Post date:
First & Last Name:
Darby Larkin
SPP Grad Year:
May 2023!
Degree:
4+1 MPP
What made you want to pursue public policy/affairs/administration as a field? Why is it important to you?
My parents exposed me to politics and the ridiculous, convoluted nature of much of our government when I was little – I was having political conversations about reproductive rights, economic justice, and equality in third grade (I’m sure it was adorable). I always knew the government did not work quite right, and a lot of people were left out of government decisions. As I went through college and discovered my passion for social work with the justice-involved population, I continuously ran into the ways all levels of government create, maintain, or passively help systems of oppression that cause tangible harm in our communities. Simultaneously I saw that much of our population feels disempowered and disconnected from government. I wanted a solid, academic education about government so I could adequately advocate for folks who are impacted every day by government and policy and have no say in the decisions that can determine their life outcomes.
I looked back in one of my notebooks and found something I wrote in the beginning of the fall ‘22 semester when a professor asked us ‘Why are you here?’ in the master’s program. I wrote “I want to know how government works so I can find where I want to fit. Learn how things are supposed to get done, how they COULD get done, and how they DO get done so I can make them better.” It’s really important to me because I run a group at the Northampton Recovery Center and try to help folks who have been through the criminal justice system find ways to improve their own lives, on an individual level, and feel worthy enough to know they deserve better than what they have. We constantly run into how power is continuously taken away from them by parole, or by their DCF worker, or by the jail, or by the court system. I can say ‘These systems suck and it’s not okay they traumatize and harm you. I’m working to change them, and you can too.’ Then I can list off some of the legislation, advocacy, and agencies working to change those systems! People should feel they deserve a say in the government systems they interact with.
What change do you want to see in the world, and how can we get there?
Criminal justice, specifically jail reentry and local criminal justice systems, is my corner of the world right now. I want to see a justice system that sees people as human beings who are complex, almost always with trauma, and focuses on how to make the community better and stronger rather than how to punish people. I want to see immediate changes to how judges see the people in their courtrooms, how lawyers talk to their clients, how probation and parole as institutions see their purpose and how individual officers see their clients, shifts in the focus of correctional officer training, a humanizing, harm-reduction, and reentry-focused foundation to our laws and legal system, and a more empathetic community view of justice-involved individuals. The ultimate goal of those culture shifts is also an end and reversal of mass incarceration, a total reversal of our pervasive punitive culture (from the justice system to schools to parenting), and a complete re-envisioning of the purpose of our ‘justice’ system, from the ground up, at every single level, to focus on people as human beings.
There are a lot of visions for that totally new justice system, but the immediate changes that can and are happening now are court advocacy, sentencing mitigation, better funding for public defenders and assigned counsel, trauma-informed trainings for judges and all law enforcement, extensive and comprehensive community-based programs and treatment inside correctional facilities that bring the community into the facility and are responsive to the needs of the current population, the use of peer recovery services and bringing folks who have been through the justice system successfully in to run and build treatment programming, building reentry housing, and building communities that welcome services and welcome folks back home.
Please describe any work, volunteer work, or extracurriculars you are part of and how they have shaped your experience at SPP.
In my undergraduate senior year (when I started the 4+1) I built a website to complete my thesis on jail reentry programs in Upstate New York and continued interviewing folks who had built programs inside of jails. Actually talking to these folks, the ‘doers’ or implementers of policies, about their interactions with the state Department of Corrections, state and federal funding, the community, and local Sheriff’s Administrations was incredible for understanding how our systems work on the ground and what changes need to happen. What services these community-based services provide indicate where the gaps are that the government isn’t providing, and often what they don’t take into account but should. What people aren’t allowed to provide or where they find trouble shows where our system is actively restrictive and harmful, holding people back from fulfilling their potential. How much people have to work unpaid just to provide basic services to folks who are actively in the full-time care of the state really lays bare what a failure our system is.
