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high
commitment
to and
involvement
in legitimate activities of society,
such as education or career.
Control theory suggests that the
typical juvenile offender has a weak
bond with society, that is, a poor
relationship with parents and prob–
ably poor performance or poor
status in school. And the facts bear
out what the theory suggests. A ju–
venile court judge commented that
70% of the kids who come into
juvenile court come from broken
homes.
Hans Cohn, who directs Pasa–
dena's Rosemary Cottage, a com–
munity-based home for girls,
offered the following summariza–
tion : "Essentially our youngsters are
kids who have failed persistently in
just abour everything that they have
these kids in our society are so
starved for emotional gratification
that they plunge into drugs as an
escape from their empty lives.
a.
ls this phenomenon prlmarlly in
the ghetto?
A.
When
1
talk about the family de–
teriorating, l 'm also talking about
middle-dass families.
1
had a case in
my court where a young girl was
running away from home-...-just a
minor otfense that had a parent
shown up she would have been able
to be returned to her farnily. She
was very excited and loobng for–
ward to going home. and neither
parent showed up in the courtroorn.
So 1asked the bailitf to callthe girl's
parents and have them come and
pick her up. The father, it appeared,
was out of state. The rnother got on
the phone and said, " Listen. we
don' t want her. Why don' t you just
keep her there in juvenile hall. You
can have her."
NaturaUy 1 had to pass that rnes–
sage on to this little girl, and she just
shattered in front of me - just
started to cry and convulse.
1
wanted to get down from the bench
and put rny arms around her and
really show the human emotion and
affection tha t she needed, but all 1
could do in the capacity of a judge
was order her back to a cell , pend–
ing placernent in sorne foster borne
at sorne la ter time. And rny prog–
nosis in the case of this young girl is
The PLAIN TRUTH January 1977
tried, largely because their families
have not given them much emo–
tional support, because they have
been shunted from place to
place.... Their families have bro–
ken up, usually. They've been in
foster homes. They've been in other
institutions, and they've had no con–
tinuity in their lives and have not
had an opportunity to settle down
anywhere to develop any kind of
roots."
When we institutionalize the
status offender or petty juvenile
criminal - when we take him out of
normal society - the most signifi–
can! effect may be to fur ther weaken
the juvenjle's already far-too-weak
bond to society.
On the other hand, for sorne kids,
especially certain status offenders.
that eventually she will be found
overdosing or she'll be a suicide
case. Without a decent set of par–
ents, a kjd doesn't have rnuch of a
chance in this society.
a.
What legal rlghts does the juve–
nile have compared to that of an
adult when he ls brought to court?
A.
Well, the Supreme Court has
conferred upon a juvenile almost all
the rights that adult defendants
have, except the right to ajury tria!.
a.
Does that In any way change the
approach of youth toward the
courts?
A.
There is an atmosphere of advo–
cacy about the courtroom. 1 remem–
ber one thirteen-year-old girl who
carne into the court room with her
mother. This young girl had been
missing for severa! days , and her
mother ran over to her and said,
"Where were you? What were you
doing? l 've been going out of my
mind looking for you." The thir–
teen-year-old girl turned to her
mother and said, "Speak to my at–
torney. 1don't have to talk to you."
A young boy was picked up by
the police. He was twelve years old,
picked up on the streets with glue
on his lips, on his hands, on his nose
- obviously sniffing glue which has
toluene in it - destroying his brain
cells. When he carne into court, 1
think bis attorney should have
thought, "Well, what is in the best
interests of this bd? Shouldn't he be
the institution may atford them
their first real chance to forge a nor–
mal bond to society. This has been
the case with many runaways, who.
by runrung away, were trying to es–
cape intolerable home conditions.
Some bds get their first taste of nor–
mallife in institutions. But these are
usually fairly open, community–
based institutions where life for the
youth is much like life on a typical
block and where rules, regulations,
and restrictions roughly parallel
those of a normal family.
Moreover. wrule the juvenile of–
fender may have a weak bond to
normal. legitimate society, he often
has a strong bond with the quasi–
criminal youth subculture, such as
gangs. In such a case, a n institution
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committed to sorne sort of ín–
stitution for treatment?" All the at–
torney could think about was
winning the case. He disputed the
fact that the prosecution did not
have the can in court to demon–
strate that it actually had the chem–
ícal toluene in it and objected on
hearsay grounds. EventuaUy this kid
got the thing kicked out on a techni–
cality. He went back out sniffing
glue and destroyed his brain.
a.
You yourself used to
be
a gang
leader in New York. Now you' re a
respected attorney. What was the
key to your success?
A. 1
guess there were good people
along the way, a teacher, a proba–
tion officer, people who extended a
hand .... But 1 think it was ulti–
mately an inner resolution withió
myself that
1
was tired of being on
the down side of life, of being
abused and pushed around and
being a nobody and a toser.
1
made
the cornmítment that 1 was going to
change my life. I went back to night
hígh school at 21 , whicb is rather
late to start high school. Then, ten
years later
1
emerged as the valeilic–
torian at Harvard Law School, so it
was quite a metamorphosis.
a.
So we' re all products of our own
character, whether good or bad?
A.
Yes, 1 think ultirnately the spiri–
tual resources of the individual are
the most important elements of rus
destiny.
O
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