Dogs In Glass Doghouses

In our world (the U.S.) it is expected that a person's life consist of mostly gradual changes over time. When a person experiences a drastic change in a short time (such as the sudden loss of a loved one, a job, or home) then we recognize this as highly stressfull and in some cases traumatizing.
But what we fail to recognize, perhaps because it is so far “off the map” of our cultural experience, is what happens when a person's entire world is yanked out from under their feet. Not just the loss of a loved one, or a job, or home, but the loss of all loved ones, friends, family, and all prospects of any jobs, and of ever having a home ever again. Not even a severe accident can cause this kind of loss, because even if you are paralyzed from the neck down, you still have family, friends, and community support. You can still “rebuild”, and therefor there is still hope.
But what happens when even hope is taken away? What is a person supposed to do when all of their options, even the most extreme options, can promise no light at the end of the tunnel? There is one circumstance where this is the case in our society, and it is an all too common and completely ignored tragedy, called “Criminal Conviction”.
I know, I know; criminals bring it upon themselve, so they “deserve what they get”. But does anyone every really deserve to have all hope taken from them?
You might think that there is always hope. But if that is what you think then you do not yet understand even what hope is.
Hope is something that only exists when it is “seen”. A person who sees no hope, has no hope. Just because others see hope for that person does not mean the person has hope. That is why so many “criminals” end up trapped in their hopeless worlds, because other people can “see” a way out for them, but they themselves can see no way out.
If a man does not realize that he is responsible for his own demise, then how can be responsible? He can't. It is like the dog I saw recently on A.F.V., who did not realize that the glass had been removed from a storm door, so there was nothing to stop him from going outside by walking straight through the empty door frame.
The dog would wait for someone to “open the door” before he would pass through, even after watching another person walk through the unopened door. This is very funny to us, but completely humorless to the dog.
Now suppose the dog's owner did not realize that the dog could not go through the empty storm door frame, so he leaves the regular door open expecting the dog, that is house trained, to go out on its own when it needs to relieve itself.
Of course the dog ends up urinating in the house. So the owner thinks the dog needs a “lesson”, and he punishes the dog expecting the problem to be solved that way. But the dog is only confused by the punishment, and still does not realize that it can go outside anytime it wants.
And the owner soon discovers not just urine, but BM as well. He becomes irate and bannishes the dog outdoors indefinately. The owner begins to see the dog as a burden on the household and no longer a member of the family. The dog soon developes very real antisocial behaviors from the lack of human attention and is eventually put to sleep.
All of this happened because the dog could not see an option that the owner (authority) could plainly see. And there you have criminal behavior in a nutshell.
So, using this analogy, how can we open the “storm door” for criminals? Education is one way. I once did a college research paper on the effects of education in prison on recidivism (re-offense rates). Every study I found, even those unfavorable to prison education, showed a strong direct relationship between the amount of education a prisoner receives in prison and the chances that he will stay out of prison once he is released. These studies show that the relationship holds even when the prisoners are compelled to educate themselves (sort of like pushing the dog through the storm door to show him there is no glass in it). The theory is that an education helps the “criminal” overcome his blindness to his options. An educated criminal begins to realize that just because he painfully banged his no on the “glass” a few times (for example, losing a good job because of unfair workplace practices), that doesn't mean the “glass” is always there. He learns what “glass” is (i.e. workplace politics, ethics, etc...) and learns to function in a word with “glass” in it.
Of course, it will be a long time methinks before the dog owner of this world (i.e. the authorities) learn how to properly traind the dogs of this world (criminals). In fact, in the last 30 years, education programs in prison have been reduced to practically nothing. It's almost as though someone figured out a great way to make a lot of money playing “dog catcher”. And the trauma that these poor ignorent “dogs” suffer is real, and profound. We punish them unjustly for their ignorance, and eventually bannish them to the yard, or put them to sleep. Euthanasia ends up being our only act of kindness.