In a Baltimore Sun editorial, May 12, 2011 the editorial stated that the current system of housing juveniles charged as adults in a wing of the adult detention center is, “dangerous and inefficient.”  Words expressed are, “trends,” “policy,” and “spikes.” All those words figure into consideration.

My own experiences dictate the opposite, as “policies,” dictated that juveniles who commit crimes are not to be held, because there aren’t enough beds to house the offenders.  Statistics start at the police level and if they are forced to deem that a crime didn’t take place, it isn’t counted.

Those crimes are allowed to slide until it is a violent assault and attempted murder, then it hits the court with its, “masters,” for their interpretations and policies. In the meantime, the offender, their parents, nor society is served very well.  This gives the juvenile offender a mindset that they can’t do any wrong in the world and they can get away with it as they challenge any person that stands up to them, be it a citizen or the police. My observation is it is the police most likely to stand down, as opposed to the juvenile offender.

There is one person who realizes the lenient treatment and attitude toward juvenile offenders the most, the drug dealer.  They move in and at least psychologically take the place of the parents and incorporate juveniles into their use for the drug trade.  While a juvenile may receive the benefit of the doubt a few times, for this to become perpetual actually turns juvenile justice into the criminal justice graduate system.

Then with the adult offenders, it is what to do next and all too often in Baltimore, it takes an innocent person being killed to put them away.  Sometimes not!  In my opinion, the biggest reason for juvenile crime is drug related.  While we may scoff at trickle down economics, I would like to see trickle up punishment for adults who use juveniles in their crime and drug related endeavors.

Make the adult who uses children to sell drugs or commit other crimes, on par with a child molester as it is the same exact behavior.  This goes for adults who supply the means be it providing the drugs or place that teens can use so they can party.

I feel the biggest fault in dealing with juvenile delinquents is the system itself.  Upon a police based complaint, it may take a month or two for the intake officer to process and determine the best course of action, then another month or two for the courts... Hey, that’s my positive assessment! And even there, much is not likely to happen as it was my observation that it took ten offenses before the juvenile received any consideration for incarceration.

Many juveniles commit other offenses that are simply whisked away.  Running away is the easy example.  With a chronic run away, the parents are obligated to file a runaway report so that they are not obligated to pay any expenses from the crimes committed by their child; the police see it as a pain in their butt because nothing happens from the juvenile system, and even take it out on the parents, though they restrict any means of punishment to deal with their child.

My suggestion is whether it is for juvenile who deserves more incarceration, or a juvenile that should face the inconvenience that they have caused others, more beds are actually needed.  The best way to stem juvenile delinquency is that justice should be swift and as promised.  I feel this is the best way to prevent juveniles from gaining that criminal mindset which will put them into the adult system and destroy their lives.

Perhaps a day for intake, then the courts, and then a few days removed from society and their parent’s life; with the message that no excuses are tolerated and they have the responsibility to fit themselves into society as responsible citizens.  I know this is a bit archaic, but it worked for me.

All too often juvenile advocacy amounts to not punishing and making excuses for the juvenile delinquents, while making victims of their parents and many people in society.  The biggest danger to me is not having enough beds to put delinquent juveniles in, so I would rather have more and take each empty bed as a victory.

In child advocacy, all too often it is for the wrong reasons. To save a child from their self imposed harm, I would love for more people to see advocacy the way that I see it; as a personal responsibility to get the child pointed in the right direction so they not only get themselves on track, but understand that the world is much bigger than they think and they have personal stake in it themselves.

I feel that if we have more beds that are needed, there is always one available for the juvenile delinquent that really belongs there, yet they all don’t need to be used and each empty and unfilled bed can be viewed as a victory.  But if we don’t have enough beds, then we do injustice to all, including the other juveniles who needn’t be exposed to the offending element.

Author Notes

This was sent to the editorial staff at the Baltimore Sun papers Monday, May 16th 2011 and as of Thrusday, I haven't received a response. This is in reference to their editorial whey they expressed the feeling that creating a new secured juvenile holding center is a throwback to the Ehrlich system, while admitting that the current holding of juvenile offenders in the adult lockup is not good either. They actually recomend lowering the planned numbers of cells. One of Baltimore's main problems is there is a shortage of facilities for handling juvenile offenders and as a result, policies are in place with the police end, not to arrest or charge juveniles with offenses. If at the police level, a incident is not rendered; it not only skews the crime statistics, it makes it impossible to evaluate a juvenile offender. These are not only my personal observations, but also what is told to me off the record by both a juvenile services (justice) worker and the police. My father also worked Juvenile Justice for twenty five years and personally relayed to me, how the Juvenile Masters opperate in the courts. I believe this was the fundemental reason why he managed to get himself banned from the Mitchell Courthouse. In addition, I had a run away step-daughter who wreaked havoc on the household for a period of a year in a half and outside of the missing reports, police refused to write up any form of complaint. Until she attempted to grab a knife to kill me. But then it hit the wall of the Baltimore County Court System, and she was declared non-deliquent of assualt and attempted murder, because I incited her... In laymen's terms, yelled at her. I am glad to report that she has shed her wicked ways, and joined the fellow hard working adults in society, which makes me feel that I did my job. One of my roles was behind the scenes, trying to get the police to hold responsible, those that were not only participating in her delinquency, but many other children as well. That to, fell on mostly death ears, except for what managed to hit the detective level. Unlike my step daughter and reportedly her friends, most such kids, hit the adult system hard. It serves no one, not the juvenile, their family or society to keep to the philosophy and social engineering concept that one should understand juvenile problems and ignore them. All to often, those people not only hit a societal wall, they feel inclined to push it until they end up behind one. As a juvenile, I hit my delinquent phase while landed me immediately in the adult system... Basically the closest one how felt obligated to deal with my, but knocking me down. Dad has his own ways, and feeling I am headed that way, I found myself in many juvenile programs that his, "Clients," found themselves in. Unofficially of course. This benefited me as Dad explained things and his observations, Between that and Boy scouts, I too often feel that child advocacy should really be about, getting that kid to become a productive adult, not an incarcerated one. The well meaning people who argue against holding juveniles seem to have the opposite effect.