Great, a concentration camp for teenagers...

[Pupik]

You're jumping at the word "concentration camps" a lot, which tends to marginalize all conversation into extremes.

Godwin's Law is a destination to avoid.

 

[watermelon punch]

Of course, the question unasked is "How did those kids appear in front of the judge in the first place?" I'm sure it wasn't because their school took them on a tour of the local courthouse, for a whimsical day-long jaunt through the legal system.

Well actually those questions have been asked, and answered in some shocking ways.

Apparently an entire network got established to bum rush kids into the legal system from schools, for minor offenses, that at one time, would've been thoroughly handled outside the court system. And, in fact, this juvenile system sometimes treated minor offenses that if they were committed by an adult, would've been handled in a much more lenient manner. IE: that some of these kids did things that if an adult did, the adult might get probation or even just a fine - but these kids were sent to a detention facility (ie: jail), sometimes for lengthy periods.

And the issue is that violent crime and even serious crime was treated exactly the same way as minor offenses, and even ridiculous stuff that really should've warranted at most, 2 weeks grounding, or 2 weeks detention after school. (At least in my day.)
But everything was considered an incarceration offense, so they were all funneled through to juvenile detention..

Some examples of the offenses:

throwing a piece of food at an adult

truancy (skipping school or skipping classes)

writing satirical poetry with violent subject on their facebook or myspace or whatever

unintentionally bringing a pocket knife to school

possession of drug paraphenalia (not actual drugs)

having parents that purchased a used motor bike that turned out to be stolen!!


Not kidding on that last one. The kid waned a motor bike. His parents bought a used motor bike off someone.
It turned out to be stolen. The parents AND the kid were arrested. The charges against the parents were dropped - because obviously they purchased the motor bike in what seemed to be a legal manner, and had no idea that the bike was stolen.
The boy? The boy who had NOTHING to do with the transaction?? He wound up in front of the corrupt judge, and was sent to juvenile detention after being found guilty of a FELONY - receiving stolen property. Because his parents bought him a motor bike that turned out to be stolen. Those same parents whose charges were DROPPED.

This kid didn't do anything wrong at all, as far as I can see. He doesn't match the criteria of "you wouldn't wind up in court if you weren't doing something". He didn't do anything. He got a gift from his parents! He wasn't a juvenile delinquent.


By the way, the girl who wrote the satirical poetry in high school... She went on to earn a degree at college, she got married, and now she & her husband are in the Peace Corps in Mozambique.
Hardly what you'd call a typical "juvie" offender likely to grow up to be a criminal.


So actually in this case, i would actually say they wound up in court because of whimsical profit-seeking corrupt people in the system.

 

[Pupik]

(I guess [citation needed] on the other two thousand or so.) Wow, that's still some major league corruption, especially if Sixth Amendment rights are violated.

But we shouldn't have any jails like this because we have no authority to do so? Parents are marginalized as poor stewards, and judges can't be trusted? Which authority should be able to reprimand troubled kids, some which have no parents?

 

[watermelon punch]

(I guess [citation needed] on the other two thousand or so.) Wow, that's still some major league corruption, especially if Sixth Amendment rights are violated.

But we shouldn't have any jails like this because we have no authority to do so? Parents are marginalized as poor stewards, and judges can't be trusted? Which authority should be able to reprimand troubled kids, some which have no parents?

Well I hope it's not an either/or situation.
That we either just let the criminals run free with no accountability OR we accept egregious corruption & innocent kids locked up & railroaded into a court system.
There has to be some way to have an ethical system of fairness.

I do think keeping profit & conflict-of-interest situations out of such matters would be a good start.

Anyway, yeah, I'd be here all day posting links to the Kids for Cash stories.
A quick internet search & you can find everything I've learned about it.

 

[GTMail]

I used to have a player that was sent off to one of these camps. We knew he was a problem child. He would come to practice high and would consistently mouth off the other coaches and I. The parents were apparently fed up so they decided to take these drastic measures. When he came back he described being taken forcefully in the middle of the night by two large men. They proceeded to blindfold him and threw him in a car l. He was blindfolded the whole way until they got to Utah. He said it was a very small and isolated town. The males and females were separated and any letters sent to the "inmates" were gotten rid of. He said there were 5 mile runs like stated earlier in the thread but they got waterbrakes. Aggressive leaders, poor sleeping conditions and crap food was also mentioned. They kept him there until the program and his parents deemed that he was fit for everyday life(6 months).

Now I don't agree on how this program treats these kids but he sure did change. He was more respectful, better at following orders and blatantly more frail. He also was in way better shape after he got back. I just wanted to share my personal experience on this touchy subject. It really should be used as a last ditch effort from the parents. It also seems to me that they didn't know how to handle their kid so they just made him someone else's problem. He lives with his uncle now and refuses to talk to his parents. No bueno.

 

[tankuroded]

Somebody is holding an IAmA on this subject: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1up09x/iama_survivor_of_island_view_rtc_an_abusive

Discuss.