Change isn’t always better or tougher. Sometimes it’s political.
Introduction
Change sometimes always comes because of necessity, or at times, it is a ploy for personal reasons by their effectuates. The state of Texas, under the governorship of George bush, saw an advocation for changes in the juvenile justice system [1]. People attached the hard-lined stand of George bush on the juvenile justice system as political. The effectuates of change have different reasons to bring about change, and when it comes, the recipients will have different views on the effects of the said change. The juvenile justice system change was to make Texas exceptional as others perceived, but for others, the amendment by George bush was for political reasons. The difference sometimes is not more significant or severe, but it might be political, as in the case of George Bush. The focus of this research paper is to expound on the statement, change isn’t always better or more robust, but sometimes it is political. These are through looking at various scholarly journals and editorials on George Bush and the juvenile justice system. Through the research, there will be a distinction whether the change in the juvenile justice system by George bush was for political reasons or to make Texas an exceptional state.
Through visualizing ad understanding why George bush wanted juvenile reforms, at the end of the paper, the findings will conclude whether the changes by George bush were politically motivated or not. Through a broad analysis of all the sources both present and past, the goal is to unravel the mystery that surrounds the whole election of George bush as the president of the united states prior to being the governor of the united states.
Bush and the juvenile justice system in Texas.
At the time of attempting to run for office George bush had not held a public office. The incumbent governor Ann Richards was easily seen as the favorite because bush had no political experience except working on his father’s election campaign team. George bush’s campaign team deduced a radical campaign strategy that involved attacking Governor Richards’ record on key issues such as law enforcement, her political appointments, and her support of liberal political causes. Bush’s ideologies at the time resonated well with the largely conservative Texans and he got a whopping 53.5 percent against Richards’ 45.9 percent. The popularity of bush in Texas was so immense and was reelected by a resounding 69 percent of Texan population. There had not been a governor hold office for two consecutive terms since the time of Dolph Briscoe in 1974. George bush showed interest to run for presidency by seeking the republican ticket just a year after his reelection. The reelection had cemented his popularity armed with both fame and power the oval office for him was in sight.
Under the tenure of George Bush as the Texas governor, there was an overhaul of the juvenile justice system [2]. The law was tough on young offenders, and it was not easy for juvenile offenders to engage in crime and get away with it quickly. The rules were hard-hitting, which made a teenager write a letter warning his brother not to follow in his footsteps because things were a lot tougher than before. The reforms in the system were a tool for campaigning, and as a pledge, he had to fulfill his promise. During the campaign period, the ideologies were opposed to the then incumbent governor Ann Richards. George bush painted a picture of Ann Richards as lux when it comes to matters of enforcing the law because of her laxity in instigating reforms in the justice system.
George Bush was elected on a law and order platform, and he believed that the solution to minimizing crime was rehabilitation and incarceration. Bush took several measures as the governor of Texas, and it included Texan sex offenders serving full sentences without the eligibility of parole. He also signed a voluntary castration bill for repeat sex offenders and automatic life imprisonment for a second sex-related offense. The measures saw a 14% decrease in offending and a 20% decrease in violent crimes. This George bush attributed to the laws that had been passed being tough on criminals.
The reforms gave George Bush a recognition in the state of Texas, even teenagers acknowledging he was harsh on those who committed a crime. The united state’s prisons hold an estimated 2 million prisoners, and every year a budget of almost $35 billion goes to correctional facilities [3]. As a free country, the numbers in the prisons are ironical, and it is the reforms and results that brought George bush success in the state of Texas to reduce crime.
The rate of crime in the whole country was a reflection of the high number of prisoners in the united states correctional facilities, and it was a strategic move for George Bush to use reforms in the juvenile justice system as a campaign strategy. The immense recognition that he received was a stepping stone for the race in being the president of the united states of America. The rate of crime, especially violent crime in America, is high, and the primary concern for many people is to see a reduction in crime. George bush resigned as the governor in the state of Texas in his second term to run for presidency with the same policies and being perceived to deliver on his promises. It is difficult to leave out the fact that he used the recognition and basked in the success he had gained in implementing the strict rules in the state of Texas as governor.
The popularity of George bush was through the roof, and he seized the opportunity to run for the presidency. The changes he did were severe and reduced the rate of crime; to some extent, they were politically motivated. If it was for the passion of serving and changing the state of the juvenile justice system in Texas, he wouldn’t have resigned as the Texas governor before the end of his term but did so while he was still held with high regard by people who were pro juvenile justice system changes.
