Juvenile Court

Last updated on: August 24, 2009 at 6:17 pm by Christy Thomas

Juvenile Court 2009-08-24T18:17:00-05:00 Christy Thomas

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Earlier this week, I sat for a while in the Denton City Juvenile Court, just as an observer. A court official called out names. Each name was repeated into a room behind the court. Then the young offenders, dressed in shapeless and ill-fitting jumpsuits, would walk in, their hands touching behind their backs, elbows akimbo, and join family members standing before the judge. Each had spent at least the weekend in juvenile lockup, some longer than that.

After initial instructions by the judge, the charges against each youth were read. Some attorneys were present, but most were unrepresented by legal counsel.

After stern admonitions by the judge, some of the youth were released to parents or guardians. Others were deemed too dangerous to be released, and were detained pending further arrangements.

I sat in complete stillness and prayed for each individual, each family. I watched faces full of anger and frustration, grief and sorrow. I saw a few of the mechanics of a complex legal system seeking to cope with youth who had transgressed the boundaries of normal society while seeking also to preserve the boundaries of legal protection for these young people.

How does it happen? What has gone so wrong? What will these youth become as they move into adulthood?

I don’t know the backgrounds or the family histories here. I can safely assume, however, they each young person had a place to live that offered a comfortable bed for sleep, adequate if not abundant food and clothing, and multiple entertainment options.

After returning to my office, I saw an article about young girls in the South African country of Swaziland who work at desolate truck stops in that impoverished and ill country (one-third of the population is infected with the H.I.V. virus). The writer interviewed a 16 year-old orphan named Mbali, herself H.I.V. positive. She said, “I have nowhere to sleep unless I find a man.” She added, “Sometimes I don’t have money and food for two days. A man without a condom will pay more, so obviously I say O.K. because I need money. I am so tired. These men are so rough.”

The interviewer found herself unexpectedly moved emotionally by this young woman’s story and burst into tears. Here’s what happened next: “Mbali held my face and said, ‘Don’t cry!’ She hugged me. How absurd can life be? A 16-year-old, H.I.V.-positive orphan was comforting me while I wept. It was a strange way to carry on an interview, but that’s what we did. I asked her what she needed most. ‘Someplace safe,’ she said. ‘Someplace to be a girl. Someplace where I won’t have to have sex with men anymore.’

What a strange world. The rebellious and angry youth in the courtroom today seem to have cavalierly thrown away the places that would look like a heavenly haven to Mbali and the many others in her awful situation. She and others like her would treasure the opportunity to live a life with parental support and restrictions.

Are the homes that those youth in the juvenile court today come from perfect and lovingly supportive of the challenges of growing up? I seriously doubt it, mainly because I have yet to see that perfect home and family.

I know that growing up is hard. I wish we all did it better than we do. A simple moment of sadness here–there’s just got to be a better way.

So I am troubled as I observe and read about these things. I have no quick and easy solutions. I do know, though, that the people, whether youth or more mature in age, who have actively served in areas of extreme underprivilege tend to receive life with considerably more gratefulness and happiness than those who just take what is given and then demand more. I just want to be one of the grateful ones.

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