Ryan, M. (1998, April 26). Before Teenagers Become Criminals. Parade Magazine, pp. 14-17.

(Download Before Teens Turn Criminals overview as a PDF)

A Jacksonville, Florida program innovatively attempts to discourage young people from choosing lives of crime:

Since 1992, youths who commit crimes in Jacksonville, Fla., and the two adjoining counties that form the Fourth Judicial Circuit…can be charged as adults, tried in an adult court and sent to an adult jail for up to a year, from crimes involving guns or bodily injury—even for a series of minor crimes.

Endorsed by both the Fourth Judicial Circuit’s State Attorney and head of the Circuit’s Juvenile Justice Division, the program is effective. Although the city once had the fastest-rising juvenile crime rate in Florida, Jacksonville now boasts a sharp decline in youth crime: "from 18 murders in 1993 to four in 1997; from 178 rapes and sex crimes in 1993 to 81 in 1997."

When a young person is sent to jail, he is segregated from the adult prisoners. Each juvenile inmate is provided a volunteer " ‘mentor…to counsel and advise the youngster.’ " Inmates must attend high school classes located in the juvenile wing of the jail. The adolescents may also have their convictions withheld from their records if they remain stay out of trouble for a specified period of time upon release from jail.

According the Harry Shorstein, the State Attorney of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, " ‘Our goal is to return a juvenile incarcerated as an adult to a different environment than he was in when he committed the crime.’ " Josh Bryant, age 18, served eight months in jail. He considers the experience positive: " ‘Jail was a place where I could grow up and get an outlook on where I’m supposed to be.’ "

Jacksonville also fervently works to prevent kids from jail. A committee comprised of school board representatives, the sheriff’s office, the Juvenile Justice Department, and the State Attorney’s office study each case. First offenders may be ushered through the First Offender Program; while being offered counseling and required for community service, youth in this program are relieved from having their offense recorded. Other teens who are often in trouble at home or school may be assigned a " ‘case manager’ " who works with their academic and personal issues. The strictest program, the Program for At-risk Students (PAS), is potent tool for reducing Jacksonville youth crime: "Each week, 20 students from Mattie V. Rutherford School—a special institution for children who have been in troubled at their regular schools—are bused downtown for a tour of what might be their next stop: the county jail."

Here is a synopsis of one tour:

The jail tour began when Officer Charles Fisette ushered the group into a holding cell—a stark, sweaty, cinderblock room with plexiglass windows and an exposed toilet. ‘Close your eyes and take a deep breath,’ he told them, and they inhaled the fetid stench of the tiny room. ‘Imagine someone who hasn’t taken a bath in 8 ½ months. This person could be your roommate tonight.’

When we arrived in the juvenile wing…many of the students saw familiar faces behind plexiglass walls. Their friends were on display—caged, restrained, in drab jail jumpsuits. ‘They were acting like wild animals,’ Amber Geron, one of the students, told me as we left the area. ‘I saw people I knew. They were saying, "Call me, call me." How am I going to call them if they’re in jail? This makes me even more sure I don’t want to go to jail. I want my freedom.’

Jacksonville authorities estimate that PAS "will discourage half of the students from committing crimes." But Shorstein still isn’t satisfied: " ‘The answer is to reach out to younger and younger kids…Holding a child, loving a child—that can prevent rape and murder and robber later on. We’ve got to understand that."

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What do you think about this program? What are its strengths? Weaknesses?
2. If you work with at-risk youth, how effective do you think this program would be with them?
3. Is the community in which you live capable of creating a similar program? Why or why not?
4. What is the youth worker’s role in a program such as this? How can a youth worker serve troubled kids edging close to jail? How can a youth worker serve young inmates? How can a youth worker serve a young person recently released from jail?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Local politics often dictate how troubled youth in the community are treated. In many cases, a combination of hard and soft approaches may be most effective.
2. It is important to keep trying to find ways to prevent young people from lives of crime. There is clearly not a single solution, but committed community volunteers and leaders must continue to fight crime.
3. Listen to young people. What encourages them to straighten out their lives?