Book Analysis: Last Chance In Texas

1046 Words3 Pages

Last Chance in Texas Last Chance in Texas dives into the lives of juveniles in the criminal justice system. It shows the step and progress in which administration take to assist these troubled youths to redemption and send them back into society as productive members. In this book Hubner shines light on the Giddings State School for the worst of the worst youths. What made this school unique is that they were producing results like no other. This paper addresses the core issues, policies of the school, and a situation that I would do differently.
The Golding States school has a rigorous program where repeated offenders who are facing 25 to life sentences. These youths have committed horrendous crimes and have been labeled as lost cost by …show more content…

In doing so they revisit their childhood, and face problems that they have long buried. It does not matter how though they believe they are; no one can fake it, or go through the motions. Because it will eventually catch up with them and they break down. The reason being is that they see the people in their group 24/7, and at some point it catches up to them. Through the program they learn to face their problems head on and not burry them or run away from them. In doing this they learn how to take responsibility for their actions and realize when they are wrong. They learn how to be responsible of their lives in how to control their anger, how to rationalize their actions and how to realize when they need to remove themselves from a bad situation. These are skills they never learned as a …show more content…

In doing so it showed how powerless and mentally damage these children were. It is not by far an excuse for their actions. But is does show how these children were seeking for the love and acceptance of someone, anyone. This led them down path of destruction. This program is a huge success and has 74 percent rate of recidivism (Hubner, 2005, xxi). This is due to the fact that they are treated like human being and children. Their lives at the school revolves around the concept of resocialization, from lodging, to their therapy sessions, to their schools, to their vocational programs, to recreation program which is football (Hubner, 2005, xxi). This allows the youths to learn and grow from their actions in an area where they are being

Show More
Related

  • A Look at the Conflicts of the Juvinile Court System in “No Matter How Loud I Shout” by Edward Humes

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    ..., poorly operated, and in the end fails to properly attain its goals due to an overload of cases. There is a continuation of failures for the juveniles by the system, like George, who has needed proper help, since being a ward of the state since age five. The book showed me a definite need for the juvenile system that I did not know existed. Hopefully the system will be further improved and children can be helped out a lot earlier in their lives. Although there are many cases of how bad the system is, some of the juveniles got their lives together, such as Carla. I thought the most impressive and most beneficial rehabilitation was the pace school for the disabled, the teen mentioned in the program was Andre. Andre underwent a complete transformation because of the program; I think that the program is one that should be further looked into as a good choice of rehab.

    Read More

  • Rios Punished Summary

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ubiquitous criminalization: Meaning the school institution attaches a label to these youth who had been victimized by crime and are often a threat to the school environment. As such, the school saw them as plotting to commit violence as a means to avenge their victimization. As such, the school commonly accused the boys of truancy of the days that they missed recovering from violent attacks and used this as justification to expel them from school (Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino Boys, pg6&7). Shadowing marginalized youth: Young males who lived in communities heavily affected by criminal justice policies and practices, delinquent inner-city youths, those at the frontline of the war on crime and mass incarceration. Observing masculinity: Masculinity affects the lives of these boys, from the expectation of violence. Youth Demographics: Neighborhood with high violent-crime rates and had sibling or friends who had been previously involved with crime. (Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys, PG 14&17) The purpose is for society to have a depth understanding to how these young boys try, so that there not punished as youth; rather create opportunity and understanding rather than constraining

    Read More

  • Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hubner, John. Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth. New York: Random House, 2005. Print.

    Read More

  • Article Review: Turning Off The School-To-Prison Pipeline

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    For my second article review I decided to do mine over the article Harry Wilson titled Turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline. The main theme that this particular article deals with is how our school systems have become a direct pipeline for kids to end up in prison and the way to break this pipeline is through our schools changing certain policies they operate by. The main topic of this article that the author talks about frequently that contributes to the “pipeline” is the zero tolerance rule that school systems follow. The author speaks frequently about how the zero tolerance policy is a key factor to the school-to-prison pipeline being eliminated. Throughout the entire duration of the article the reader can expect to be confronted with

    Read More

  • The Struggles of a Gifted Student in "And Still We Rise," Miles Corwin

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel offers insight into a corrupted system that is failing today’s youth. This system places children into state custody with environments that are academically and socially incompetent. These children suffer within a corrupted system that denies resources and attention during the most crucial period in their emotional development. They develop very few meaningful adult relationships, endure damaging environments, and ultimately become trapped in a system that often leads to a prison life.

    Read More

  • Arguments For and against Waiver

    928 Words  | 2 Pages

    Juvenile Justice Reforms in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2011, from Juvenile Transfer to Criminal Courts: http://www.ojjdp.gov

    Read More

  • Life Imprisonment for a Fifteen Year Old Juvenile

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the United States, each year, there are numerous juvenile delinquents who are given mandatory life prison sentences. This paper will explain how a troubled boy at the age of 15 winds up being convicted, receiving one of the harshest punishments in the United States, and what actions may prevent future occurrence of this event happening to the lives of other delinquent youth.

