Influences

“Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.” (James Bell).

The United States has the largest number of prisoners of any developed country in the world and the most prison population in the nation. As of December of 2013, 1.57 inmates sat behind bars in federal, state and county prisons and jails. The prison population has not gone down instead it has risen since 2013 (Flatow, 2014). Is this epidemic trickling down to our children? Have children become the throw-away of our century? Is it easier to lock them up and throw away the keys than to really start dealing with the deeper issues that are oppressing our children? If we continue in that route, pretty soon we will be left without anyone to run this country. As of 2010 there are approximately 70,000 children and teenagers detained in the United States (Plumer, 2013). What makes the Judicial System think that putting a child under the age of 19 is going to rehabilitate them; it has not worked for the adults. Plumer states that putting a child in prison will reduce the chances of that child finishing school and most likely to commit more crimes.

            We have more educated people than ever in our nation, yet we still do not understand that the brain of a child does not stop developing until they are around 24 years old. Putting them in prison is only going to take away from their life, take away those years that they can really turn the mistakes committed into the dreams that every child and teenager has in their heart.

            There are children that unfortunately are born into a chaotic environment which seems to guide their destiny. Many people believe that a child’s environment has a lot to do with the way that child grows up as an adult. Many believe that it is the family structure and the dynamics of that family. There is no clear answer and those points can be debated forever. But what makes a child kill their sibling, parents, grandparents or best friends?

            Even though a child learns from those who are their caretakers, there is a possibility that if the environment at home is not healthy, they can consciously make a choice to break the cycle of bad choices. The same can be true about the place a child grows up in; their neighborhood, the school they attend, the kids they hang out with, etc. Peer pressure is very strong with our youth today.  Both influences can be negative or positive in a child’s life.

   Listen to this story:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/12/young-killer-catherine-jones-release-date-nears/21636259/

References:

            Flatow, Nicole. (2014, September 18). The united states has the largest prison population in the world—and it’s growing. ThinkProgress. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/17/3568232/the-united-states-had-even-more-prisoners-in-2013/

            Plumer, Brad. (2013, June 15). Throwing children in prison turns out to be a really bad idea. Washington Post. Retrieved from

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/15/throwing-children-in-prison-turns-out-to-be-a-really-bad-idea/