
No full textArchival photograph from Bridgewater College Special Collectionshttps://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/homecoming_photos/1189/thumbnail.jp
Bridgewater College marching band in the Homecoming Parade, late 1960s or early 1970s
No full textArchival photograph from Bridgewater College Special Collectionshttps://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/homecoming_photos/1186/thumbnail.jp
Bridgewater College, Snapshot of confetti falling on international students, undated
No full textArchival photograph from Bridgewater College Special Collectionshttps://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/international_students_and_clubs/1008/thumbnail.jp
Bridgewater College, Photograph of a journalism interterm class, undated
No full textArchival photograph from Bridgewater College Special Collectionshttps://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/interterm_photos/1000/thumbnail.jp
Promoting the BC Digital Commons: For and By the Community
Get PDFThe BC Digital Commons (DC) is an open-access robust repository of artifacts, scholarship, publications, performances, events, and more. Through Google Scholar and other search engines, the content is accessed worldwide, yet the DC remains a little-known resource on campus. This fact motivated the director of the Forrer Learning Commons to seek input on how to more effectively increase submissions and the number of users.
The 2023 Strategic Public Relations class (COMM 347) began by educating themselves on the DC and brainstorming about potential advantages from a student’s perspective. They identified stakeholders to interview to determine general awareness and to test reactions of messaging that would generate interest. Interview groups were divided by first-year students, juniors and seniors, and then those who may have submitted content including Flory Honors students who are instructed to upload their final honors project. Faculty are also key constituents, and some were also interviewed to understand their knowledge of the DC for uploading their own research, class projects, and/or encouraging its use as a reliable source.
Over three weeks, the client project followed a standard process of writing a problem statement; conducting interviews; developing goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics (GOST); and creating recommendations and sample products for the client’s consideration. While individual students worked in small groups on those aspects of the project that best played to their strengths – design, content development, social media – the full class of 12 collaboratively developed messaging as well as critiqued each draft product, making any recommendations for edits, to finalize for the client presentation