A skillfully-done feature about a retiring juvenile justice official--himself a one-time "delinquent." Rebecca Sheir has put evident energy into making the most of a simple assignment: profile Gary Caddell using just sit-down interviews with him and with a former client from his time as a probation officer. The piece is assembled with quick pacing and back-and-forthing between the narrator and the interviewees. It's marred a bit by occasionally cliche'd writing. The former delinquent girl had "fallen in with a bad crowd" that committed assault and other "extracurriculars." The piece opens with the inevitable slam of the prison door, but in what I suspect is a sly acknowledgment of that sonic cliche, Sheir lets us hear her asking Caddell to "do that again." And he does.
Review of Behind the Slamming Door
John Biewen
Posted on April 01, 2007 at 10:21 AM
A skillfully-done feature about a retiring juvenile justice official--himself a one-time "delinquent." Rebecca Sheir has put evident energy into making the most of a simple assignment: profile Gary Caddell using just sit-down interviews with him and with a former client from his time as a probation officer. The piece is assembled with quick pacing and back-and-forthing between the narrator and the interviewees. It's marred a bit by occasionally cliche'd writing. The former delinquent girl had "fallen in with a bad crowd" that committed assault and other "extracurriculars." The piece opens with the inevitable slam of the prison door, but in what I suspect is a sly acknowledgment of that sonic cliche, Sheir lets us hear her asking Caddell to "do that again." And he does.