Crimes have been a part of our societies. It is common for us to see adolescents behave in an improper way that is harmful to others which makes us label them as criminals. There are numerous youngsters who are locked up in the prisons. The government has divided the prisons into two categories, adult and juvenile. Debates have been brought up as to whether to charge the youngsters to juvenile or adult court. Some judges are ironically unjust to these youngsters by sending them straight away to adult court without giving any parole. After reading the “True Notebook” by Mark Salzman, I believe that the juvenile system is more beneficial to the youngsters as they provide useful knowledge and psychological needs that can help them to change rather than sending them to adult jail.
From the “True Notebook”, I realized that the background societies the criminals came from were leading them towards a life of crime. All of them faced a harsh environment where they have to feel loneliness, dilemma, rejection, unfairness. Many of them suffered from low financial status. Victor, one of the students, was sulking about the judges saying that “they don’t know what it’s like when there is nothing to eat when you come home from school” (290). He grew up in a poor family and he felt that nobody understood him. Some said that they were lost in their lives and found that becoming a part of a gang is cool and respectable. I believe many teenagers have the same thought like Patrick Chumnikai, one of the criminals in the novel, who said “I felt different. I was from a gang now. I felt like I had power. People would fear me and my friends when we went into places” (94). Many teenagers want to show they have power over something. They want to gain respect from others and manipulate people who step into their territory by forming a gang.
It is a kind of action reaction theory of Newton’s that every action leads to certain reaction to it. Parents play the most important role in their children’s lives. When they treat them with lack of concern, they will end up on the street finding the substitute for the love they never received. Many of them came from broken families as one of the delinquents wrote “so by not having a fatherly figure, I turned to the streets and learned how to pull a trigger” (299). They did not have a role model that directed their path. As I expected, he was not only one that “turned to the streets” because of their father. In fact nearly all of them showed that they lacked a fatherly figure in their childhoods as proven by what Victor, wrote. He complained, “They don’t know what it’s like when you come from a family that didn’t have a father there to guide you in the right path” (290). These children were looking for a place where they can find a substitute for the attention and love that they lacked and thus they went out and got themselves tangled into gangs and concurrently they practice the use of violence.
I believe that what Salzman did, providing a writing class for the juveniles, could help them to speak up and open their mind. When they were locked up, there was no such thing as no turning back. They carried hopes but they could not do it all by themselves. All the kids in the “True Notebooks” admitted that they felt lonely in their cell. “Here I am. In this lonely place that has become my life, I am all alone” said one of the prisoners (67). They have nobody to talk to, they never know what is going to happen in the cell, people come and go very fast in the prison. Many felt remorseful for their delinquent behaviors and wished to rewind back the situation to prevent themselves from doing the crime. They want to change for the better as one of the kids said, “The people just think I am a piece of shit, but they never know I feel remorse. And I try to be a good person without my freedom, I lonely. I need help. Sometimes I wonder how can I get back my happiness without help?” (224). When they feel alone, they could not help it but to think negatively. They need somebody to talk to, to give support and give encouragement. By giving them chances to convey their emotions, they can change for the better. This is proven by one of his student, Kevin Jackson as he wrote, “writing has helped me open up to other people and have an open mind to their opinions. Writing has taught me a lot about myself that I never knew I had bottled up inside” (275). The writing class showed them that somebody cared for them and that they were not alone. It fulfilled their psychological needs and I believe it could change the aspect of lives from their negative thought because they are provided place to confide and open up their mind. By sharing their stories in the class they can learn from each other and do not feel lonely anymore. Besides, it will improve their writing skills which might be useful for them when they are released.
Punishing the juveniles will give them extra depression and kill their future. As written in the article “New Report Finds Growing Trend of Prosecuting Youth in Adult Court Casting Too Wide a Net; Many Youth Charged with Non-Violent Offenses”, sending the youngsters to adult court is “tantamount to throwing away their lives and giving up all hope for their future”. In juvenile’s court, the youngsters are given education and they are provided with facilities for them to open up their mind. Whereas in the adult court, the criminals are incarcerated without any education as Benny Wong, one of the author’s students, said “jail is not a place that makes a person rehabilitate. Jail is just a place that separates people… It doesn’t teach a person anything” (291). Moreover they are confined together with adults that have potentially been charged with more severe crimes than them as their buddy which will make it harder for them to change.
I disagree with the judges that make decision by pertaining to the races as written in the same article that people “found that minority youth receive more severe treatment than white youth”. The judges often carry the discrimination against black people in their judgment that “of all the cases in the study, 82% involved minority youth African-American youth represented over half of the cases”. Black people, as usual, are always treated with contempt. Judges who speak in the name of law cannot make verdict with prejudice. Though they are criminals and minority, they still have their success and future waiting for them.
I found no purpose in giving sanction to the youth criminals by confining them in adult jails, however, I agree that sometimes this doesn’t apply to everybody. It is undeniable that some of them are just resistant to encouragement and refrain themselves from changing their mind. I think it is better to choose prudently those who are better off sent to adult court and those who will value the treatment in the juvenile system so that they want and will change for the better.
The primary socialization has once again played its role in defining these juveniles’ characteristic and behavior. Everything starts from their society and the most influential agents of all are their parents. Once the juveniles step into the wrong path, they screw up their whole life. People must be selfless to these criminals and stop making them suffer for the rest of their lives. Juvenile courts are the place for them to reborn and rotate their lives 180 degree. From the victims’ side, I believe they tend to choose to punish the criminals. But punishing them will not change the done to undone, instead it will annihilate their dreams, futures and lives.
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