One Side...
What most of
these children need is a good swift kick?
A response to
What most of
these children need is a good swift kick...
Date: Sat, 09 August 2003
He says that the police do not go looking for these kids, wrong... they do. He
says the police use to be able to take the kid by the ear, well they also use to
take them home when they broke a window but not anymore.
Straight to the JAC [Juvenile Assessment Center], do not
call parents for hours and do not let parents pick them up for hours. Get the
kids to take drug test, and ask them over 100 questions like have you ever tried
to kill yourself, have you ever thought of killing yourself. All of this over
breaking a window.
He thinks like a lot of men do. I feel sorry for his
daughter and I hope her mother has been protective of her. He thinks that she
gets what she deserves but sometimes these kids get more than they deserve and
that is what justice4kids is all about. I have not read anything from someone on
the site that did not have kids so I do not know where that part came from.
Mary
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I know Danny Matthews
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003
Cathy, I just read the article on Danny Matthews that died in the juvenile jail
and my heart breaks. I know Danny Matthews and the times [St. Petersburg
Times] didn't do him justice. My nephew has cerebral palsy and Danny was a
friend of his when he lived in New York. This kid was good. He came from a bad
family. My brother, who lives in New York, finally decided to fly him back here
and take him in. He left messages that his parents were beating him. He was in
touch with the sheriff's department and was waiting for a call back from Danny.
The sheriff's department said they would drive him to the airport and then this
happened. I am sick to my stomach. My brother loved that kid and he was so good
to my nephew. My brother's name is XXXX XXXX Rocky Point, NY. Please contact
him. The friend in the article of who he was going to do carpentry work with was
my brother. I just feel like, and I don't know the whole story, but I know the
family abused him and they were into drugs. I feel like he's getting a bad rap.
The mother is screwed up. She probably beat him again and he was defending
himself or got the bruise from somewhere else. This was a good kid and I am
heartsick over this. Please see what you can do. Thanks.
Name withheld
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How many more lives have to
be lost?
Date: 02 Jun 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: Hi Cathy, I was shocked at today's headlines. Why does someone have to
die to make people realize how poorly run our JDC is? How many more lives have
to be lost? How did this youth get out of his cell? Where were the guards?
Knowing that there was an ongoing dispute why were the guards not taking extra
steps? Please call me and let me know what I can do. I have sat back for the
past year and a half while my son has been in a program. Now that he will be out
in July, I want to be part of the solution. Signed Angry and Disgusted.
Anonymous
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...a blind eye
was turned when kids needed help.
Date: 02 Jun 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: Cathy - I am sick about this latest "incident" at JDC. My heart goes
out to both families in this unnecessary tragedy. Again, a blind eye was turned
when kids needed help. This state only cares about wealthy people and what they
can contribute to Bush's campaign so he can continue his onslaught of slash and
burn cuts to programs so crucial to families. This state ranks so low in
anything having to do with "social need based programs". Let's not have any
programs to help our children. Let's just throw them behind bars and put them
at the whim of mostly uneducated, untrained, uncaring staff who are on a power
trip over our children.
C.R.
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I was sorry to hear...
Date: 02 Jun 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: I was sorry to hear of the tragedy at JDC that resulted in the death
of a child. My prayers have gone out to the children and their families. I was
sickened to read the letter from the employee that used the incident to complain
about his boss, and being denied breaks. [Read
What more
proof do you need that the system is failing?]
Anonymous
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Please help us!
Date: 02 Jun 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Topic: I am frustrated and discouraged
Comments: Please help us! I work in a JDC not too far from Pinellas and this
place is totally out of control. We currently have 8 positions available and
they won't fill them. We are seriously understaffed and I'm afraid that one of
these kids might possibly be killed at the hands of one of their peers and we
won't have available man power to stop it. It has now been common practice in my
facility to only have one staff assigned to each mod due to flexing staff for no
overtime, court runs, or training outside of the facility that could be handled
in the building. These people really don't care and this place is a time-bomb! I
hate this job for what these people have done but unfortunately I have a spouse
and children too support. The people running DJJ in this area have really
screwed things up and until Bankhead changes them we might possibly see more
incidents like what happened at Pinellas.
Anonymous
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"Well it's too
late, last night a detainee died..."
