Julie McCabe-Sterr
“I don’t want to give up on people, and I don’t want them to give up on themselves.
“Sometimes [ex-offenders] have been given up on so many times: by family, by friends, by teachers, that we’re the first people that don’t give up on them. And if we don’t give up on them and we can make them believe in themselves, rather than just sending them back to prison for their second, their third, their fourth [sentence] …
“Isn’t it more important that we can continue to give them the skills and the support they need so they don’t go back and do that?
“These are good people who, due to bad circumstances, committed crimes. They have paid the price for those crimes. And now they want to give back to their community and they’re just looking for an opportunity.”
Julie McCabe-Sterr
Will County drug-court coordinator
Joliet, Illinois
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