Everyone is dealt their personal, unique set of cards at birth. Some come with privilege; others act as a disservice. Every background is an integral component of the adult that a child grows to become. However, a common misinterpretation is that where you come from is the sole determinant of where you are going. In Mystic River, Dennis Lehane uses abnormal childhood events paradoxically to portray that a difficult childhood can serve as a long term benefit and a privileged childhood can be a detriment. While portrayed as a permanent detriment, juvenile detention has the potential to turn delinquent children into successful adults. According to a study done on youth in the legal punishment system, adolescents who serve in adult prisons are …show more content…
(Bandes). Clearly, prison does not generally serve juveniles well. The purpose is for criminals to face punishment and come out changed and unwilling to return to a life of crime. Prison is a life altering time for all criminals, especially children who are at a very influential stage in life. Instead of achieving correction, it molds juvenile criminals into more violent versions of themselves who present more of threat to society coming out than they do after sentencing. In Mystic River, a central character finds himself in adult prison in his early teenage years after stealing his teacher’s car as a practical joke: “Jimmy was driving and he took it for a hell of a spin around Buckingham, beeping the horn and waving to girls, and gunning the engine until a police cruiser spotted them and they ended up totaling the car against a dumpster” (Lehane 41). According to the study, Jimmy is statistically destined for a life of crime. Combining his young age and the prison system, Jimmy seems like a perfect example of how the justice system turns criminals into darker versions of themselves. However, Lehane flips the script as he describes Jimmy’s new life: “Thirteen years since he’d walked out of prison, and he owned a corner …show more content…
However, while the “perfect childhood” is often viewed as having both parents at home, going to private school, and staying out of trouble, it does not always produce successful adults. Academically, attending a private or college preparatory high school provides an advantage. From grade 10 to graduate school, private school students fare better academically than their peers in public schools (Brean). With smaller class sizes and higher paid teachers, it is widely known and fairly consistent throughout all research that private school provides a superior learning environment to public schools. Simply stated, children who go to private school are more likely to be successful academically than their public school counterparts. Additionally, children raised by single mothers are more likely to fare worse on a number of dimensions, including their school achievement (Sawhill). Based on these two evidence backed statements, it can be inferred that the optimal situation for child’s educational development would be in a private school with two parents at home. However, these statistics do not only apply to childhood. School success is a major factor in college admissions, and transitively career options later in life. In Mystic River, Sean Devine, therefore, has it all: “Sean had been accepted to Latin School, and would begin seventh grade there in
Parents should be more involved with their children’s lives, and try to discipline and set rules at an early age. It is better for a juvenile to be confined rather than him/her influencing average teenagers to follow in his footsteps. It is a sad day when a teenager has to spend his/her days in a juvenile facility rather than outside enjoying his freedom and childhood. Children, who attend these programs and cannot cope with the challenges, can be easily abused. The risk in enrolling these teenagers into such disciplinary programs may either break them or make them improve their behaviors and quality of life. Teenagers who come out of these camps are stronger, disciplined, educated and even become role models to other teens can someday help other delinquents. In order to change someone’s life, one must first change his/her actions and
Juvenile solitary confinement is a way to punish poor behavior in the United States juvenile prison system. However after long term negative side effects that isolation can cause in teens, the General public has been in support of isolation alternatives. In this paper I will be discussing the state by state solitary confinement rules and regulations, how rehabilitation and therapeutic services can be a healthy option as an alternative to confinement and how our nation’s youth don’t always have to feel that segregation is the only form of discipline.
Within the film, Mystic River, there are many symbols and themes; a major symbol is only half of Dave’s name written in the cement symbolizing that Dave is only half present and that he lost his innocence. Dave is shown as being withdrawn, awkward and shy, which is due to Dave being half present and his lost of youth. The theme of unspoken secrets is present throughout the film. Both the symbol and the theme help to drive the movie forward. Dave has unspoken secrets about what happened to him as a child, but also the night he killed a man.
