Tales from the Oddside 3: Accidental Instructions

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 *This is an older story written for one of my Criminal Justice classes. I'm not sure which one, but given the topic matter, it's most likely "Prisons and Society". There is a slight in-joke here, the novel the young man is awaiting is part of a series I haven't had a chance to finish up. I need to, if only so I can cross it off my list of stories I want to work on."


Well, if I do publish that one, it'll be on AO3 under my fan fiction pen name. along with one other piece as well. Anyway, I have a degree in Criminal Justice and am only one class short of a minor in Sociology. I did actually visit one of the Idaho State prisons as part of my degree program, and it was rather chilling. It was a maximum security facility, but they had all the inmates out in general population, so we were walking amongst convicted murderers and rapists. Let me tell you, for the most part, they look just like you and me.

There was a lot of talk in my upper division classes about the "scared straight" program and whether or not the program actually worked. We also did a lot of study on "nature vs. nurture" as well, though that theory has less to do with this story than the last. I always came down more or less dead center for both of these theories, but especially any program that attempts to scare teens and young adults badly enough to change their behavior. They have to either want to change, or be willing to do the work to change, and truly be willing to listen. Otherwise the adults are more or less talking to themselves.

I do like the ambiguity at the end of this one though.

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