Juvenile Justice System Quotes

“Mostly they all were products of single parents, and in the most tragic category - black boys, with no particular criminal inclinations but whose very lack of direction put them in the crosshairs of the world.”
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons and an Unlikely Road to Manhood

“I never thought that the word RAPE will appear in my life because a woman I deeply care about is raped.

~ Taz”
― Kirtida Gautam, #iAm16iCan

“I don't want to tax my mind to find perfect Iron Man line.

~ Aarush Kashyap”
― Kirtida Gautam, #iAm16iCan

“I cannot think who my residents hurt but how I can give them tools to remain on the right side of civilization.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, Juvenile Justice: A Reference Handbook, 2nd Edition (Contemporary World Issues

“As I learned more about the juvenile and criminal justice systems, I was reminded of all those jail and prison visits I'd made in my life. What struck me was just how regular it was. We have to take a second to process how messed up that is. We have normalized the abnormal so completely we don't even realize it. Why was this part of Black boys' coming-of-age? Why are some things praised and aspired to? Why are certain things like serving time held up as a badge of honor when they only lead to ruin?”
― Michael K. Williams, Scenes from My Life: A Memoir

“No one wakes up and says they want to be a gangbanger or a drug dealer- that's the last stop on the train. That what you do when you're drowning and reaching out for something- anything- to survive. By the time they get to the corner, there has been a series of things that led to that decision. No one wakes up at the top of the mountain and decides they would like it better down there on the bottom. They end up there out of desperation. We don't spend enough time examining the wider picture, the steps that get them there. We don't tell that part of the story. And to tell half the story is to spread a lie.”
― Michael K. Williams, Scenes from My Life: A Memoir