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Greene County, Indiana ~ Thursday, November 20, 2008
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Kids in Jail: Indiana Ranks 6th in Nation
Posted Sunday, June 15, 2008, at 10:49 AM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
What if I told you that there are more kids in Indiana locked up than the entire population of Jasonville? Similarly, what if more children were in jail in this state than the population of Bloomfield? Or, the equivalent of half of Linton was incarcerated?
Well, what I'd be telling you would be the truth. An estimated 2,616 youths were in custody in Indiana on any given day in 2006, the latest year data was available.
This makes Indiana ranked sixth among all of the states with the most juveniles locked up, an alarming situation that should prompt the state to re-examine its youth justice system, a report released on June 12th said.
This state-by-state comparison report, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation the other day, showed Indiana's rate of detained and committed youths was 183 per 100,000 youths, which is above the national rate of 125 per 100,000 youths.
So, what's the problem causing this?
It's a social issue, as well as an economic one. Having this many kids in the system is not cheap, nor is it productive. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
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drea, I don't know. In Linton, such a center was voted down -- well, rather not voted on at all for lack of a second on the motion to accept a $500,000 grant. Yep, free money turned down. That was when I posted in March a rather sarcastic blog post, which can be found here: http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathe...
so is there going to be changes? boys and girls club was used everyday it was opened. kids need to socialize and just have a safe place to hang out, there isnt any place like that cept the library and i do see kids use it but is that enough?
Dairyman, I wasn't saying that was the whole reason, or even a reason, but I was saying that the results could be due to "positives" rather than always "negatives". We tend to look at what is "wrong" all of the time, and I was just noting that there could be some positives within those numbers, such as people doing a good job at what they do.
drea, that was one of our findings from the Home Town Competitiveness surveys taken recently, that an activities center is needed for youth. It's something needed county-wide, so kids can meet others from other schools. The only time they meet now is through sports, and they are competing or "adversarial" then, it was noted in the surveys.
another reason for crime among kids is there hardly isnt enuff structure like after school activities
In this town we sick the police on kids for standing around in parking lots, playing loud music, and riding skateboards.
parents can only due so much. its the child that has to have consequences, natural and logical but in the end its all about choices. judges and the rest of the criminal system have a job to do and society can deal with it or dont.
Chris, I totally disagree with your belief that Indiana may have more kid's locked up because of better police, prosecutors, and judges. If anything this is a reflection against them, because what you're saying is kids must be treated like adult criminals in the court system. I think you're a little off base. The way I see it, Indiana has more kids locked up is because Indiana doesn't know how to deal with kids. My particular opinion is Indiana parents are responsible for all those locked up kids, not police, prosecutors, or judges.
Dairyman, I think it's probably a complicated answer with multiple reasons for the high rate, and I don't pretend to know them all.
Drea probably has a point on the mental illness as part of the situation, although you'd expect that to be nationwide and not just an Indiana issue.
It could also have some positives within the answer to that question, such as the police, prosecutors, and judges in this state are doing a good job.
mental illness can lead to criminal behavior. one of the reasons why the jails and prisons are so full is because there are underlying issues. judges dont like sending kids to adult corrections and there are alot of troubled kids and teens out there but when you as a parent have done everything what more can you do when no one listens.
The mentally ill arent criminals.
That is just the way we deal with them.
Instead of treating the illness we just lock the up where they wont "bother" the rest of us.
The government is who puts them away.
The government represents the atitudes of the people.
That is why we get such a narrow minded solution.
Instead of helping the sick and the needy we persecute them.
even screwed up kids come from the best families! its not just indiana its all over. people are too focused on the problem when they should be looking for solutions!
OK Chris, what exactly is going on in Indiana that's sending so many kids to jail? You started this blog and maybe you should use your investigative skills to provide some answers. Are all these kid's mentally ill? I would think the mentally ill kids in jail are in the minority. Are Indiana courts screwed up as compared to other states? Or does Indiana just have 45% more lousy parents?
people arnt born criminals? are you sure about that? 60% of the inmates in prison in this statement are mentally ill. half of them by just looking at them you wouldnt know who would scare you no different than the drug users! government has nothing to do with why so many kids are locked up. indiana just looks the other way and locking your kid up after 800 so they don scare old people well thats gonna do it that will save everybody! get realistic.
People are not born criminals: the state makes them that way.
When the government makes picking your nose a crime they can lock me up and throw away the key.
Law enforcement is big business and a major employer in this state, without criminals they go out of business.
It is easy to scare most people into thinking that we must arrest a bunch of people to keep them safe: especially younger people who naturally scare and intimidate the elderly.....
Younger people like to be outside and do things. They like to be active and live life to the fullest. This makes them prime targets for agents. Maybe if these people would be home and shutup in their houses by 8:00 pm they would not be getting into trouble.
i cant get anyone to listen.
is not a convential form of treatment. my son manipulates is surroundings to form his personality. i have done everything i can as a parent nature was not on my sons side but he is in jail taking responsabiliy for his actions and all i can do is be there for him. the only way that a social path will get better is to stay in jail for the rest of his life or die. there is no cure for conduct disorder and it kills me to see my son like that. he has had every help possible and every one laugh at me because
if nothing else works and all the options are exceeded jail is the only answer. mental illness believe it or not is very common in this state. my son is 16 yrs old and is in greene county jail he had numerous oppertunities to straighten up. he was diagnosed with odd adhd conduct disorder some of that was enviromental i am to blame for that. that is why we moved to indiana. the rest of his problems are hereditary. people laughed at me when i told them what was going on in our life and even jail for my son
It's not a matter of arrests and convictions, it's a matter of how to get kids on the right track so they may continue into adulthood and become responsible adults. Just arresting them and throwing them in jail is not an acceptable answer.
I fully agree, drea, but why are Indiana's numbers so high?
Is it a positive, such as our police and prosecutors make more arrests and convictions, compared to other states, who really have just as many criminals -- they just aren't caught?
Or, is it a negative, that somewhere along the line kids in indiana feel crime is OK?
well what if everything else was tried like counseling, foster care, house arrest and probation? you exceed all the options and then some then these kids go on and make these choices some one has to be responsable. we all have a choice and we all make mistakes then we move on.
Chris, There's got to be another way. Just locking kids up and throwing away the key is not the answer. And when they do get out, what do they have to look forward to? I guess our judges and prosecutors must think that locking them up will just cause those kids' problems to go away. It's apparent judges and prosecutors are off their rocker (of course we've all known that for a long time).