Out of Class Essay #2 : Giving a Second Chance to the Juveniles

Everybody in this world deserves a second chance. People may have done something unforgivable in their life but with the great willingness to change, why can’t we give them another shot in their life? Currently, gang fight, robbery, drugs, prostitution and murdering are no longer only committed by adults; there is actually a growing amount of minor offenders or juveniles. The numbers of juveniles’ crimes have proliferated and become one of the largest public concerns in the society. To overcome this issue, government established a juvenile justice system that diverts the youth offenders away from adult prison, and functions in encouraging rehabilitation based on the juveniles’ needs. Mark Salzman, the author of “True Notebook: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall”, shares his notable experiences in teaching writing for the students who most of them are murderer. Giving lectures at juvenile hall had changed Mark’s perspective of juveniles. Also, the informant Steve Mitchell who is an active officer in juvenile hall gives his view of the significance of the juvenile justice system as well. After reading the book and having had an interview session, I came to the thought that the juveniles should not be treated as adults; they should be given an opportunity to change themselves through rehabilitation.

Reading the book “True Notebook” has changed my perspective about teenagers who commit crime. Firstly, I feel that the juvenile justice system is redundant as the juveniles are most likely to lose the case and sentenced to be housed in jail for a long period of time. The juvenile hall only act as a mean of transportation as these juveniles will be sent to adult prison once they reach the age of 18. Based on my initial judgment, if someone commits a crime, regardless of their age, should not be forgiven and given second chance as it is their nature to commit crime and it is almost impossible to change someone nature. However, my judgment was altered; the book and interview session has changed my perception about juvenile justice system. Steven Mitchell argues that by locking the juveniles for months will not change anything, as what they really need are programs that can help to shape their mind and behavior.

So, once they are released to the society, they would not repeat the same mistakes again. Juvenile hall provides education, meditation, psychiatric medication and other volunteer activities for the delinquents. He believes that through these programs, the juveniles’ characters are reshaped where it will make significant changes on their behavior. They were trapped in dark side of the world and we ought to help them through juvenile hall.

Parents have significant roles in juvenile crime .The absences of their figures is the main reason why kids bear criminal behaviors and join gangs. Victor, one of Mark’s students, denounces the society as they judge him without knowing what condition forces him to commit youth delinquency. He has no father who can provide his family needs. His mother does not care about his education and even insisted him to look for a job. Victor writes, “[the society] don’t know what it’s like to grow up not having a role model in your life”(290). Parents are the first members of primary socialization and their presence is crucial as it the growth of child’s behavior. It is their duty to protect and to educate their child, but nowadays, there are many children who are deprived from it. Consequently, these adolescents might end up joining gangs as they are getting the attention and protection from their fellow gang members, the attention and protection they are lacking from their parents. Mostly, these juveniles are having problems with their families at home and it triggers their urge to find other social groups, like gangs, that will provide them with affection instead of problems and also accepting them as who they are. This marks the start of their delinquency, as their parents are not there to guide and punish them. Thus, by sentencing them behind the bars would not change their behavior but instead, making it worse.  Therefore, they ought to be sent to juvenile hall instead of prison.

Sending teenage offenders to juvenile hall could reshape their behavior. These youths are the lawbreakers and they need to be disciplined in order to stop them from repeating the same mistakes. In “True Notebook”, Mark indicates two methods used by the officers to control the youths, which are “Special Handling Unit” and “Lockdown”. Jimmy Wu, Mark’s student, describes Box, another term of SHU, as a “solitary confinement, with a video camera watching [them] 24/7”(36). It is a brilliant way to isolate the youths who disobey the rules, such as: fighting or smoking, for a couple of days as it allows them to introspect on themselves, reflecting back on their action and attitude. Students’ writing proves the effectiveness of this method. In their writing, many of them said that if they are able to go back to the past, they do not want contribute in a gang’s activities. They deeply regretted for their action as one of the student wrote, “[i] can’t do much about what happened except regret my stupidity and look towards the future”(178). After that, to increase the disciplinary, sometimes the youths are lockdown. It happens if a fight breaks out, then the whole unit gets punished. By doing this, the youths’ disciplines are trained and they learned to obey the rules. Juvenile justice system controls and alters the youths’ behavior. Being sentenced to adult prison will only worsen the juveniles’ situation as they are being locked with adults. The juveniles are mixed up with adults that committed serious crimes and they might influence the youths to commit an even more serious crime than what they did. Hence, juvenile hall provides a good environment for the youths to stay away from having bad criminal’ minds.

