Today i visited the juvenile facility in Ventura county. They house a few hundred deliquent kids there at one time. Most stay a few month, some stay 2 years. Kids who ended up there for many reasons, from skipping school, to drug possession, to stealing cars, to murder. Kids who visit there quite often pretty much get 'institutionalized'. They get everything done for them as long as they can obey the rules. They get work, school, 3 meals a day, recreational classes, shower, laundry, and visitation rights when they are in there..... Let me tell ya, that is a heck of a lot more than what a lot of them could muster up on their own. It is like a 'free lunch' every time they are in there... I don't see why they wouldn't want to come back, as long as they can put up with people telling them what to do and also living within the wired fenced walls and locked gates.
Now, ideally, we would like to rehab these kids to become contributing part of society and that they can make a living and pour back their monies back into our economy... instead of costing hard earned tax-payer dollars... but, if all these kids are getting seemed to 'institutionalize' them, they do eventually become a social burden.
What do we do?
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