During my full year of graduate studies full-time, I worked around 20 hours a week at Hampshire County Jail in Northampton as a reentry case manager (and have worked as a reentry case manager in Upstate New York during my undergrad just before starting my graduate studies). This work, meeting directly with incarcerated folks about their needs, the gaps in services, what their lives have been like, and trying to help them form a vision of a better life post-release had an immeasurable benefit. I see the direct human impacts of our justice system and our laws, and have gotten to talk to people about their experiences in court, with law enforcement, in jail and prison, on the streets, in homeless shelters, with CPS and the Department of Children and Families, trying to reach their lawyers, with HUD, and with the Department of Social Services/Department of Transitional Assistance. Nothing else will give you such a confusing sense of hopelessness, hope, and urgency.
What is/was your favorite SPP class? Why?
It’s really hard to pick one, but I think my favorite might be State and Local Leadership in the Millenial Era by Eric Lesser. He has real-world experience as a legislator as well as working on campaigns and in other facets of government, and he described his class as ROTC/Boot Camp for running for office!! It’s so exciting to put yourself in the place of someone running for office and really break down everything from message, to organization, to finances, to the composition of your electorate. He uses a lot of real-life examples that are relevant to us and the communities we know, and talks a lot about his personal experience. The class has been really helpful for understanding policy and government decision-making more tangibly, and connecting our studies to current events.
If you have completed an internship, where was it and what impact did it have on you?
During my undergrad senior year, while doing the 4+1, I interned at Hampshire County Jail in reentry where I later got hired! See above for my experiences and the impact it had, but advice I have is to always apply for the internship/job/volunteer experience, etc. There is no harm in applying, and know your worth as a candidate (especially if you’re free labor!!). I struggled a little getting approval for my internship because I could only go one day a week, but I persisted and knew what I brought to the table as an intern. They ended up loving me so much they hired me and have now been asking how they could convince me to stay in Western Massachusetts and come on full-time after I graduate! So know your worth and don’t get discouraged. And DO real-world experiences. They are so worth it.
What do you hope to do in the future?
I want to continue to work in frontline social work roles with the justice-involved population and elevate their voices, needs, and experiences to government spaces. To start, I am interning this summer with a criminal justice policy and social work agency working directly in the Saratoga and Albany communities for a Policy Fellowship with Civic Action Project. September to mid-December 2023 I’m driving across the country to explore (your 20s are also about YOU and having fun!!) and interview folks who provide jail reentry services and other services like Alternatives to Incarceration. I’m working on partnering with a UMass Professor and Foundation Relations to attempt to get foundation funding for an 8-12 month project in fall 2024 to drive back across the country, spending at least 1.5 weeks in at least 20 states, conducting interviews and focus groups, to study the frontline impacts of criminal justice policies. This would result in a report on specific laws and policies reporting to policy- and rulemakers, government agencies, and nonprofits what’s working and not working, WHY it’s working, what they need to be aware of when writing specific policies, the implementation struggles and successes, and other highly specific, relevant, and actionable information.
My plan is to do something slightly different every year for the next 10 years (working with the justice-involved population) and eventually become more directly involved in policy. This may be running for local or state office (possible running for Sheriff!), providing consultancy services, working directly with a legislator to connect more deeply with their community to write better policy, working for a large nonprofit to advocate for policies, or something totally different! But I will always follow my passions and ground my work in what’s needed on the ground!
What advice would you give to students considering a degree in public policy?
Do it!! You can do a million things with this degree, and it doesn’t take long. Definitely intern or work during it if you can – 20 hours a week is a LOT and I sacrificed a lot to fulfill class and work, so don’t work that much unless you have to financially (like I did). Try things out until you feel a spark of passion, and let yourself go down the rabbit hole. There are so many incredible agencies in Amherst and Northampton, and UMass Professors know about and are connected to many of them. Go to office hours, have meetings with your professors, learn about their work, ask more about the things that interest you, ask if they know anyone working on the things you’re interested in out in the world. Ask people for informational interviews, oftentimes people love to talk about themselves!! And that’s how you get the extra layer of understanding how this field works in the real world, which you just can’t get in a classroom.
