Juvenile Homes

Kenneth Wooden had a speech impediment until junior high age. Taunts and jeers from classmates caused him to withdraw, and he was placed with slow students who, like himself, could barely read. He continually failed classes and started having behavioral problems. He beat up a classmate, vandalized businesses, and stole a car. Due to the efforts of his parents and a sympathetic judge, he was spared imprisonment.

After high school, Wooden could not get a job because he could not read and write well enough to fill out job application forms. He taught himself how to read in the army. He married a loving woman who tutored him through college. He graduated with honors from Glassboro State College in 1962. The folder containing his records from earlier schooling stated that his IQ was 78. Wooden believed strongly that there is a relationship between poor reading ability and crime and was inspired to write the book, Weeping in the Playtime of Others: America's Incarcerated Children (67-68).

In this book Wooden recounts his thorough investigation of juvenile detention homes across the nation. He found that a large percentage of the children incarcerated could not read, and those who could read were far below the expected capability for their ages. Education was not given a high priority in the overall rehabilitation programs of imprisoned children. Youngsters were more often used as workers in institutional kitchens and laundries or as cheap labor for nearby business

Related Essays

Criminology: Theories of Juvenile Delinquency .... Broken Homes and Juvenile Delinquency In general, high crime rates, limited legitimate business activity and/or employment opportunities and poorly functioning .... (2557 10 )

Alternative Treatment for Juvenile Offenders .... programming, Group Home Treatment Programs that are most often used in the early stages of juvenile delinquent behavior and feature foster homes and remove .... (2231 9 )

Juvenile Delinquents & Interpersonal Relations .... This suggests that juvenile delinquents from homes where parent(s) are alcoholic may be what Knopf (1984) terms "overinhibited delinquents." This delinquent .... (9321 37 )

Juvenile Criminals .... something be done about the rise in violent juvenile crime, whether such an increase stems from drugs, television's influence, one-parent homes, no supervision .... (1506 6 )

Juvenile Justice in the US and Japan .... Juvenile cases are handled in the Family Court in Japan and an extensive system of Juvenile Classification Homes, Juvenile Training Schools, and Juvenile .... (3220 13 )

ndiana Boys School at Plainfield, he attempted to escape eighteen times and succeeded the nineteenth time. Wooden visited the Gebault Home in Terre Haute and was given a tour of the facilities. The Catholic brothers declined to discuss Manson and were embarrassed that he had been under their care. Manson was 13 at the time he lived there. The dormitories were old. The beds lined the walls, and at the end of the room was a toilet with windows like a telephone booth. At Plainfield, officials refused media permission to see the Manson file. However, the superintendent indicated that the boys were regularly beaten with leather straps. Manson was beaten so severely on several occasions that he required treatment at a local hospital. It was also at Plainfield that Charles Manson was first homosexually attacked and raped. Thereafter, he engaged in homosexual activity (50). From Manson's records at the National Training School for Boys, a profile shows that at 16 he had an IQ of 109 but could not read. He had an unfavorable family life and was aggressively anti-social. One psychiatrist noted that because of his profound sense of inferiority in relation to his mother, his small size, his illegitimacy, and lack of parental l

Category: Government - J