What happens to young people in the juvenile justice system?
Not very much happens one way or another. Traditionally the argument is between punishment versus rehabilitation. But here (in Dade County) we don’t do either one. The longest time a kid can spend in a program is 90 days, and what’s the program? They sit there and watch TV. Recidivism (failure) rates are 80%. Say I’m 16 and I steal a car. What happens to me? The first car is free. After that the next time a kid comes through he cleans the park. The kids don’t really clean parks. I know that. By the third time, you’re talking about sustained, intensive television. Could it be different? Yeah, it could. We could be involving universities, community groups. While these guys are sitting there they could put on a play, charge admission, script their own television show. A lot of these are creative kids, but we’ll never know it. What’s expected of them is that they won’t disrupt the institution – no more than that. That perpetuates the institution. It doesn’t do anything for the kids. Has th