Juvenile centers often have the goal of helping turn the young offender into a better person in society. Adult prisons are meant to keep them out of society. McCrea(2008) is a strong advocate for rehabilitation instead of penalization. The idea of rehabilitation is the focus in juvenile centers, this is why adolescent offenders should be incarcerated there. Juveniles in facilities meant for them are more likely to take place in educational programs(Bechtold & Cauffman, 2014). It is more likely for inmates to attend educational programs in juvenile centers, these facilities are also prepared better to handle the educational requirements for a young adult(Bechtold & Cauffman, 2014). Jeffrey Fagan(2008) backs that information stating juvenile centers had better educational programs. Along with better programs, staff members are more caring and make strong efforts in keeping inmates in contact with family and anyone who would be a positive influence upon release(Fagan, 2008). As previously stated adolescents are the most influential people on the planet. Having bad role models in their life may have been a factor in the young criminal to make their initial mistakes. If there will be a difference in the future for the offender it comes from where they are incarcerated. If an offender is incarcerated in a juvenile center they will have positive influences. At a time where they
We are blatantly damaging our youth in a permanent fashion by ignoring the invisible damage that occurs when this method is overused or used arbitrarily. Juvenile facilities should be mandated to keep vigilant records and data on the use of solitary confinement for their residents. Furthermore, the use of solitary confinement should be used only in emergency situations and should carry a maximum time limit such as twenty four to forty eight hours. To reduce recidivism, alternative methods should be used that help rehabilitate youth and strengthen skills and self-sufficiency. These programs exist but are in dire need of promotion and funding. If more attention was focused on these positive aspects of corrections these programs could grow and be made available for every state. However, in order for the issue of solitary confinement to be resolved, society must first have a clear view of this invisible abuse, and second, we must speak up and be
The United States leans progressively on many issues, one being the age at which an adolescent can be placed in an adult prison. In the past 20 years, the percentage of youths being tried as adults has increased 230 percent. Per day, 10,000 juveniles are placed in adult prisons and the majority are for nonviolent offences. In most states juveniles must be held in adult prisons until they are tried and for one in five juvenile inmates than can be for up to six months. Many states have started passing reforms to protect juveniles in order for them to be productive citizens in society in the future. However, there is still a long way to go to ensure all states comply with laws and reforms set in place to protect the safety of non violent offenders under the age of eighteen. In terms of the age limit for juvenile detention centers, the united
The newspaper “ Washington Post” did some further research on this topic and they stated that” Not only does throwing a kid in detention often reduce the chance that he or she will graduate high school, but it also raises the chance that the youth will commit more crimes later on in life.” There are many success stories out there today about people breaking the law as a child and ending up as someone that is helping society. There will always be criminals in this world and some of them start out earlier, don’t send someone to prison because you assume they are going to end up as a criminal. Every child deserves a chance in life and sending them to prison is not the way to do
In today’s American society, quality education is important for one to succeed. Without proper education, a person will find it extremely difficult to apply for college, a job, or to pursue his or her dream. Typically when Americans think of education, public education is the first to come to mind. Public education has been around for centuries and is provided to most children throughout the United States. Due to this fact, public education has been the go to education source for years. Though, this trend is slowly changing with many parents deciding to home school their children instead. Many factors are the cause for this issue, but the common arguments arise from a certain few. For students, public school provides many opportunities ranging from social connections, school sports, and the exposure to teachers who are experts in their fields. But homeschooling is often superior because it offers additional time for students to participate in various extracurricular activities and community service, allows for more individual attention, personal character development, and it offers less exposure to discrimination that is received in the public school environment.
The United States, a country who has prisons filled with juvenile delinquents. Many of the offenders are arrested for status offenses, but there are also offenders who are incarcerated for serious crimes. Are these offenders getting the treatment needed to succeed after their release? Are the punishments in the juvenile detention centers creating more problems? Is the juvenile justice system addressing the needs of those juveniles participating in the system? The answer to these questions will be answered from viewing three separate documentaries on the juvenile justice system.
Many believe that locking away juveniles is the best way to keep society safe but they are wrong. Locking juveniles away does more harm than any good. Expert say that there’s “a decline in juvenile crime, concerns about the cost of adult prisons, and growing understanding that adolescents have a greater potential for rehabilitation than adults do.” There’s no need to spend so much money on juveniles in prisons when
likely to reoffend with a more serious offence than their initial conviction (Neminski, 2013). Neminski makes it apparent that if youth are entering into the prison system at a young age they are even more susceptible to the negative influence of other inmates, are more likely to reoffend, and as a consequence are more likely to return to prison instead of becoming a contributing member of society (Neminski (2013). Bell (2014) includes an interesting first-hand experience of how drugs can make there way into prisons, the key to this anecdote is that the older offenders would force a ‘kid’ to get the drugs because they would not be expected to be a drug carrier. The juvenile would do it out of fear that they would be badly beaten if they disagreed
In the second article “Cruel Punishment for Juveniles” the authors hold a different view from Linda J. Collier. Treating juveniles as adults only helps society to forget that they are really still kids. They feel that subjecting children to adult punishment is cruel and unusual. They think, “Most youthful wrong-doers do not become adult criminals. There are turning points----quality education, well paid work, stable marriage------ that helps young offenders become law-abiding adults.” (Pg. 637) Certain community youth programs that deal with kids have shown to work in dealing with juveniles.
Studies have shown year after year that homeschooled students consistently perform just as well as (or in many cases better than) traditionally schooled students on standardized academic exams. But very rarely does anyone ask why this is, or what caused the student to do so well, because they are usually too concerned with questions about the student’s social life or if they would be able to handle the transition into college. Therefore, my thesis statement is: Homeschooled students often achieve higher academic success and are more active in their communities than traditionally schooled students, due to a personalized approach to learning that emphasizes individuality. My research paper will debunk some popular myths about homeschooling, and give the real reasons why homeschoolers are so successful.
It can be argued that the academic performance of children has nothing to do with their socioeconomic status, because there have been many cases of children from very poor families who have excelled greatly in academics (APA, 2017). Furthermore, many predominantly high-end schools have posted poor results when compared to school with poorer backgrounds. This is despite the fact children from lower socioeconomic classes do not have access to the best forms of learning materials. The high performance of children from poor backgrounds is often attributed to the fact that they are not preoccupied with many activities which would otherwise hinder them from concentrating on their studies (Sacerdote, 2002). Therefore, some believe it is false to say that poor performance is associated with children who come from low socioeconomic classes. Rather, they believe academic achievement is genetic (Sacerdote, 2002).
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.