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Created: August 25, 2002
Latest Update: August 25, 2002
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Practice Module on New Skin and Rehabilitation

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individaul Authors, August 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.

This teaching module is based on New Skin and Removing the Top Layer.

1. Preparatory readings for module.

   • New Skin Michael Witkowski's drawing on rehabilitation.
   • Removing the Top Layer Saundra Davis' poem on Michael Witkofski's drawing.
   • Introduction to Moral Textures. Provides explanation for recognition as it is used in this module.

2. Discussion questions.

   1. What does Michael mean by rehabilitation, given the statement he wrote on the New Skin drawing?

      Does Michael expect rehabilitation to enable the criminal to re-enter society? What does he see as a barrier to that re-entry? What role does "new skin" play for Michael? (Think of Goffman.)

   2. What does Saundra mean by rehabilitation, given what she says in her poem, Removing the Top Layer?

      Does Saundra want to give the criminal another cloak to present him/herself to the world? Or does she want to see past the cloaking of the costumre. (Think once again of Goffman.

   3. Why do you suppose rehabilitation is so hard to define?

      Consider the problem of authentication of self. Who am I? Who is she? he? and how this affects our interpresonal relationships.

   4. Does labeling theory help answer this problem?

      Consider the impoortance of naming things in setting the context in which they are viewed.

   5. Do cultural differences come into play in this issues of rehabilitation?

      Again, think of the authentication of self. Whose definitions prevail in normative expectations of rehabilitation?

   6. What does Maria Pia Lara mean by recognition? Recognition of what in this issue of New Skin?

      Consider her position that those who have been excluded for whatever reason are harmed. Consider the role we have seen here for drawing and poetry to raise that harm to a level of consciousness at which it cannot be denied. Recall that in South Africa one of the most important roles of the Truth Commission was to let acknowledgment of crimes ring free so that denial could no longer make those who had suffered think they were crazy. It did happen.

3. Experiential activities related to module.

   1. Choose a group of friends, either in class or outside class. What does this group think rehabilitation is? Share Michael's drawing and Saundra's poem with the group. What questions, if any does this raise with the group? Share your results with the class.

   2. We have traditionally thought of cost of correction as the cost of running prisons and the court system? This is a positivistic approach that presupposes that dollar costs are most important in a market economy. Work out a budget for the cost of prison with rehabilitation, and for prison without rehabilitation, and take the whole social context into account. Share your results with us. This should be easier as a group-think project.

4. Self-test questions related to module.

   True or False? And explain briefly why it's true or false. (25 words or less)

   1. Rehabilitation has been tried and has failed in corrections.
   2. It is so difficult today to afford an education, spending money on the rehabilitation of criminals doesn't make sense.
   3. Even when someone who has been rehabilitated tries to make it, no one ever forgets he/she's an ex-con.
   4. Forgiving and forgetting that someone committed a past crime can be very dangerous.
   5. The top layer, the "I" we show to others, is often deceptive and can't be believed.
   6. The metaphor of molting, of changing skins, does a pretty good job of describing what prison tries to do to people.
   7. Finding a way to let others feel what dominance does to you is important in recognition, as Maria Pia Lara uses the term.
   8. Sometimes, when the top layer is peeled off, you can see a tenderness and need to be understood that wasn't visible through the skin.
   9. Being aware of what another suffers makes it easier to look at alternative ways to accomplish our goals without causing suffering.
   10. Punishment and retribution are more important to society than rehabilitation for the criminal.

5. Conceptual linking we had in mind as we prepared the module.

   • Labeling theory.
   • Transformation of discourse through recognition and awareness.
   • Crime as socially defined. (Quinney)
   • The social costs of crime, for both perpetrator and victim.
   • Dominant discourse and denial.

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