Kids in Prison

Brian Robinson

May 4, 2020

For my finally blog post I pick the topic kids in prison and the video I pick for this paper was Juvenile detention, Kids behind bars, Children in Prison documentary. There are 2,200 juveniles serving life sentences without the possibility of parole and 60% of those juveniles are black. I think that is a big problem in our country that’s not getting the right attention it needs the court system is letting these young males grow up in the prison system and putting them back on the streets like it’s normal. These kids have been gone for 10 to 20 years without getting the right help they needed while incarcerated and people think that’s fine. In the documentary it said “kids as young as 13 have been sentenced to life in prison without parole” but what make things worst only 5% of the youth are arrested for crimes of homicide, rape, robbery or aggravated assault. So, your putting these kids on trial as adults for these minor crimes and giving them harass punishments so you can make an example out of them and it’s really mess up.  The states North Carolina and New York kept the law that youth as young as 16 years old can be charged as adults and be sent to adult prisons. The school system is another reason why these kids are getting into trouble at a young age because there making schools like jails. In 2008 New York City had 5,246 law enforcement officers in its public schools and only had 3,152 guidance counselors (Edelman, 2017, p.123) this is a prime example of money not being used for the right thing. Teenagers are not fully developed at the ages of 15 and 16 so by exposing them to life behind bars at a young age is gone mess their thought process up.

Imagine you put a 16-year-old boy in a State prison for 20 years there are so many things that could go wrong. First the kid is in jeopardy of being beaten by older inmates and staff next younger people in jail are more likely to be threatened with weapons in jail. On top of that you’re not letting these kids get their diploma while in jail and you’re not offering any youth development programs so you expect this 16-year-old boy who served 20 to just come back into society like things are normal. Now it’s gone be hard for him to find a job because he felony so how is he gone make money? and most likely he gone go back to his old habits so he can survive. Three things that separate kids from adults are the lack of maturity, inability to appreciate the consequences of their actions and juveniles are more vulnerable and they are susceptible to negative influence.  In the book policing the black man Christopher Armstrong was charged in federal court in Los Angeles with distribution of crack cocaine, several firearms offenses and other felonies. His lawyer was an attorney in a public defender office and had been keeping track of the number of African Americans who went to federal court for these types of offenses. They noticed that it appeared that all African Americans charged with these offenses were charged in federal court while white defendants charged with the same offenses were charged in state court (Davis, 2017, p.184).

While watching the documentary she talks about a good point saying, “There are a lot of kids behind bars saying the developmental and education programs are considered privileges and are not considered mandatory rights”. If these kids commit minor violations while in jail their chances of being apart these programs are low, it’s hard for a kid in a negative environment to stay focus and out of trouble. Then the punishment for these violations could be solitary confinement and that’s the harass thing you can give to a 17-year-old boy. It doesn’t make sense to me to put a 17 – year – old boy in a box for 23 hours a day and what makes it worst they leave these kids in solitary confinement for years. So basically, your letting a kid grow up in a box and I just find that so sick. If we don’t fix this problem and start giving our youth the right tools in life so they can be great people in the future were just setting our youth up for failure.

 

 

Juvenile Detention, Kids Behind Bars, Children’s in Prison Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb-WXuracqM

 

Edelman, Peter. Not A Crime to Be Poor. United States: The New Press, 2017

Davis, Angela J., Policing the Black Man. United States: Pantheon Books, 2017

 

 

 

One thought on “Kids in Prison

  1. I have seen Kids Behind Bars; it is ridiculous that these children are given life without parole. Children that are in these positions are not given the tools they need to survive in the world. If they are not guided in the right direction, they will most likely end up doing what they were previously before being incarcerated. Giving minors a harsh sentence to make an example out of them is not an excellent deterrent for individuals following the same path as they are. If the criminal justice system offered these children ways to keep themselves out of trouble, there would not be as many children in prisons for life. Helping them understand what is acceptable in society and providing them with resources could prevent the crimes from occurring.

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