    Read More

  • the school to prison pipeline

    1989 Words  | 4 Pages

    The school to prison pipeline is a phenomenon that refers to the practices and policies that have pushed school children, especially the most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile justice system. This disturbing occurrence indicates the prioritization of incarceration over the education of children. Most alarmingly, many of the children being targeted have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect. Instead of being targeted, these children would much rather benefit from additional counseling and educational services. Moreover, the knowledge acquired in this course will be incorporated in this paper and used to explain the points made. In this term paper, what will be discussed is the expansion of the zero tolerance policy, the different views on the policy, who is mostly targeted, the effects on the juveniles and any alternative solutions that could diminish this dismaying occurrence for becoming a larger problem.

    Read More

  • Determinate Sentencing: Last Chance in Texas

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hubner, J. (2005). Last Chance in Texas. The Redemption of Criminal Youths. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Boot Camps Do Not Reduce Juvenile Delinquency

    2996 Words  | 6 Pages

    Juvenile delinquency is a relatively new phenomenon. For this reason, society’s reactions and solutions to the problem of delinquency are also modern developments. The United States developed the first youth court in 1899 and is now home to many new and formerly untested methods of juvenile rehabilitation and correction. One of many unique programs within the Juvenile Justice system, boot camps are institutions designed to keep delinquent juveniles out of traditional incarceration facilities and still provide a structured method of punishment and rehabilitation. Boot camps developed in the early 1990s and quickly proliferated throughout the nation. Specifically, they are “…short-term residential programs modeled after military basic training facilities” (Meade & Steiner, 2010). Designed with the goal of reducing recidivism and preventing violent offenses, boot camps target non-violent individuals under the age of 18 and typically exclude already violent offenders. In theory, boot camps apprehend juveniles while they are committing minor delinquency and prevent more-serious crime by “giving the juvenile offender a more optimistic, community oriented outlook” (Ravenell, 2002). Fundamentally, boot camps have four central purposes; rehabilitation, punishment, deterrence, and cost control (Muscar, 2008).

    Read More

  • From Juvenile Justice School To Prison Pipeline

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the most recent years, the relationship between educational institutions and the juvenile justice system, which was once created to protect children, has displayed an ultimatum for minors through “zero tolerance” policies that result in sending individuals from school to prison to pipeline. Studies have shown that these policies are not beneficial to students or the educational environment that should be guaranteed to children. Opponents argue that the policies promote safety, but through this research it can be concluded that the policies actually increase danger. Studies demonstrate the factors that affect the enforcement of these policies which include media, the sociopolitical atmosphere, and the racial disproportionality, yet there are valid solutions for this issue that can be explored.

    Read More

  • No Matter How Loud I Shout

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book, No Matter How Loud I Shout, takes an in-depth look at the juvenile court system in the state of California in the 1990s. Through a colorful narrative story the author, Edward Humes, paints of vivid picture of the how dysfunctional the system truly was. The main focus is on the various ways the system has failed many of the juveniles that it is intended to help. Peggy Beckstrand, the Deputy District Attorney, says it best “The first thing you learn about this place, is that nothing works.” (No Matter How Loud I Shout, 1996, p.31)

    Read More

  • America's Juvenile Justice System

    3741 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Juvenile Justice system, since its conception over a century ago, has been one at conflict with itself. Originally conceived as a fatherly entity intervening into the lives of the troubled urban youths, it has since been transformed into a rigid and adversarial arena restrained by the demands of personal liberty and due process. The nature of a juvenile's experience within the juvenile justice system has come almost full circle from being treated as an adult, then as an unaccountable child, now almost as an adult once more.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Recidivism

    3195 Words  | 7 Pages

    Tulman, J. B. (2008). Time to Reverse the School-to-Prison Pipeline. (Cover story). Policy & Practice (19426828), 66(1), 22-27.

    Read More

  • Texas Juvenile Justice System

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    To bring Texas in line with the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions and further the state’s efforts of creating a restorative justice system, legislation should be enacted that would raise the age of those covered by the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts to include seventeen-year-olds. This legislation would not completely deny the ability for a seventeen-year-old to be tried or punished as an adult in extraordinary circumstances. Other provisions of Texas law currently enacted, such as discretionary judicial waiver and blended sentencing, allow a youth to be treated as an adult by the justice system but do so on a basis that considers the individual circumstances of each case. By removing this harmful one size fits all classification, Texas can successfully restore more young men or women to a productive position in society after his or her interaction with the justice

    Read More

More about Book Analysis: Last Chance In Texas

Open Document