Ep 30 Dr. Laura Abrams: Making the Clear Choice for Change

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the protests for social change, and the important Black Lives Matter movement, what choices can we make as individual’s and as a society to bring about social justice reform?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Joining me today on the podcast is Dr. Laura Abrams, professor of Social Welfare and Department Chair at UCLA. Her studies and focus are on improving the wellbeing of youth and young adults with histories of incarceration. She has a wealth of knowledge and information from her years of research about the juvenile justice system and social inequalities. Today she shares with us her experience and perspective of how our society is failing juveniles in the justice system and also how our society is failing Black people as a whole. She provides hope by giving us advice on how we can all make choices (and they aren’t massive!) that can create a big impact towards social change and equality.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr. Laura Abrams is the author of many publications including two books:</span> <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Compassionate-Confinement-Critical-Issues-Society/dp/0813554128"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Compassionate Confinement: A Year in the Life of Unit C</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Desistance-Transition-Adulthood-Incarcerated/dp/0813574463"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Everyday Desistance: The Transition to Adulthood Among Formerly Incarcerated Youth</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I also try to instill upon my social work students, what an honor it is to be a part of people’s lives at these critical times.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The big picture is you have a lot of young people that we don’t know how to care for, we don’t know how to help. Then you have a system that generally harms people, and in rare cases, helps you get better b