Submitted by: Submitted by uriah11
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Pages: 7
Category: Other Topics
Date Submitted: 08/26/2010 12:33 AM
Investing in Children:
Troubled Teens in Adult Prisons
If you could make an investment, what would you invest in? If you had a choice between spending your money on supporting a youth in prison or investing in his rehabilitation to better his life and better the community as well, which would you choose? It seems that lawmakers have chosen to lock children in unspeakable and potentially unsafe conditions spending $40,000 a year to support them instead of investing a fraction of that cost to rehabilitate them. Investing in the rehabilitation of the youth helps not only the child but also the community and society as a whole.
There are two ways to look at the kids that are locked in prisons with adults; one way to look at them is to see the child as vulnerable. These vulnerable children find themselves in a system where they can rely only on uncertainty. Instead of providing the stability that these kids need, prison replicates the inconsistency and neglect that many of them have already experienced in their earlier lives. (Lyon 2004)
The other way to look at the children is to see them as dangerous criminals that are harder to control than the adults that they are being locked up with. (Turpin 1997)
Investing in Children 3
Juveniles that are locked in adult prisons tend to be more violent towards the guards and other inmates. Behind bars, punishment is doled out more swiftly than guidance, and juvenile offenders learn to use their fists to gain respect or risk getting assaulted themselves. They grow angrier, even hateful toward authority. (Villa 2004. par 5)
My Son was one of these troubled teens that were sentenced to an adult prison at the age of 15. He had to serve 5 ½ years going from one prison to the next. In those years, I have seen the lack of supervision from the guards and the abuse that he had to endure. He had to fight; fighting is not an option for a young child who is in...