Juvenile Delinquency

The Consequences

Angelica Peraza,

National University

A young teenager, merely seventeen years old; already sentenced to ten years in prison. One thing that impacted me the most was when watching the video of an African American teenager detained in juvenile hall was awaiting to serve his ten years in prison as soon as he turned eighteen was that this teenager said “For ten seconds of fame, it wasn't worth it.” This teenager has a baby daughter who at the end of his sentence will be a ten-year-old girl who will grow up in the mist of her most important years with her father. I can only imagine the regrets this teenager must have.

Moreover, I stop and think about all the consequences this teenager will face and the consequences his parents, siblings and the mother of his child will have to face in all those ten years he will not be at home living a teenager life. Instead, he will be serving time while the mother is worried and sad, the siblings go through a process of understanding what their brother did to deserve being locked up for so many years. The mother of his child will struggle alone trying to raise a child on her own. Now imagine the family members of the person or people that lost their lives. The grief they will go through, the pain and resentment they must feel, for not being able to do anything about it.

I believe the legal system did the right thing by sentencing this teenager for ten years in prison, because only this way will he learn and he will have plenty of time to straighten up his life in prison. Hopefully, when he comes out he will be careful of who he associates with, and monitor his behavior, because all those consequences were brought on for his behavior. Something he will have plenty of time to digest and will have to make changes so that another incident like this doesn't happen again.