Interning with the Board of Executive Clemency is exciting, yet challenging. It challenges your way of thinking about fair justice. In one side you can understand victim services point of view, at another the Department of Corrections point of view, and in the end the job of the Board that I work for. I am getting to know the Board more and more each day. I am beginning to see how each individual brings a load of knowledge, experience and comprehensive skill in each and every situation they face.
Dealing with cases day by day can bring a load of stress. Honestly, I do not know how they do this and still maintain a smile at the end of the day.
I am learning so much from them. Some of the things I have learned is how each one can have questions that lead to how they are going to decide at the end. Good listening skills are a must. After all, they are watching the security of all citizens of Arizona by allowing an inmate to leave or stay in our prison system. I find it fascinating that inmates have the ability to speak on their behalf and to change the way that their sentence will be carried.
I still have a lot to learn and I can't wait to ask one of them if I can interview them at a personal level and ask all the questions I have each and every time I see them at the hearings. Some of these questions would be; How do they carry all of this information home with them? Does it affect they way of living? Are there any cases that they wished they had voted different on? If you were not doing this type of work, what would you be doing?
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