Summary of The Article
Part 3 of the woodland book presents the story of the incarceration of detainees in Massachusetts with Clyde Perkins narrating the story. Chapter 8 heading reads ‘the dots of failure,’ symbolizing the harsh experiences in schools and juvenile prisons where most of the participants faced punitive treatments. Perkins is a living testimony of the incarceration, having been a victim for ten years (Wooden, Kenneth 2000). He says, ‘this time, I am back from parole violations, but hell, I can’t find any job because of my record!’(Wooden, Kenneth 2000). The incarceration was remarked by widespread prejudice with the victims’ social class, influencing the severity of the treatment. The statistic in the ordeal reveals that most victims would repeat their mistakes even after being subjected to punitive measures. Indeed, the article shows that 74-80% of juvenile offenders feel victims of the same mistakes, even after being punished. Clyde was penalized for ‘Status Offense,’ which was considered noncriminal in the ethical perspective.
Chapter nine of the book also mentions the situation of learning institutions to be flaming up indiscipline issues. In regions such as Massachusetts, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Arizona, schools had poor learning surrounding, understaffing, and poorly paid teachers (Wooden, Kenneth 2000). As such, the teachers and the learners’ motivation was low and could not harness discipline as a substantive outcome. The treatments that juvenile subjected the offenders are considered unethical and not geared to correcting the offenders. Wooden, Kenneth (2000) presents the message by wheeler and Cottrell, who stated that when the legal laxness of the parens patriae attitude and corrected by stern disciplinary approach, the offender (the child) feels deceived and that the rehabilitation process is considered insignificant.
Chapter eleven of the book presents the old solitary measures of confining the culprits. The woodland asserts that all nations have a form of corrective actions for the children who defy the laws of society. Indeed, Wooden, Kenneth (2000) stated the isolation and was often used to confine the troublesome children in a separate room for a stated period, depending on the crime committed. The conditions of the room were poor, dirty, wet, and infested by vermin. As the children locked into such rooms spend time, the intrinsically develop self-realization and change their behavior for the better. Wooden, Kenneth (2000) of the book reveals that the rooms’ situation was unknown to the members of the society until lad, who escaped from the cells admitted not to return to college with the fear of being locked in iron cages. However, the united states draw attention to understand the condition of solitary confinement. According to the US Antarctic expedition, the situation of the confines and alerted the state that; victims in the cells were vulnerable to Schizophrenia and thus; was risky to the psychological functioning of the children. Indeed, the research claimed that the victims who could successfully spend months and years in solitary confinement had heroic behaviors. Wooden and Kenneth (2000) reveal that several types of research in the united states claimed that solitary confinements impaired human emotional functioning. Such suggests that calling off the practice is critical to securing the conditions of the victims as well as creating an opportunity for alternative correcting measures.
According to chapter 12, ‘The New Solitary Confinement’ The continuous research on the effects of solitary confinements for the children allowed for the formation of new solitary confinements (Wooden, Kenneth 2000). The approach allowed for the use of drugs such as tranquilizers and chlorpromazine as an approach to relieve the offenders’ stress factors and achieve a healthy emotional state. The pharmaceutical approach is essential in alleviating the brutal treatment of the offenders by creating mental soberness, which would help the offenders understand their issues quickly and embrace a positive change.
Chapter thirteen presents the story of Richard Garbar, who questioned a boy Gary Stoloski about his life. Instead, the boy refuses to give out his address and run away. The boy is later arrested and taken to jail in Bucks county but then found hanging on the roof of his sell after committing suicide. The scientific studies on the concern of increased suicide cases in Bucker county asserted that the deaths occurred within twenty-four hours of imprisonment. Such drawn the concern over the cells’ situation, as the murder cases toll to intolerable levels.
Reflection/Critique of The Book
The book has addressed the issues of handling young offenders in the United States and the juvenile courts’ justice systems. Wooden, Kenneth (2000) presents a chronological argumentation and gives a concrete example to justify the incarceration faced by the offenders. For instance, the death of Gary Stoloski is an example of the incarceration concern since it might have sprung from the psychological and emotional torture (Wooden, Kenneth 2000). The offenders have been subjected to inhuman treatments, and the correcting measures are so punitive. However, Wooden and Kenneth (2000) mention that with such actions, there was the probability of the offenders repeating the same mistakes. In chapter nine, Wooden and Kenneth (2000) state that 74-80% of the offenders were likely to repeat their mistakes even after correction.
Necessarily, the book does not only spell the incarceration of the then juvenile systems but also mentions the measures assumed to reduce the harshness of the penalties. In the old and new solitary confinements, the government aimed at replacing physical torture with privilege withdrawals. However, the first approach brings another problem of psychological and emotional effects, which due to the conditions of the sales, which are poor. The new confinement introduced pharmaceutical attention to reduce stress and reduce the duration set for detention. Thus, this book is authentic and reliable and useful to any user who wants to understand the value of justice systems in the US in ancient times.
Reference
Wooden, Kenneth (2000). Weeping in the Playtime of Others: America’s Incarcerated Children. Ohio State. ISBN 0-8142-5063-7