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Lucille
04-11-2012, 12:54 PM
It's for the PIC! Won't somebody please think of the PIC?!

Stop Locking Up So Many Kids (http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2012/04/11/stop-locking-up-so-many-kids/)


http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Ross_10-198x300.jpg

America has a fetish for incarceration. The population of those this country puts behind bars is not only noticeable for its size (almost 25% of the world’s prisoners are American), but also its demographic makeup. It is not said often enough how over-represented African-Americans are in the American prison system, close to 40% of prisoners are black, while making up less than 14% of the American population. While the race disparities are worrying, another demographic is locked up far too often, juveniles.

When compared to other nations the number of youth incarcerated in America is stunning. Figures collected from the 2000s show that the U.S. youth incarceration rate was 336 for every 100,000. In England and Wales the figures was 46.8, In Germany 23.1, and in Italy 11.3. Having been to all of the countries just mentioned, I find it impossible to believe that American youths are over four times more in need of incarceration than European youths. Even when compared to countries in Africa and Asia, America’s youth incarceration rate is noticeably high, with South Africa locking up 69 per 100,000 youths, and Japan locking up a very low 0.1. (These figures can be found on page 58 of a study on cross-national comparison of youth justice here.)
[...]
The sorts of crimes that see children sent to juvenile facilities are predictable. When Richard Ross, the Wired photographer visited an Idaho detention center there were six girls who were there for curfew violations, molestation abuse, burglary and possession of marijuana. Humiliation and social depravation hardly seem the right way to deal with these children, who have not even finished cognitive development—some of these girls were as young as eleven.

However it is not only drug use, burglary, and curfew violations that are seeing American children being put in front of judges. In Texas, where in some schools police patrol schools, some children have been ordered to court for not tucking in their shirt or for “Class C” misdemeanors such as truancy.

Our court system was not designed for children who write on their desks or swear in class. Police should not be doing what has traditionally been the remit of teachers and parents. It is very worrying for children to be familiarized with police authority at such a young age in a setting such as a school.

Politicians in this country are betraying America’s children in so many ways. A failing education system, growing government debt, wars abroad, and the increase in surveillance are the legacy America’s children can look forward to...

azxd
04-11-2012, 01:03 PM
I blame most of this on the parents not instilling values that society agrees with.
Defacing public property, and not respecting their elders is a parenting problem, as are unwed mothers ... Responsibility for ones actions begins at home.

Lucille
04-27-2012, 11:14 AM
Why Privatization Can be a Bad Idea (http://therepublicanmother.blogspot.com/2012/04/why-privitization-can-be-bad-idea.html)


We hear a lot of conservatives saying "privatize" it, which I agree with on one level. But you have to be very careful, because if you tie the money machine of government to a corporation with the police power of the state, you'll get some mighty big corruption. That's what some Pennsylvania teens found out the hard way:


In a case I’ve mentioned before, two judges from Pennsylvania have pleaded guilty to receiving kickbacks from a private prison company in exchange for sentencing kids to juvenile facilities owned by the company.


Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, plead guilty in open court that they sentenced children to juvenile detention because they were paid off to do it by the PA Childcare and a sister company, Western PA Childcare corporation that ran the private facilities.

bolil
04-27-2012, 12:05 PM
I blame most of this on the parents not instilling values that society agrees with.
Defacing public property, and not respecting their elders is a parenting problem, as are unwed mothers ... Responsibility for ones actions begins at home.

And if one of the parents is put in jail for a nonviolent crime, usually dad, and is not there to teach "values"?

Lucille
09-26-2013, 11:19 AM
This country is sick.

Video: 'For Their Own Protection': Children in Long-Term Solitary Confinement
http://reason.com/blog/2013/09/26/video-for-their-own-protection-children


Solitary confinement was once a punishment reserved for the most-hardened, incorrigible criminals. Today, it is standard practice for tens of thousands of juveniles in prisons and jails across America. Far from being limited to the most violent offenders, solitary confinement is now used against perpetrators of minor crimes and children who are forced to await their trials in total isolation. Often, these stays are prolonged, lasting months or even years at a time....

Related: A Deep Look Into The Shady World Of The Private Prison Industry
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-25/guest-post-deep-look-shady-world-private-prison-industry

Profiting Off Prisoners
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-23/profiting-prisoners

NorthCarolinaLiberty
09-26-2013, 01:06 PM
Kids are bad and to be feared, especially by our aging population.

America: Home of the afraid.