In a statement to reflect on the political ambitions of George Bush, a Texas state official, Dawson said, “Of course, that doesn’t stop people from taking credit for it,” he said. “But who can object to that? That’s what politicians do”. George Bush did not fail to take credit for the results the reforms brought to the dropping of crime levels and wanted to be associated with the success. Many people were involved in the changes, from court officials to officers of the criminal justice in Texas. Though many people associate the falling of crime rates in the state of Texas to George bush’s tenure, many crime analysts do not agree.
George Bush was aspiring to use the model and proven example Texas as an appeal to voters and a juvenile court judge in Dallas, and a Bush supporter said: “We’ve got the best system in the entire country.” He also said that before the expansion of the juvenile justice system, youths would swagger before him. With such praises coming his way George bush had a platform on which to start his presidential campaign and fuel his political mission
The reforms did not make Texas am exceptional state considering the increase in complaints against a system that was designed to be a remedy for juvenile offenders. Once an offender is moved to the state detention facilities, their plight is forgotten, and a lot happens in these places. From the 1990s, the number of juveniles in detention centers increased, and so did the level of corruption (Crutchfield & Robert 2016). There was an increasing number of sexual harassment of youths by correctional officers. In the year 2006, relative to the explosive growth, at the peak of the explosive growth in both crime and punishment, When about 4,800 kids were in far-flung, state-run lock-ups scattered across the state and some kids locked in secure county-operated facilities, A story published in The Texas Observer detailed allegations of child sexual abuse by staff members in the facilities across Texas (Gordon & Sara 2016, 42-55). The scandal-hit even harder when it was discovered nothing was being done to those found violating the rights of the children. The heat was further fueled by the cover-up of the incidents by TYC officials.
The reforms made by George bush have not withstood the test of time, and new bills have been passed to correct the effects of the hard-lined rules on juvenile offenders. The new system was aimed at moving youth from state detention centers to community-based alternatives for purposes of rehabilitation rather than incapacitation. In July 2015, the 82nd Texas Legislature passed the Senate Bill (SB) 1630 (Gordon & Sara 2016, 42). The bill was based on the idea that the juvenile justice system in place for Texas was developed at a different time for a different day. The abuse, segregation and the harsh treatment of the youth offenders made some of the youth sue the TYC for the acts. It is evident in the “Morales” federal case where a teenager named Alicia Morales and eleven other teenagers sued the Texas youth council seeking both damages and injunctive relief, for physical and mental abuse, segregation, and neglect suffered in juvenile detention facilities (Donnelly & Paul David 2018).
The George bush reforms did not make Texas exceptional. Still, instead, after his tenure, the gravity of the level of abuse and mismanagement of funds by TYC officials was evidence through the resignation and reshuffling of the TYC officials. [4]There were many cases of injustices in the correctional facilities, and instead of offering psychotherapy for the juveniles, most of them were given drugs. (Enright & Ezra 2016) It is dangerous to rely on o drugs alone for change of behavior because medication alone often does not resolve any underlying issues that may have triggered the behavioral problems in the first place. And second, drugs have the potential to heavily sedate patients or produce dangerous results such as dependency. The reforms done to a system that was deemed perfect is an indication of George bush not trying to make Texas exceptional. As such, his reasons to bring changes might have been for his political gain when running for the presidency.
The aim was to get rid of juvenile offenders from society through incapacitation, but little focus was given to the plight of the children in the detention centers. Statistics were carried out, highlighting the reduction in crime rates in light of the reforms. Still, the negative impact of the changes was not stressed, and it is only after the election of George Bush to the office of the presidency that the adverse effects of the reforms on the juvenile offenders were highlighted. There was little negative publicity on the improvements, and the approval ratings of George bush were high, and this might have been the building stone for launching a successful presidential campaign. The changes in the reforms, the revelations of corruption in the TYC and allegations of abuse of juveniles by same people entrusted to take care of them in the detention centers is a depiction of a failed system review and the incapability of making Texas exceptional ad the underlying political ambitions of George Bush.
Given that law and order has always been a priority on George bush’s campaign, it was more of a political move when he initiated the reforms. He applied more to the majority of majorly conservative Texans, unlike his opponent, who bush attacked as being soft on crime.[5]. ‘To hold statewide office here, you have to appeal to a very conservative electorate,” said State Senator Rodney Ellis, Democrat of Houston, as reported by the New York Times. Bush had already appealed to conservatives of Texas, and there were other states which had conservatives, and this was a baseline to start his campaigns for the presidency. The reforms depicted him as harsh, and thus came the popularity.
Following the history and research conducted on the effects of punishing youth offenders, the contrary is true. Sending youths to correctional facilities might increase recidivism. The treatment programs for teens that involve being held in secure environments have proved to be more effective in the reduction of crime. The severe punishment of offenders violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and it is under the eighth amendment of the constitution. It sheds light on the problematic punishment of juveniles as adults on the grounds of morality. Court emphasized that youths are less culpable and deserve less punishment compared to adults due to their level of developmental immaturity.
