Sherrybaby Film Analysis

Sherrybaby is a film about a recovering heroin addict named Sherry Swanson. Sherry has just been released from prison after a three year sentence and moves into a half-way, sober living house. She meets with her new parole officer to establish the rules of her community supervision and with that she is left to her own devices to once again become a part of her community. Sherry must deal with meeting with her parole officer, finding a job, re-establishing a connection with her family and daughter, and more; all the while attempting to maintain sober in the exact society that led her to drug use in the first place. Throughout the film Sherry attempts to successfully re-enter the public in hopes of getting her life together and become a better mother. What has been discussed in class and covered in the materials we have been assigned absolutely correlates with what occurs in the movie. Throughout the course thus far, we have learned about rehabilitation, parole, and recidivism in the criminal justice system. This movie perfectly exemplifies and highlights the …show more content…
Punishment in the form of incarceration is inevitable, especially in a society that tends to be tough on crime. However, how a person does after they have served their time is incredibly important and can be. The first step to helping ex-offenders is making people aware of the stigmatism that comes with having a record. People make bad choices in life sometimes, but they can also learn from them, and having a record shouldn’t affect the way you look at a person. The next, most important step, is changing policy and creating programs that will allow people previously incarcerated an equal chance to thrive in society to keep them from re-offending. With the right programs and policies in place, ex-offenders can get off on the right foot and hopefully keep from committing any more