Delinquency In Juvenile Prisons

TYC has a long history of mistreating and abusing the youth that they house in their facilities. The employees and providers who run the care of these juvenile prisons not only neglect the needs of the youth imprisoned there, but also take advantage of the fact that these kids have nowhere else to run too. There have been multiple cases involving TYC employees and TYC inmates that were never brought to light, because of lack of supervision given to the facilities by the Texas government. TYC supervisor Wanda Drew comments that the youth in these prisons “are criminals, and not children. They have survived in this world by learning how to manipulate and they use that to their advantage (Dallas Morning News, March 2, 2007).” This statement that Mrs. Drew makes is important, because it allows us to see the types of attitudes the people running these
Things such as stealing fruit from the neighbor’s tree, sneaking into pools, or skipping school. In upper class neighborhoods these things could possibly been seen as rebellion or innocent acts in the process of growing up. In areas of poverty this behavior could be seen as acts towards juvenile delinquency. Once a person is labeled as deviant, it is difficult for them to remove that label. That deviant person is branded as a criminal is likely to be treated or considered untrustworthy by society. The person labeled is more susceptible to accept the new title that has been attached to them, and starts to see him or herself as deviant. They then start to fulfill the expectations that society has given to them. It’s possible that the individual labeled never commits another deviant act after the one that caused them to be labeled deviant. Even after a clean slate of no deviant behavior it is still hard for the label that was given to be forgotten. Those that have been formally or publicly labeled as deviant are treated with suspicion likely for the remainder of their