We know what works, so why don't we do more of it

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rahel-tekola/we-know-what-works-to-sav_b_10442878.html


The juvenile justice system is broken. This article discusses one woman's experience working with a 13-year-old African-American Dallas boy accused of sexual assault. Rahel Tekola is a child abuse and domestic violence advocate. She became involved and angered by the juvenile justice system when she started working with a teenager accused of sexual assault, and he was a victim too. The boy suffered child abuse and emotional trauma at the hands of his stepfather who falsely accused him to deflect attention from his actions. The judge did not discuss the case with his stepfather, no screening or rape kit assessment was completed for his 3-year-old sister, the accuser. Tekola states child abuse experts were not consulted, and the little girl's testimony appeared to be coached.


The boy was wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting his sister and is now labeled a felon. He now makes up a large percentage of African American jailed youth, nearly five times more than their white peers. The author discusses the injustices within the juvenile justice system, even discussing the case of Brock Turner. I was disturbed by the statistic that, "2.7 percent  of the poorest white youth ended up in prison, whereas 10 percent of affluent black youths went to prison." Youth in the system are less likely to graduate high school and have an increased likelihood of facing adult incarceration.


However, the author states a solution to this problem. "An obvious solution is deferring to non-punitive orders such as behavioral and rehabilitative programs focusing on emotional health and discipline will allow us to address a bigger issue. Programs dedicated to helping incarcerated students also increase the chance of graduating high school." Missouri has a successful community-based rehabilitative program where only 8% of youth offenders return to the juvenile system once released. These programs are also cost effective. On average, incarcerating a child costs $88,000 annually. A prevention program on average costs $2,500. The purpose of these programs is to educate youth and teach them skills to succeed instead of punishing them and continuing the pipeline from juvenile penitentiary to prison. "When we become more intentional about saving young lives instead of throwing them away, we can navigate young men or color, all trouble youths really, into another steady pipeline — away from prison and into college."