Misconceptions Debunked

When Ashley first met with us she told us that many of the youths we would be meeting with were incarcerated for lower caliber crimes such as truancy, robbery, and crimes involving drugs. I was relieved that I’d be meeting kids, who weren’t as threatening to me as if they performed higher caliber crimes. After reading Juvenile In Justice, I gained a completely different perspective on the situation. I thought to myself, “Why are these kids in jail in the first place?” Something that intrigued me as I read was that kids who are incarcerated for lower caliber crimes are more likely to commit another crime, as opposed to being deterred from doing so. My speculation is that they are exposed to so much violence in jail that it probably has a profound influence on who they become, especially since children are still growing and changing more so than adults. So, my question is why are we continuing this cruel and ineffective institution? I think community programs and counseling would render much more effective results, as many studies have indeed shown.

Something else I noticed was how powerful of a concept time is in jail. The length of a day increases exponentially when inmates have nothing to do but stare at the wall of their cell. Many stories revolved around the length of time inmates have been incarcerated, the number of times they have been incarcerated, or the length of time of their sentence. On the topic of time, I noticed how long a few months is to these prisoners. Reading the length of some of their sentences, 3 months, 4 months, etc., I thought to myself, “Oh, that isn’t that long.” But it really is. One prisoner discussed his struggles with his sexuality and abuse from other prisoners because of it. While 3-4 months may not be a long time to be in college, learning new things and hanging out with friends, it is absolutely a long time to be sexually assaulted, locked in a cell with minimal outside contact, and forced to eat inexcusably disgusting food. In addition, one of the more powerful photos, in my opinion, featured footage of the inside of an isolation room juxtaposed with a clock. I thought this demonstrated how time can be skewed in isolation and often times seems interminable for youths detained in these rooms.