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Guidance can help teens start over
July 14, 2007
OPINION
What words describe a young person
in prison? For many, the first to come to mind may be literal terms
like delinquents, murderers, thieves, drug dealers or prostitutes.
Perhaps a more guttural reaction brings forth words like wasted
life, nameless, hopeless, faceless, worthless or lost.
In Florida, the state of young
people in our juvenile justice system has recently come under
increased scrutiny. Although, there are structural, functional and
programmatic issues in need of reform, I think our greatest obstacle
is simply our perception of and response to the population housed
therein. To do that, we must be willing to address the "who" in that
population.
They are first, vulnerable.
Evidence shows that the majority of juvenile offenders are from a
lower socio-economic status. Many are fathers themselves, and many
report being around violence all of their lives. In studies
conducted of the worst juvenile offenders, 60 percent were found to
have been victims of child abuse or neglect.
They are increasingly female, as
the number of girls arrested for felonies in Florida more than
doubled in the 1990s. Currently, almost one out of three juveniles
referred to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice is a girl.
They are many times culpable.
Overall, juveniles were responsible for one out of every four crimes
in Florida in fiscal year 1999-2000.
They are accustomed to being
statistics. What they are not accustomed to is being heard.
On a recent visit to one of
Jacksonville's juvenile residential treatment facilities, I had the
opportunity to engage 25 young men aged 13-18 in meaningful
discussion on a variety of topics, which ranged from the meaning of
intimacy to their concerns about the state of male-to-female
relations in their peer group.
I quickly learned more apt
descriptions and new words. If we looked closely, they could likely
be extrapolated to others within this population, e.g.,
enthusiastic, energetic, intelligent and hopeful. These kids are
eager and longing for the expectation to be something.
At 18, they get that chance. While
we go about the task of preventing the development of youth
offenders, why not, while we have them, give those already
incarcerated the tools with which to start over?
In many aspects, we do this. We
continue to educate them to some degree. We teach them boundaries.
In some centers, they can receive behavioral health counseling and
anger management.
However, what we do not give them
routinely are our words and actions of expectation, encouragement,
guidance and support. Punishment is many times what they've come to
expect of life. And, isolation is how they feel daily.
As a pediatrician and resident of
Jacksonville, I believe in the power of prevention inherent in my
job description, but I also trust that a community can develop new
words and a new attitude for an old problem.
ADRIENNE MCMILLAN, M.D.
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