Date: 1 June 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: I am the author of A First Warning, and 2 other letters to you, trying to
tell you how difficult it is to do our job, how we needed help before
something happens. Well it's too late, last night a detainee died as a
result of the new era forced on us. We are handcuffed by the new
administration, we have no tools or defense against the environment set up
for us by the new regimen and the results are now clear. The saving of money
resulted in a human life, is that a fair trade? I can't tell you how
desperate we are, and in need of help. The new policies are geared toward a
business, like were in this for monetary profit. Well the payoff sucks, a
human life, who knows next time it might be a staff. We are defense-less
here, the new game sucks. The best way to describe things is: out of control
chaos with no direction or consistency. What more proof do you need that the
system is failing? We lack staff, we are force to hold over without
overtime, we lack leadership, there is favoritism, we can't get time off, we
lack vacation time, we are treated like a dictatorship instead of a
democracy, there is no direction, we can't call in sick, we are suppose to
act like robots without having a life outside of the detention center, we
are forced to perform exhausting tasks, we can only have breaks when
dictated, the turnover rate is high, the burn out rate is high, the
discipline system is unfair, the ratio of veteran staff to rookies is
ridiculous, staff are leaving at an alarming rate, some supervisors aren't
qualified to be in there job capacity, we aren't given leave time when
requested, everything is geared to benefit of the facility and not to the
staff and detainees quality of life. All I can say is if we were treated
fair, had some veteran staff, had a more fair detainee to staff ratio, more
communication, were treated like human beings with lives, given
support, some constancy, able to have leave time, not having to fear all the
cameras and video tape, there would be one more teenager alive today!
Anonymous
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...Or The Other Side
What
most of these children need is a good swift kick...
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003
Your article was very interesting, however you are talking just like a mental
health advocate. As a police officer for over 18 years, there are more holes in
your theory then there is in Swiss Cheese. My wife and I are currently dealing
with a 14yr old daughter, who is one of the best manipulators I have ever met.
She knows just the right answers to the doctors questions, therefore she remains
under their care, and we can do nothing about it, because of the wonderful
"Baker Act". We have lost all parental control, and we have no say, except that
we will not allow any medication to be given, even though the doctor's say she
needs it. What most of these children need is a good swift kick in the ass. Lets
go back to the old days when there was no HRS, which gave them more rights than
their parents. When I started my police career, we could grab a kid by the ear
to get their attention, now its abuse. This is B.S. If we had more people like
you, we would have a world full of drug addicts, all of them just sitting in the
corner talking to the wall. There is nothing wrong with putting a child in
detention, even for the few days they are there they soon learn respect, and how
to say "Yes Sir and No Sir" with out all the B.S. in between. We need less
people like you and more boot camps and detention centers, and to return the
care of the children to the parents and not to a bunch of quacks who have no
children and believe that Freud was the greatest psycho there was, yes psycho
that is correct read all his books and you will find that he should have been
locked up for his ideas. No more spare the rod and spoil the child, it should be
reversed.
Anonymous
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It sure is easy to
blame the system isn't it?
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003
Maybe you should see if you can get a chance to spend a few days in the juvenile
detention center and see exactly how these "kids' act! I currently am a jailor
in a Corrections Facility not in your state and I can tell you that the real
problem lies not with the system, but with the parents of these "juveniles."
Maybe if they took some responsibility for their offspring's then the detention
centers would not be running at 150 to 175% capacity.
Contrary to popular belief, the justice system does not just walk out on the
street and pick up juveniles to take to jail. Each and every one of these
"kids" are in there because they broke the law in some fashion or other and are
(and should be) held accountable. It's probably the first time they have been
held really accountable in their life. I am not saying that all of them are
harden criminals but the fact remains, they came to the attention of the police
due to their actions not the police/court systems.
Maybe if you do get a chance to experience first hand the "I am a bad ass"
attitude or the penchant for violence they display, you might just surprise
yourself with a slight shift in your own attitude. You might just see that the
"treatment" they get on the whole is not as you are portraying, but that it is
usually determined by the juvenile's actions, not the facility personnel's.
Address the problem where it lies: Take the parents of these kids to task for
not knowing where their kids are or what they are doing until they get a call
from the jail telling them that their cherished, "my child wouldn't do that"
kid is in custody.
It sure is easy to blame the system isn't it?
Name withheld
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I find it
[justice4kids.org] one sided
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003
Seems to me someone has been burnt by the system. High expectations for a child
that continues to break then law? Surely there are some youth that change but
all I see is negative postings. What are they supposed to do have no
consequences for breaking the law? Open all the cells and start over? Laws are
set in place for our safety. Sure there will always be crime but there has to be
a deterrent. WHAT ABOUT THE PARENTS? isn't the parent/parents partly to blame
for not raising their child properly? WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIMS? No justice? Tell
them it's just a child; they don't know better. I saw your site in the paper
today and wanted to check it out. I find it one sided. Nothing's perfect. Abuse
runs rampant in schools, churches, etc. I have no answers for you but one:
DO THE CRIME DO THE TIME. There are millions of kids that seem to able to grasp
that concept. Sorry yours didn't. GOOD LUCK and GOD BLESS.
Anonymous
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