For the last few months I have been reading a lot of juvenile Court reports. From all of those case histories I put together a very unscientific profile of the typical juvenile repeat offender, at least those who reside in a medium-sized town in California.
For the most part, they are males between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, although we are seeing more now who are below the age of 13. According to supervision probation officers, at least sixty percent of their caseloads are connected with criminal street gangs.
Because of their ages, these children are legally required to attend school, but they often refuse to go unless they are literally hauled out of bed each morning and dragged to the campus, where they may or may not remain for the entire school day. They are not good students in that they are usually behind academically, and they tend to misbehave in class. They are disruptive and aren’t above making threats to the teacher and/or other students. Sometimes they are actually assaultive or downright dangerous. It’s too bad, too, because these children aren’t stupid, and many are very talented, particularly in the arts.
As with school, these kids have very little interest in anything run by adults. They are seldom involved in clubs, churches, or sports. Their leisure time is all the time and, when asked, they say they spend it, “hanging out” with their home boys, or “kicking back and watching videos.” They have not developed many skills, including language, and have a difficult time communicating, particularly with anyone in authority, because even the simplest question from an adult is viewed as an interrogation.
Dad is usually nowhere is sight and mom is marginally involved. He and mom were either never married or are divorced and his whereabouts may be unknown, or he may be in prison. Sometimes he and mom are both in prison, and the child is living with relatives. These kids are not strangers to drug or alcohol use and many have witnessed serious physical abuse between their parents. Some have, themselves, been victims of physical and sexual abuse. A certain percentage have serious emotional problems and they are on medication in an attempt to control their outlandish behavior.
The use of marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs is commonplace for many of these children and most started experimenting around age eleven or twelve, at least in the reports I have read. They either see nothing wrong with it or are so defeatist that they simply don’t care. Their hope is limited and they have very few goals or plans, so substance abuse doesn’t threaten their future, because they can’t envision one.
I suspect many of these juveniles are actually depressed. Their defiance is hopelessness and anger disguised as a fragile play for power which, given their total lack of spiritual training, is probably all they have. There is no hint of faith in these kids, other than their belief in disappointment.
I know this all sounds pretty awful, and it is. There is so much to overcome by the time these children are in the justice system that our chances of success are extremely limited. In my opinion, if we are to succeed, we need to work on the problem early and involve the parents. But now I begin to repeat myself.
