mytake4u - I used your wording as a diving board. I'm sorry. That word "juvy" has been like nails across a blackboard for so long - I snapped. Just seems to me everyone is looking the other way because these kids are so hard to deal with, either because the parents can pop'em out, but don't have time to raise them. Or the govenment takes away the parents rights to "adjust their little attitudes" and that leaves the parents in a pickle as to how to handle them (the kids)or what to do with them when they get too darned big to put in the "time out" chair. Thanks "mytake4u" just for giving me the incentive to speak out.

hey LongShot, you're preaching to the choir. that was my point. most could care about nothing but getting out and commiting offenses against you and my self or our property. Why? Because they were probably raised that way with a daddy in jail and a momma not setting an example of proper behavoir. they have no respect for rules nor laws and have shown that through misbehavoir in school and the many chances given them by our liberal legal system. by demographics i mean there is something else in commmon about these offenders besides just being 17 years old. i am way far from defending them, for many should stay locked up forever. there is a definate PROFILE of these thugs and we best admit what it is. it is not yours or my fault they get in trouble and locked up. it is the way they CHOOSE to live. i'm sorry if the word JUVY offends you, but we use it in a mocking term to belittle them. just a way we could get our oneups for the way the system works there is very little else you can do to them besides verbal put downs. they run the system....BAD-BAD-BAD!!!!!

The Demographics or prior juvy legal history? Huh, which means what? They've been doing bad things for so long they have a history? By the way, who created that cute word, "juvy?" He's in "juvy" he did a naughty thing. He's just my little "juvy".
So, because of their "juvy legal history" our jail system should be converted into a "Post Juvy Charm School? It is a Crime School! Yes, it's a Bad Place to Be! da. That's why they call it...jail. Why can't jail be jail? Why can't it be a bad, bad place? A place that anyone in their right mind (be it 17 or 70), might want to STOP and THINK twice about, before they do that “naughty little thing” they shouldn't do? My folks told me, "If you steal, do drugs, shoot someone, etc., you will go to jail." They would add, "You know what happens to you in jail?" Well, I didn't know, but the scene conjured up in my mind was not pretty and I made it a point, to Not Go There. Jail is just getting to be a cute thing to do. Easy to get into and get out of and into again. The stigma of going to jail has been lost. The kids just aren't scared to be bad anymore; it's becoming the "thing to do." It needs to be Un-Cute again and real soon.

MaryMac..........most of these young adults have been through most offender programs, and failed by the time they are sent to a penal institution. since working as a correcional officer for a few years i have a few thoughts of my own concerning rehabilitation. unfortunately it's all about people and money. each prisoner with an inclination toward rehab (big surprise...many don't) should have a non-ex-offender as a mentor. it's sad, but each time they go back to general population the cycle starts all over. rehab should not just be about obtaining a skill. a skill can be obtained anywhere/anytime. rehab is ALL about the MIND and ATTITUDE!!!!!!!

If you ask me the reason these youths are reoffending is because our prisons are not designed to rehabilitate but to house.these young men are going straight from high school to crime school housed with adult men who have spent more time as criminals then these kids have been alive.maybe instead of sending these kids to prison we should look into alternative rehab facilitys.

i think there are more demographics involved than just being 17 years old. what was their prior juvy legal history, education level, parent(s) employment history, race, school behavoir. i think we will find a more realistic reason than just being 17 years old!

They have more time to get in trouble.