The campaign strategy adopted by George w bush was identical to that of George Bush senior through appealing to conservatives by choosing and taking a hard stand on issues that are closer home (Mervin & David 2016). Even with the extensive research and statistics showing that incapacitation for the youth is not the answer, George bush still went ahead to sell his policies to the people of Texas. It is this decision to take a hard stand on crime that got him elected. Judging from his campaign for the white house, the reforms by George bush was for a higher purpose because he capitalized on the ratings, he got from being the governor of Texas.
Given the changes in the laws for the cruel treatment of juvenile offenders and the adoption of a new strategy of punishing juvenile offenders in the state of Texas, it is an indicator that the reforms by George bush were to fulfill a given purpose. During the campaign period, the ideologies made him famous, and fulfilling them would have made him even more popular. Thus, the reforms might have been politically motivated for when his time comes to run for the presidency.
Conclusion
Typically, even though changes might be severe for people, they are always for the better good of the people (Kelman & Herbert 2017). The people who are in positions to initiate change, however, might do it for reasons they know best. As seen through the analysis of journals and scholarly articles, the motive of reforms by George Bush as governor of Texas was politically motivated. Several changes have come to the juvenile justice system after the exit of George Bush as the governor of Texas.
The complaints of abuse, corruption by officials, and cover-ups show a system broken before inception because not much research was done on whether the changes would be beneficial to the juveniles who had been incarcerated. It did not deter repeat offending from those who were released from the system, and the abuses further created problems for the youth due to depression and other mentally related issues. Barely a year after his reelection and getting a huge victory of more than half the votes, George bush decided to run for presidency on a republican ticket. The republican party considered him and was nominated to represent the republican party owing to his popularity. Owing to all these revelations it is hard not to think the changes were instigated political motives being at the forefront. Therefore, it is correct to conclude that change isn’t always better or tougher. Sometimes it’s political.
References
Sumpter, G. (2019). Exception: A Texas County’s Dream for Realizing Juvenile Justice. Texas A&M University Press.
Milosevic, Ashley. “Guns in America, a Comparative Study of Firearm Policies in New York and Texas.” (2016).
Crutchfield, Robert D. “Current criminal justice system policy reform movements: The problem of unintended consequences.” Ind. JL & Soc. Equal. 5 (2016): 329.
Donnelly, Paul David. “The Cycle and Dynamics of Reform and Neglect in a State Juvenile Corrections Agency: The Texas Experience.” PhD diss., 2018.
Gordon, Sara A. “Juvenile Justice Reform in Texas: The Context, Content & Consequences of Senate Bill 1630.” J. Legis. 42 (2016): 232.
Schmitt, John, Kris Warner, and Sarika Gupta. “The high budgetary cost of incarceration.” Washington, DC: Center for Economic and Policy Research (2010).
Guarino-Ghezzi, S. (2017). Balancing juvenile justice. Routledge.
Enright, R., T. Erzar, M. Gambaro, M. C. Komoski, J. O’Boyle, G. Reed, and L. Yu. “Proposing forgiveness therapy for those in prison: An intervention strategy for reducing anger and promoting psychological health.” Journal of Forensic Psychology 1, no. 4 (2016): 1000116.
Mervin, David. George Bush and the guardianship presidency. Springer, 2016.
Kelman, Herbert C. “Processes of opinion change.” In Attitude change, pp. 205-233. Routledge, 2017.
[1] “George W. Bush on Juvenile Crime” Issues 2000, Accessed November 17th 2019,
https://www.ontheissues.org/George_W__Bush_Juvenile_Crime.htm
[2] Tough Love Story Texas Monthly. Oct 1996, Vol. 24 Issue 10, p7, 4 p. 1996, Accessed November 17th 2019,
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/love-story-upended-texas-prison-system/
[3] State ends crowding in prisons A top official says that construction has ended the space crunch.;
Now, he says, Texas must address juvenile justice or risk another crisis. News Bank John
Gonzalez Fort Worth Star Telegram January 31, 1995, Accessed November 17, 2019,
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-07-26/understaffed-and-overcrowded-state-prisons-crippled-by-budget-constraints-bad-leadership
4 Texas in the forefront in Juvenile Justice Reform the Dallas Morning News July 27th, 1997
https://www.dallascounty.org/Assets/uploads/docs/juvenile/agendas/2015/JB_Packet_082415.pdf
[5] “On the Record: Governor Bush on Crime; Bush’s Law and Order Adds Up to Tough and
Popular” August 18, 1999 The New York Times, Accessed, November 17th 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/18/us/record-governor-bush-crime-bush-s-law-order-adds-up-tough-popular.html