End of term

We have reached the end of another term here at Westwood. I'm sorry I have not been loyal to the blog this term. I was getting a little overwhelmed with three classes and trucking, also the criminology stuff is so in-depth I would not even know where to begin explaining. Basically criminology is the study of crime, we looked at many different aspects, physical, sociological, mental, and many others.

The corrections class was very interesting, I was surprised by what corrections is all about. It entails so much more than just locking people up, as a matter of fact most prisoners only spend eight hours a day in there cells. The rest of the time they have jobs, and any special treatments that they need, such as drug counseling. We looked at how the war on crime and drugs has a long term affect on the prison system. Politicians love to parade around with their "get tough on crime" laws, but when it comes time to fund the corrections department to take care of all these long term sentences they are handing out, well they don't see so enthusiastic anymore.

The underfunding and under staffing of the prison system is pathetic. In one assignment I reported on the so-called "SuperMax" in Florence,CO, also known as, "SuperLax." The security here was so bad that the 1992 world trade center bombing was planned by a terrorist behind bars. In yet another case an L.A. Gang leader was still running his operation from within this super maximum security prison. I should post that report so you can see the whole thing, it's very interesting.

Anyway I have a lot of respect for these men and women now, they are locked in every day and greatly outnumbered by many dangerous felons. They don't walk around with a whole belt full of different weapons like the officers on streets, in there the best defense is communication.


In English class I brushed up on my grammar skills and wrote two essays, one was a process essay on pre-trip inspections, and the other was a narrative essay on my worst trip on the road.

Over all I finished with a 95% grade in all classes, another great semester. However I have dropped my course schedule to part time, which is only two classes per semester. This will extend my time in school longer, but it makes it less stressful on me, and gives me a chance to devote more time to each class, so that I can really get the full benefit of each one. My next semester is pre-algebra and criminal law.