Imprisoning a Child for Life

I notice too many people are devoid of empathy. They are little better than the criminals they criticize in that they cannot see another's suffering. Criminals are often victims of our dysfunctional society. We failed these kids and now we want to lock them away and throw away the key. Exactly how many children have you rescued from the ghettos of America? Exactly how many children have you saved from abusive drug addicted parents? If you never had to grow up in a living hell then I think you ought not to jump to conclusions about who ought to be treated with compassion and who should not. These forgotten children are neglected until they commit some terrible crime. We spend millions to keep them in prison but hardly lift a finger when the first signs of trouble show up in school. We should be ashamed of ourselves for failing our youth yet again. America has grown to be a highly dysfunctional and corrupt society and the signs are all around us. The knee jerk punishment squad needs to realize we already have the world’s largest prison population, and the largest military budget maybe we need to change our priorities and how we solve our problems.

Unfortunately, our youth today may be sadly lost to a value system that evolved from the depths. As for those who are educatedly challenged and do not have the mental capability to mature and conduct their own affairs, the dreaded "institutionalization" probably should be the alternative to setting them up to be influenced to re-offend. By "institutionalization," I do not refer to the prison system, but life in a structured setting that allows them to flourish to the best of their capabilities, be away from the wrong elements of society, and enjoy the securities they so desperately need and deserve. Many parents of challenged children do not have the knowledge or social resources, forget the monetary resources, to raise, nurture, and maintain these children, now turned adults, with forever children mental capabilities, in their homes without serious consequence to all.