Introduction, Session 6, Activity 1

Alternative Education Overview:
Juvenile Justice Institutions
(Long-term Locked Facilities)

Lou Denti, Ph.D.
Special Education Program
California State University, Monterey Bay

~ Introduction, Session 6~
Activity 1

• Find out the rate of youth incarceration in your state. How does your state compare to other states? Does your state have a program for youth imprisoned for the first time? If so, do they offer a diagnostic assessment for youth with mental health or special education needs? Find out if sentencing for imprisoned youth is open-ended and whether prison administrators determine the length of stay in a youth detention facility. After you do your fact-finding, write about your thoughts and feelings related to this assignment.

• Interview a youth in your neighborhood regarding his thoughts about kids who end up in prison, gangs, or affiliate with the wrong crowd. Ask him/her what s/he thinks about violence in schools and in communities, and whether they think they are immune from violence. If the youth you are interviewing has been incarcerated, ask him/her to discuss his/her thoughts and feelings about the experience.

• Read the book by Zillah R. Eisenstein”s The Color of Gender: Reimaging Democracy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994 and summarize your findings in a 3-5 page paper. Discuss your ideas with other classmates.

• Explore your thoughts about youth being tried as adults. Read at least two newspaper and magazine articles related to this topic. Find one or two Internet sites devoted to this topic and then develop a cogent argument supporting or not supporting youth tried as adults. Hint: Check out the Key Studies in the Resources for this session.