TED Talk, Shaka Senghor (2014) Why your worst deeds don’t define you
In 1991, Shaka Senghor shot and killed a man. He was, he says, « a drug dealer with a quick temper and a semi-automatic pistol. » Jailed for second degree murder, that could very well have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t. Instead, it was the beginning of a years-long journey to redemption, one with humbling and sobering lessons for us all.
Why you should listen
At the age of 19, Shaka Senghor went to prison fuming with anger and despair. Senghor was a drug dealer in Detroit, and one night, he shot and killed a man who showed up on his doorstep. While serving his sentence for second-degree murder, Senghor discovered redemption and responsibility through literature — starting with The Autobiography of Malcolm X — and through his own writing.
Upon his release at the age of 38, Senghor reached out to young men following his same troubled path, and published Live in Peace as part of an outreach program bringing hope to kids in Detroit and across the Midwest. His activism attracted the attention of the MIT Media Lab, and as a Director’s Fellow, Senghor has collaborated on imagining creative solutions for the problems plaguing distressed communities. His memoir, Writing My Wrongs, was published in 2013.
The SEED (Skills for Effective Engagement, and Development) pilots were conducted between Spring 2011 and Spring 2012. Their purpose was to develop and test out a practice skills model based on the best international evidence about the impact of effective engagement with offenders on reducing reoffending. The model consists of core training followed by quarterly follow up training that teams of practitioners (offender managers) attend together with their team manager Senior Probation Officer (SPO), and continuous professional development (CPD) to support learning. The aim of the model is to bring about cultural change to enable professional practice and a focus on quality outcomes. SEED has now been brought together with a piloted model for reflective supervision to produce the SEEDS model (Skills for Effective Engagement, Development and Supervision). This is an integrated organisational and practice model intended to bring about the consistent application of evidence in day to day work with offenders. SEEDS is a non-mandatory approach that has been adopted by almost all probation trusts.
Vacheret Marion, Cousineau Marie-Marthe (2005)
