Cierra White E-Portfolio

In my Stress and Crisis in the family class we reflected on how Incarceration can affect family stress discussing criminal justice and family institutions. In this reflection I discussed how incarceration contributes to a lot of stress such as disenfranchised grief, that incarceration is basically an ambiguous loss of a family member, and the stress that a child faces with an incarcerated parent. This class was one of my first few sociology classes so this reflection just touches the surface of what it means to think and write in a sociological manner. The structure of this reflection is formal in nature. I discuss the effects of Incarceration and the criminal justice system of families and children in stages such as early childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. Something I love about my writing on this reflection is that I propose social policy changes to help make incarceration less burdensome on the family structure. Overall, I think this is a very solid introduction writing into what it means to think sociologically about the Criminal justice system as a social institution. In my race and racism class we discussed the family institution in regards to gender and sexuality. This writing is more sociological as I took this class later in my educational path and had a better understanding of key concepts such as gender being socially constructed, analyzing and reflecting on the effects of gender and sexuality, and social perspectives such as the conflict perspective. In my Race and Racism class we also discussed and reflected on the criminal justice system. In this reflection my writing has become more sociological and stronger in nature as I am able to connect my learning across multiple disciplines such as political science, sociology, and history. I was able to connect key connections of social phenomena, racial ideologies, and the history of inequality to reflect upon the devastating impacts of the criminal justice system on families of color.

Hello Everyone! My name is Cierra White and I am a student in the Comier Honors College at Longwood University. I am a Political Science major with a minor in History and a Pre-Law concentration. At a young age I knew that I wanted to help make America a better place for all people regardless of race, gender, or  their socioeconomic background. After obtaining my baccalaureate degree in Political Science I hope to continue my academic journey at law school. My future aspirations included becoming a lawyer or a public servant. I look forward to my collegiate journey in the Political Science Department and Longwood Honors program.

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