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- 2. March 2010: See No Evil
- 25. February 2010: Colorado Debates Direct File
- 18. February 2010: ENOUGH ALREADY!
- 9. February 2010: The History of Prison
- 8. February 2010: Juvenile Justice Policy
- 5. February 2010: Fairness in Our Criminal Justice System
- 25. January 2010: America's Prisons - A Citizen's Cry For Reform
- 16. January 2010: Abuse to Condemed - Connect The Dots
- 8. January 2010: A New Year - A New Language
- 7. January 2010: 2010 Begin Again
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Criminal Injustice - Juvenile Detention
When we are confronted with juveniles who have violated the rules, we have a system them deals with these young people and help to set them on the right path right? WRONG. Even the officials that are charged with running these facilities will tell you that they are not adequately prepared, educated, staffed or funded to deal with these young people and help them to become successful.
Because we have taken the focus off of our children in our communities, we leave the state to try and find solutions. Government entities are used to facilities. Facilities are sterile environments that house these individuals for predetermined terms of confinement. They are not structures or organizations of modeling and change, they are places of confinement.
We choose, as a society, not to take a look inside these facilities. We read the headlines involving juvenile crime statistics, shake our head and then forget about them. We also are not prepared to deal with the reality that it could very easily be your son or daughter. Our ZERO TOLERANCE attitude makes us feel that we are protecting our children. Then one day someone is not tolerant of your child’s youthful pranks and you and your family are plunged into a system that you were not prepared for. DON’T THINK SO?
Imagine that your child has asked permission to attend a birthday party for one of his/her friends at this friends home. Imagine that there is drinking at this party. Of course, if you had known this would happen, you would not have given your permission. How many of us engaged in this same activity when we were teenagers? Now imagine that the police show up at this party and arrests are made. Suddenly your son/daughter is calling you from a police station. You and your child will be faced with a system that you are not prepared to deal with. Suppose that your child ends up in court and is sentenced to a juvenile detention facility for 30 days. It can and does happen.
We cannot turn away from the problems in our communities or the lack of adequate and APPROPRIATE solutions. I believe that we do not address these issues because we would have to realize our responsibility and we would be forced to look at very ugly circumstances. The truth is….it is ugly, it is a mess, it is broken, it is in need of repair. We will not be able to make the changes necessary until we are willing to take off our rose colored glasses, roll up our sleeves and brave the awful truth. If you think I am exaggerating or you want a snapshot of what I am talking about, click on the link below. You can go inside of a juvenile detention facility and see for yourself. TIME magazine did an incredible job at presenting this story.
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/juveniles/