Furthermore, the education given by Juvenile hall benefits the youths to dig out the self-potency that they never knew. In juvenile hall, the youths are required to attend school during the probation. Throughout the lessons given, Marks says in his novel that there are not much people who are not surprised with the youths’ writing skills. They are actually not as bad as they seen. Steven Mitchell argues, “the youths have more good than bad, but the bad outweigh the good”. People perceive that the juveniles absolutely have a bleak future. They believe that these youths can only do nothing but crimes. In “True Notebook”, Six of Mark students are able to graduate from high school and receive their diploma degree. By receiving this title, it shows to the society that they all are qualified youths. This does not apply to these six of Mark’s students only; it applies to all the juveniles in the world as they all have hidden talents that are yet to be discovered.  Francisco Javier states, ”damn! I had no idea how talented I was” (59). Juvenile justice system does not only act as a holding facility as it also gives an opportunity for the juveniles to keep on learning during their probation by providing them with the appropriate education. Steven Mitchell says about a kid who had been released, saying that he would not get a proper job if he was not sent to the juvenile hall. For some of the juveniles who are facing financial difficulties, it maybe an advantage to be sent to the juvenile hall as it is better than living on the street which might lead them to commit more crime. Furthermore, these juveniles will be schooled in the juvenile hall.  Thus, by sending them to the juvenile hall, it will be better for them as they would not receive any schooling in the adult prison.

Placing the delinquents to juvenile justice system is more suitable instead of incarcerating them in the jails because they are treated properly inside the juvenile hall. Steve Mitchell affirms that the youths are given 3 meals a day, 2 times of snacks and free time to socialize with the peers every day. They are allowed to watch television in dayroom or play sports just like other normal kids. Mark writes that juvenile justice system provides nurse regulars that offer psychiatric medication for those who need it. There are many youths who cannot stop thinking about their cases. Jimmy, Mark’s student, states that when a guy loses his cases there is high possibility that he might consider suicidal (36). In this case, the nurses help the youths to prevent it through therapy and teaching them how to improve their quality of life. Afterwards, the juvenile hall also hosted sports Olympic which encourage the youths to do other activities instead of creating chaos. Moreover, the juveniles are also given various entertainment events such as cowboy show and retreat for the writing class. The services and activities in juvenile hall create a positive environment for the youths to change themselves. The delinquents cannot be punished as adult because metallically, their minds are still immature. If they are subjected to the same penalties as adults, we are not giving them any chances to get better education or any kind of rehabilitation. In short, imprison them is almost the same as throwing their life away without giving them any hope to have a better future.

The Juveniles are still young and we cannot take their life by punishing them in jails.  By sentencing them behind the bars, it would worsen their condition as the adults might be a bad influence for them.  We should give opportunities for the youths to develop their talent in both academics and non-academics. Lacking of education and guidance are the main reasons why they are committing youth delinquency. In order to overcome that, we ought to help them based on their needs. Throughout the juvenile justice system, the youth being educated, matured and given a second chance to show the society that they are not as bad as what people are stereotyping about them. By treating the teenage offenders in the same way as we treat the adults, it might create hatred inside them and they might commit an even more serious crime once they are released to the society. Therefore, the rehabilitation should be given and focused on the delinquents.