Project’s Intention

The intention behind my project is to make people realize that second chances in a society where we have an unjust and biased justice system are completely necessary. I hope my project helps open people’s eyes when it comes to changing the narrative to a positive one regarding returning citizens. I also hope for people to reflect and consider the question of whether or not is humane to incarcerate people in their youth and never reconsider giving them a second chance.

Project’s Impact

The impact of my project is very broad. It can go from people hiring returning citizens, and helping them with re-entry, to electing officials who believe in second chances and who believe in practicing justice in an unbiased way. 

Best & Worst Case Scenarios

The best case scenario would be for my audience to realize that incarcerating people in their youth and never giving them a second chance is inhumane and it doesn’t help with the idea of ‘rehabilitation’. Once people realize this, the best-case scenario would be for them to elect officials who believe in second chances.
On the other hand, the worst-case scenario would be people not understanding the message that the project is trying to send.

Personal Identity

My identity, as a Hispanic immigrant  23-year-old female, informs my approach to design because I understand that my experience is completely different from the people I will be working with. I also never experienced the justice system. Neither have my close friends and family. This means that before my project there needs to be a lot of dialogue and conversations that enlighten me with the participant’s expertise within their lived experiences. For instance, in this project, I will try to do my best to put my identity to the side to highlight the people I will be working with. My main concern when it comes to this project is portraying people exactly how they want to be portrayed which is why when it comes to this project I want to make sure that they’re the protagonists and I’m the ‘side character’. I will be directing the photoshoot and designing the booklet, but when it comes to what is shown and what is said I will make sure that is completely up to the guys I will working with. 

Being Inclusive

A community that might be missing from my project might be victims of crime. Given this, I will be mindful of the people that I’m excluding. I will make sure that my project acknowledges that there are victims of crime and that a second chance does not mean “letting everyone out” but rather considering people to be able to have parole and exoneration. My project doesn’t aim to hide that there are victims affected but rather highlight how biased the justice system is when it comes to sentencing people from the most vulnerable communities.