Full Description
Based on two years of intensive research in a juvenile prison, this study tells the story of youths in a "model program," created after a class action lawsuit for inhumane and illegal practices. It captures their lives inside and outside of prison: from drugs, gangs and criminal behaviour to the realities of families, schools and neighbourhoods. Drawing on experience that encompasses 20 years of juvenile justice research and policy analysis, the authors scrutinize the prison's attempts to combine accountability and treatment for youths with protection for the public, situating these within the larger social and political context.
Contents
Preface: The Kept, the Keepers, the Social OrderJuvenile Crime, Public Fear, Political Symbolism Going Inside the Prison One: The Impetus and Hope for ChangeNegotiating a Consent Decree and Envisioning a New EraThe Model Program: Responsibilities, Rights, and RespectThe Model Program's Essential Elements Surpassing Old Debates, Transforming Power Relations Two: Collective and Individual Identities: Who are these Prisoners, These Kids? Identity and Imprisonment: Lots of Us Inside These Walls Interactions and InterpretationsLife on the Streets: Friendship, Loyalties, Protection, EconomicsThe Perpetual Specter of Drugs Offense Histories and Risk to Public SafetyContextualizing their Offenses Never Children, Still Children Three: The Program's Early Success and Eventual DemiseThe Early Days of Intense Effort, Initial TriumphResponsibility and Shared Decision MakingHolding the World in Abeyance Disinterest, Reluctant Participation The Program's Demise: A Dream DiminishedPerpetual Change, Ineffective Treatment GroupsFurther Component Limitations Doing the Program: Variation Among Youths Four: Political Opposition, Bureaucratic Inertia, and Individual Inadequacies Unilateral Decision Making and Lack of Accountability Perceptions of Inconsistency and Lack of FairnessViolating the Spirit of the ProgramOrganizational Impediments, Bureaucratic InertiaLimited Sphere of InfluencePolitical Imperatives and ImpedimentsFive: Going Home When I Get Out... The Ubiquitous Influence of DrugsMake New Friends, But...You Can't Take It BackSocial and Economic Realities: Poverty, Unemployment, Dead EndsEver AfterSix: ConclusionThe Power and Futility of Prison Fences
