Times: "Unruly Students Facing Arrest, Not Detention"
"The idea that you try to find out why somebody did something or give a person a second chance or try to solve a problem in a way that's not punitive - that's become almost quaint now."
- Laurence Steinberg, a professor of psychology at Temple University and the director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.
As someone who's worked within the juvenile justice system, I have to point out how absurd and unfair this trend is to the kids involved. The combination of "zero tolerance" policies and a shift in how society views kids has resulted in kids being taken away in handcuffs for things as minor as turning off the lights on the girls' bathroom or refusing to change out of an inappropriate item of clothing.
I'm not disputing that these are examples of misbehavior, or that the students involved should not face consequences. But the severity of the punishment should bear some relation to the offense! Detention seems like a fair option in both of these cases, or possibly even being sent home for the day. But kids should not be thrust into the juvenile justice system lightly.
I've seen how easy it is for kids to get caught in a nasty cycle there. When a kid a given probation, any little slip-up can land him or her back in the system. Lip off to Mom? Play hookey? Light up in the boys' lavatory? That could be all it takes.
These kids go round and round, through the system again and again, and it doesn't help them in any way. Instead they learn that people in positions of authority are against them, and that punishments have no relation to reality. They learn that most people would rather send a kid off to a detention center than to deal with the problems in that kid's life in a helpful, sympathetic way... and they learn all too often that their parents fall into this category, as well. (Read the disturbing comments in the Times article from parents who wholeheartedly approve of their kids being taken out of school in a squad car with handcuffs and a police escort.)
There's a great demand in our society for "law and order." Legislators have made careers on "getting tough on crime." What both of these phrases really mean is something like "using police authority to remove unpleasant social problems from my backyard."
Parents who have no concept of how to raise a child endorse this "tough love" when they're mostly just relieved to let someone else deal with their kid's annoying behavior problems for a while.
Administrators who are trying to squeeze budgetary blood from deficit turnips, and have precious little time or resources to devote to classic cases of student misbehavior, discover that the costs of dealing with a troubled child can be offput onto the juvenile justice system, freeing up a few meager rousources for their districts. Much easier to put the community liason officer to useful work than to have to shell out for additional guidance counselors and staff for dentention halls.
And the students are the victims. Once they're thrust into the system, the odds are good it will change them for life. I've seen it happen. A good kid can become jaded and cynical as she watches how adults handle her "crime." And a troubled kid can become a real problem when his issues are handled in a detention center rather than the local clinic.
The thing is, we're not talking about sending the serious offenders, here. If a kid comes to school with a gun or a switchblade, it's appropriate to treat that as a criminal offense and to use the juvenile justice system.
But sassing off to the teacher? Peeing on the floor? Flipping the principal the bird on the playground?
Are we really so thin-skinned that we can't deal with this sort of minor misbehavior without calling in the Mounties?
Sadly, apparently we are.
- Laurence Steinberg, a professor of psychology at Temple University and the director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.
As someone who's worked within the juvenile justice system, I have to point out how absurd and unfair this trend is to the kids involved. The combination of "zero tolerance" policies and a shift in how society views kids has resulted in kids being taken away in handcuffs for things as minor as turning off the lights on the girls' bathroom or refusing to change out of an inappropriate item of clothing.
I'm not disputing that these are examples of misbehavior, or that the students involved should not face consequences. But the severity of the punishment should bear some relation to the offense! Detention seems like a fair option in both of these cases, or possibly even being sent home for the day. But kids should not be thrust into the juvenile justice system lightly.
I've seen how easy it is for kids to get caught in a nasty cycle there. When a kid a given probation, any little slip-up can land him or her back in the system. Lip off to Mom? Play hookey? Light up in the boys' lavatory? That could be all it takes.
These kids go round and round, through the system again and again, and it doesn't help them in any way. Instead they learn that people in positions of authority are against them, and that punishments have no relation to reality. They learn that most people would rather send a kid off to a detention center than to deal with the problems in that kid's life in a helpful, sympathetic way... and they learn all too often that their parents fall into this category, as well. (Read the disturbing comments in the Times article from parents who wholeheartedly approve of their kids being taken out of school in a squad car with handcuffs and a police escort.)
There's a great demand in our society for "law and order." Legislators have made careers on "getting tough on crime." What both of these phrases really mean is something like "using police authority to remove unpleasant social problems from my backyard."
Parents who have no concept of how to raise a child endorse this "tough love" when they're mostly just relieved to let someone else deal with their kid's annoying behavior problems for a while.
Administrators who are trying to squeeze budgetary blood from deficit turnips, and have precious little time or resources to devote to classic cases of student misbehavior, discover that the costs of dealing with a troubled child can be offput onto the juvenile justice system, freeing up a few meager rousources for their districts. Much easier to put the community liason officer to useful work than to have to shell out for additional guidance counselors and staff for dentention halls.
And the students are the victims. Once they're thrust into the system, the odds are good it will change them for life. I've seen it happen. A good kid can become jaded and cynical as she watches how adults handle her "crime." And a troubled kid can become a real problem when his issues are handled in a detention center rather than the local clinic.
The thing is, we're not talking about sending the serious offenders, here. If a kid comes to school with a gun or a switchblade, it's appropriate to treat that as a criminal offense and to use the juvenile justice system.
But sassing off to the teacher? Peeing on the floor? Flipping the principal the bird on the playground?
Are we really so thin-skinned that we can't deal with this sort of minor misbehavior without calling in the Mounties?
Sadly, apparently we are.
posted by Bob at
6:59 PM
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