A recent Life Skills participant notes after a few weeks: “Well personally I have a short temper mainly when I drink alcohol. Since I'm not drinking it's been a eye opener. It's not me who acts up or makes a fool out of myself. It's nice to pass the torch to someone else. I find myself a lot calmer and and feel like I'm maturing and growing greatly. I've been using what I've learned so far on my husband and kids. Knowing that it's working let's me know I needed this class a long time ago. I was a single parent and boy it would of done me a whole lot good when raising my kids. They didn't turn out bad and proud of them. I know the difficulties life throws at you, so now I have more tools to approach any problems that will come my way.”
Why are more folks on probation in rural / non-metro areas not getting resources?
In a study of rural criminal justice completed in 2020 in a group of researchers concluded concerning rural area probation:
- Rural residents face transportation challenges, a lack of social services, criminal justice staff shortages, and limited financial resources. These issues can have an impact on each facet of the justice system. In policing, these issues can result in decreased officer safety, as officers are forced to make the difficult decision between responding to a call alone or wasting precious time waiting for backup to arrive. In the court system, issues lead to fewer available court dates, increased pretrial detention, and potential constitutional rights violations due to lack of appointed counsel. ….
- People involved in the justice system in rural areas often have to travel greater distances to comply with the conditions of parole or probation programming requirements which they must attend in person..
- Rural probation officers also experience unique challenges. Research indicates probation officers in rural areas tend to perform more generalized than specialized roles compared to their urban counterparts…