WHO ARE YOUR STAKEHOLDERS
JUSTICE IMPACTED PERSONS: this is the term that applies to anyone who has been or is facing our CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
STAKEHOLDERS – THIS APPLIES TO EVERYONE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR FUTURE
These are your STAKEHOLDERS [The Courts – Congress – Your Attorney – Probation Officer – Prosecutor – Judge – BOP Director Peters – BOP Staff; Unit Team, Case Manager, Education, Medical, Probation – RRC Manager, and Halfway House, Home Confinement]. They are for Justice, deterrence, and as anyone in a job – to advance their careers.
The NARRATIVE of you has been written by the DOJ, and placed in the press worldwide in the form of your Indictment, read by your colleagues, family, and friends. It has also been read by your STAKEHOLDERS; your Attorney (and that may be all they know about you), The Prosecutor, The Probation Officer, and most importantly, your JUDGE. Once you enter prison, they will be your Case Manager and Unit Team.
Satisfied? ⇨ No, Let’s rewrite Your Story – Your Narrative.
Learn about how powerful your NARRATIVE can be from this Ted Talk. As you write it, this is ‘your story’ in a letter format, 1st person, describing your life from childhood to the present. Include everything – Omit Nothing (Too Long is Best), including parents, siblings, work, jobs, school, and everything until today.
STAKEHOLDERS – are Responsible for Your Growth Into A Law Abiding Citizen, Ask Yourself…
- WHAT DO – AND DON’T THEY KNOW ABOUT YOU?
- DO THEY KNOW WHY YOU COMMITTED YOUR CRIME?
- WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT YOUR MOTIVATION OR INVOLVEMENT IN YOUR CRIME?
- WHAT CAN YOU DO TO CHANGE THEIR PRECONCEIVED BIASES, ABOUT WHAT YOU DID?
Your NARRATIVE should be included in your PRESENTENCE INTERVIEW, BECOMING EMBEDDED INTO THE OFICIAL PRESENTENCE REPORT.
I) Your Narrative Is Your Story – Your Defense, in order of STAKEHOLDER Priority:
Your Attorney: 1ST, your attorney will learn more about your Biographical back story.
The Probation Officer: Your P.O. once they believe you, will include it into their official Presentence Report, plus they have A Lot of Sway with the Judge as they also recommend sentences and prison sentencing and placement.
The Prosecutor will still likely want to convict.
The Courts /Your Judge, usually already have a sentence in mind, but this is the 1st time the Judge gets to read your side of the story, your NARRATIVE, so far he only has the opinion of the Prosecutor, DOJ, and PO. This could change their mind as Judges across the country want to hear from the defendant – regarding their crimes.
This possibly opens the door for your ALLOCUTION. During the judge’s conversation with you, in addition to covering the points below, he/she may want to know your REENTRY PLAN, what do you plan to do when you get out? To not re-offend?
During Your Allocution Their Looking For,
- A sincere demeanor
- A discussion of what “taking full responsibility” actually means to the defendant.
- An acknowledgment that there are victims, (e.g., even when the PSR indicates “no identifiable victim,” as it does in most drug cases);
- A more impressive Allocution details how the defendant’s criminal conduct affected the victims.
- An expression of genuine remorse.
- A plan to use prison or probation time productively.
- A discussion of why the defendant wants to change his or her criminal behavior; perhaps most importantly, information that helps humanize the defendant and the defendant’s role in the crime.
- Tell their story, but don’t minimize the seriousness of what your client did.
- Judges will sometimes ask a defendant what he/she will do upon release to reduce their need to re-offend.
- Show his/her strengths and weaknesses.
- If you can show that you are on the same page with the court as to the seriousness of the offense, the chances of having your other statements accepted will increase.
II) Your Narrative will influence people you have yet to meet, in the BOP.
BOP Director Peters – Office of Designation, Grand Prairie Tx: As it is part of your Presentence Report, it will impact where they place you, and yet you have never met them.
BOP Staff; Warden, Unit Team, Case Manager:
For case managers and unit teams, these are employees, and they see hundreds of inmates/people (if not thousands), so how can you differentiate yourself – if you want an easier time, and a ‘shot at, possibly an earlier release? For them, the important term is INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENT.
There are not many ways in prison to demonstrate – individually, that will show INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENT, so these are my recommendations unless you have a better idea.
1st) You have already been prepped to offer to participate in the BOP Financial Responsibility Program if you have any sort of financial penalty (i.e., Restitution).
III) REENTRY PLAN reinforces your efforts to get home and gives your judge insight into your efforts to not re-offend.
2nd) You know of the FSA SPARC-13 Survey and you would like to take it because you feel it could help you, or you read it had criminogenic programs that could help you – if you were accepted.
3rd) Start Reading Non-Fiction Books – that will teach you something. You can schedule yourself to receive 2 non-fiction books at a time, and then you are going to do the following for both the FSA Program Classes and the BOOK Reading,
- For the FSA Programs, you will document each day you take the class – what you learned – how you could use what you learned after release, and one aspect during that class where the teacher made a difference.
- For each book, you will write in the same softback journal-type notebook(from amazon), the author – why you picked that author – what you learned from that chapter that you could incorporate into your life (a mini book report).
- What do these two have in common for your case manager – Over Time? THEY DEMONSTRATE INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS, OVER EVERYONE ELSE IN THEIR UNIT – A VERY BIG WIN.
- Continue journaling every contact with BOP Correction staff, Case Managers, and Unit Teams, Names, Dates, Times, and Topics, just for your record. For example, after each FSA class attended, keep your record of each class attended so that YOU HAVE YOUR Record to compare against the BOPs. Just to be safe. You want to get credit for each hour of Earned Time Credit that you are entitled to. There are too many news articles where the BOP Autocalculation has Not Worked. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE A STATISTIC.
4th) RRC Manager (and BOP Staff; Unit Team, Case Manager)
When it is time to be considered for Halfway House, your Case Manager is In Charge. What does she/he look for:
- INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS
- Who’s Eligible
- Who Has No Infractions
- Your PSR, and what’s in your PSR? Your Narrative, Allocution (taken by the court’s stenographer), and Your Initial Reenter Plan
The Residential Reentry Center (RRC) Manager, they have,
- Limited bed space
- Look for those who will succeed.
- Depend on BOP Case Manager’s Input regarding the Inmate: Their PSR, NARRATIVE, No Infractions (especially no 100 or 200 series shots), Incremental Improvement, and your entire file.
- The RRC Managers also want to show that they release successful persons from their programs, not persons that re-offend.
- After, you may next transition to supervised release.
The Probation Officer, During Supervised Release and Home Confinement, will essentially get a biographical update of the person before they meet you, by reviewing your entire file, including, Your PSR, NARRATIVE, Incremental Improvements, No Infractions, and everything that has transpired since.
If You Suspect You’re The Target of a Federal Investigation | Before The Presentence Interview (PSI) | After The PSI – But Before The Sentencing Hearing | After Sentencing or You’re Already Incarcerated | There Are Still Things We Can Do
For a personal, one-on-one call with me to discuss your current issue, or that of a loved one, give me a call (240.888.7778). If I am unable to answer, please leave me your name, number, and a brief message, as I make every effort to return all of my calls – that same day. Marc
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