As a response to the Op-Ed on youth finding greater safety in juvenile facilities than their own communities (reposted on this blog last week), the Boston Globe featured a letter to the editor discussing another side of the phenomenon– what happens to young people as they move into the world of adult corrections.
From ‘juvie’ to worse
August 10, 2010
TAISHA STURDIVANT describes a phenomenon among some youth in tough neighborhoods that I have observed in my 24 years of work in the adult correctional system (“When a safe haven for youth is a lockup,’’ Op-ed, Aug. 2). She asks, “Are things so bad in Boston neighborhoods that some young men willingly get themselves sent to juvenile detention in order to be safe?’’ Unfortunately, young offenders who graduate, so to speak, from “juvie’’ to the adult system tend to bring expectations about the correctional system, developed in “juvie,’’ with them to the adult facility. They soon discover that the adult system is less tolerant and forgiving.