‘No matter how loud I shout’ - a book

The State of the American Juvenile Justice System

The state of the American juvenile justice system is the subject of the book “No matter how loud I shout.” (USA). The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes focuses on the county of Los Angeles and thus critically examines the state of the juvenile justice system in the middle of the 1990s. The author worked with some juvenile offenders in the county 7 as a writing instructor and counselor, and he made particular efforts to follow up with them for at least a year in the juvenile court systems of Los Angeles, Pomona, and Inglewood in California. (Humes). By carefully reading the book, the most striking thing is not the difficult life and troubles the 7 juvenile delinquents that the author tracked for a year went through, however, it is the horrible combination of neglect, institutional failures, as well as, the overreaction of the public. It is important to note that the above-stated combination of negative things made the juvenile court system of the USA as at that particular time lack the elements needed for public safety both for the perpetrators, as well as, the victims. Throughout the entire book, the author reveals one failure after the other within the juvenile defense system vividly illustrating particular cases of failure.

Individuals

Judge Roosevelt’s Juvenile Court

It can be acknowledged that the author admits having spent most of his time in the juvenile court of Judge Roosevelt. The author goes a step further to admit that this particular judge had a combination of controversial ideas that about the running of juvenile cases and this had serious negative implications on the court proceedings as the juvenile court was always in conflict with the public defense department, as well as, with the office of the district attorney (Humes). It is true to state that due to these controversial ideas, a lot of juvenile delinquents were instead sent to adult courts instead of being sent to juvenile courts. The author also states that Roosevelt the judge goes a step further to remove the juveniles from their homes and have them put in juvenile detention centers a move that until now has been deemed erratic

Beckstrand Peggy, Sister Janet

Beckstrand is a deputy district attorney and the author clearly brings out her character by describing her as an individual that thought that some juveniles were irredeemable, thus, always worked to get justice for the victims, thus, have the juveniles punished. However, this spirit is not in all of the district attorneys because Sister Janet who the author also pays special attention never gave up on any juvenile delinquent no matter how vicious their guilt was (Humes).

The Political Controversies

The policies in the juvenile court system were clouded with a lot of political controversies. It is important to note that quite a number of ’get-tough’ laws are passed in California and this results in a large number of juvenile delinquents being sent to adult courts instead of juvenile courts (Humes).

Conclusion

The juvenile court system of the USA as at that particular time seems to have treated the 7 kids namely; George Trevino, Carla James, Geri Vance, Ronald Duncan, Andre, Elian Elizando, and John Sloan randomly, however, it can be clearly stated that 3 of them got saved, however, it failed to properly punish Ronald Duncan who murdered 2 of his colleges and showed no remorse and failed the other 3. This particular book offers a look into the juvenile court system of the USA that deals with children and some of the impacts the court has made on the lives of the children. It is true to state that the image created by the author of the juvenile court system of the USA as a chaotic one, as well as, one that cannot be relied upon to save children nor protect the USA from adolescent violence.

Works Cited

Humes, Edward. No matter how loud I shout: A year in the life of juvenile court. Simon and Schuster, 2015.