According to a recent audit, once they have graduated, many are confined to their rooms with little to do during class time, researchers discovered. So instead of being rewarded for what they have accomplished, the youth are effectively penalized by suddenly having far fewer programming options than the non-graduates. This news comes as there are more high school graduates in LA’s juvenile probation facilities due to legislation that allows some students to gain their diplomas with fewer credits, according to the county’s probation department.
Probation officials also said, in their response to the report, that the department is working to create more programming for its graduates due to the survey’s findings. This includes implementing more college-level courses. According to Miranda, it’s an area the department is actively seeking to expand. She added that one school also has a pilot program that aims to prepare students who have graduated to enter the workforce.
Miesha bo luver and any other uninformed persons who have similar beliefs.
If you look into our juvenile justice population, you will see that we are predominantly serving youth who have been victims of serious traumatic events and that come from less than ideal homes, to put it lightly. Look a little further into general adolescent brain development and you will see that the normal neurological process for teens gives us further understanding why teens are more prone to impulsivity and risk taking behaviors. The research goes on to show us that the young brain is still forming up to the age of twenty something. What this means is that youthful offenders are very amenable to treatment and a significant number of them will simply grow out of the behavior. It is also possible to hold a youth accountable for their actions, while acknowledging and treating their experiences as victims themselves.
If these facts don’t allow you to humanize these young people, and you still choose to see them solely in the light of criminals that need punishment, then I would have you consider this. Of those kids that don’t simply mature out of the behavior, those youth that have deep seated trauma and other mental health issues, what happens when they get out if we just punish them? Almost all of these kids will be returned to the community someday. They will live in our city’s, in our neighborhoods. They will either find jobs, or find criminal enterprise to meet their needs, period. Let that sink in because it’s really that simple.
We are getting the most marginalized youth and we usually have this one last chance to offer them more than just a class or program, we are offering them hope. The research is all there, youthful offenders are highly amenable to programming and there is evidence based programming that works. If the issue is money, consider what the cost savings is of diverting a youth from being a lifelong offender with costs to the community, courts and jails/prisons. I don’t have a solution on how to fix the problem, which is the broken communities and homes that these kids come from, but we have an opportunity here, in our facilities, to offer them a true chance at a different life. I hope that we, as a country, in spite of political affiliation, can come together to agree that we as a nation value our future generations enough to make our juvenile justice system effective rather than another way to push them further out into the margins of our society.
R.M., former incarcerated youth, current juvenile facility staff.
Hey Madaline! You actually believe what these kids say? Wow!! There are more opportunities for these kids who are graduates that live in camp then you can dream of. SAT courses college courses etc… What a piece of crap article who have written here. Typical liberal garbage. These “kids” are freakin criminals some are violent sexual offenders, some are attempted murderers. These aren’t kids who steal candy or break curfew. Horrible piece here.
Could you present some evidence on that? And do you think just because a child or an adolescent commits a criminal offense – they should still be treated like adult offenders? I guess you call yourself a god-respecting conservative too? It is liberal- and specifically neoliberal politics that makes the USA the only country in the world that locks its children up like this. Or that has such aproblem with keeping its children safe. What do you think it takes to “make” a child born in the USA a criminal? Are you going to tell me it is “just in their blood”? Put your evidence where your mouth is, please.