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Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison
by
When teenagers scuffle during a basketball game, they are typically benched. But when Will got into it on the court, he and his rival were sprayed in the face at close range by a chemical similar to Mace, denied a shower for twenty-four hours, and then locked in solitary confinement for a month.
One in three American children will be arrested by the time they are twenty-thr ...more
One in three American children will be arrested by the time they are twenty-thr ...more
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Hardcover, 365 pages
Published
June 3rd 2014
by The New Press
(first published May 28th 2014)
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Except for Thanksgiving weekend, Labor Day weekend is the most difficult holiday weekend for me, so this wasn’t a good time for me to be reading this book, but I guess it was good timing to finally finish it. I found it utterly devastating, though it’s such an important book, and thankfully it does offer hope and excellent suggestions in the final sections. Thank goodness viable alternatives to what is the norm are provided. Otherwise, the book would be nothing but tortuous.
My feelings about hu ...more
My feelings about hu ...more
Much like The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, I went into the book curious and eager to learn, and came out of the book with furor in my belly. The statistics Bernstein cites in the book about recidivism, costs, and abuse in prison are astonishing. Having lived in the U.S. for the past ten years, I have become somewhat ingrained in the culture of punishment and the so-called law and order. I hope this book can mark the start of a much needed culture change and understanding toward juvenile i
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This non-fiction book was very disturbing, but also a very important read. It tells the real story of what has been going on in juvenile detention over the years in America. It is HARD to read because of the violence and abuse perpetrated against our children. The author interviewed many children who had been or currently were in the system. Their stories are heart-wrenching.
The system is in a huge mess. It reveals euphemistic language we use that makes us think we are "helping" children who are ...more
The system is in a huge mess. It reveals euphemistic language we use that makes us think we are "helping" children who are ...more
An empathic, well-written and deeply researched look at the American juvenile detention system. Could have been called "Teenage Gulag"; Bernstein shows us the worst abuses that juvenile prisons are prone to, but also shows us that even the "best" facilities fail our children and betray any notion of justice--there is no right way to lock up a child.
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This is a very important book. The author proposes not only reform, but an end to juvenile incarceration altogether. And she has done her homework. Every one of her points is thoroughly backed up with data from excellent sources. The book is organized into two sections. The first part focuses on the kids who are caught up in the system. It shows how the system works, with a lot of attention to the abuse of the children. The second part details recent reforms and new approaches, explores ideas ab
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A must read for every American that gives a damn about children. Sad, motivating and eye popping information.
Just as a review on the cover described, “devastating.” This is a clear call to action, and an area I could definitely see myself in as a social worker, specifically to advance policies and programs keeping youth in communities with youth empowering other youth and high-impact strategic interventions.
“A great strength of our democracy, our reformist nature, is also a critical weakness, blinding us to those ocasiones when a long-standing institution has a fundamental, conceptual flaw— the kind t ...more
“A great strength of our democracy, our reformist nature, is also a critical weakness, blinding us to those ocasiones when a long-standing institution has a fundamental, conceptual flaw— the kind t ...more
This book is sometimes very difficult to read because of the graphic brutality endured by children incarcerated in this country -- harsh beatings, sexual abuse, long stints in isolation. Bernstein intersperses Department of Justice reports and grim statistics with moving stories of kids who are or have been incarcerated -- many of whom she worked with at a youth newspaper in the Bay Area. She concludes the system is so broken it cannot be reformed -- and illuminates some places (Red Wing, Minnes
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This is a really uncomfortable book to read, and that's the point that Bernstein makes over and over – if it's hard for us to hear about, if it's hard for the guards to survive, imagine what the system is like for the children who live there. The author does a good job of convincing us that the system is even worse than we thought in Part 1, and in Part 2 she makes it clear that reform is impossible for a system this badly damaged, that it has to be completely dismantled and something else built
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Oct 16, 2015
Annika
added it
I started reading this book a few weeks ago for an AP Lang class, but it started to grow into something more than just a project I had to do for school. It was not at all what I expected it to be. This piece is incomprehensibly heartbreaking, but also resolutely hopeful.
I strongly recommend this book.
I strongly recommend this book.
This is a very important book. It makes a case that the juvenile prison system can't and shouldn't be reformed but rather closed with most youth placed in alternative programs.
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The author provides extensive evidence of the failure of juvenile prison. Any incarceration of youths makes them more likely to commit crime in the future. Only developing them can their problems be solved. Incarceration and personal development are incompatible.
The book is extremely repetitive. I guess that each point is made at least twenty times. That is the main reason that I deduct a point from my rating of it. Part of the purpose of the book make the message supported by much evidence, but ...more
The book is extremely repetitive. I guess that each point is made at least twenty times. That is the main reason that I deduct a point from my rating of it. Part of the purpose of the book make the message supported by much evidence, but ...more
An incredibly important book. There is no "reform" -- only institutional recidivism lies down that path, in which kids are attempted to be protected from the harm the system does to them, then are let down again and again. This book does its due diligence in attempting to find the "good" within juvenile facilities (the ones that resemble schools and rehab more than prison) and finds that no place that confines children against their will is a good one. They always turn out to be ineffective and
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Jun 01, 2020
Bailey H
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In her introduction, Nell Bernstein writes to the reader, “The time has come to move beyond the long battle to reform our juvenile prisons and declare them beyond redemption. Raze the buildings, free the children, and begin anew.” (17, Bernstein). As an award-winning journalist and author, Bernstein has spent years interviewing hundreds of kids swept up into the American juvenile justice system and exploring what she calls “modern-day dungeons,” also known as juvenile prisons, training schools,
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In this non-fiction book, Nell Bernstein describes the mistreatment of delinquent youths and shows that juvenile homes or prisons are not what they seem. In certain chapters, the author follows several different young adults and how they ended up in a youth prison. The book takes you back to when juvenile prisons were first created and what events shaped the juvenile court system today.
Overall, this book is very intriguing, but hard to read. I liked how the author was very specific and gave key ...more
Overall, this book is very intriguing, but hard to read. I liked how the author was very specific and gave key ...more
This book is very well-written: clear, well researched, both emotional and logical. It gives a thorough background of the history of juvenile 'justice' in America, but the reason I'm rating it so highly is that in addition to history, it talks about the future. Many times reading this I thought, you know, if only the people in power, the people who set public policy, would read this. It provides a blueprint for a better future, and I want our whole society to follow Bernstein's plan. It's a good
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Calling this book, "The New Jim Crow" but for juveniles, would not be an unfair comparison. However, the comparison offers a tough benchmark for this book to hurtle. Nell Bernstein offers an undeniable case against the abuses and immorality of juvenile detention. Yet, her argument is unstructured, unorganized and relies on anecdotal stories rather than hard-hitting data. An important read, it is just upsetting that it wasn't presented more neatly.
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I yelled at the pages, I tried to figure out what to set fire to first, I found despair and I found hope - this is an excellently researched, emotionally riveting account of life in juvenile prisons and the ways in which the system has been reformed, regressed, and been entirely overturned in some states. It is a call - a plea - to do better by all children so that all of society will not continue to suffer.
So much has to be done for incarceration reform, especially when it comes to our youth. This book breaks down the history of the juvenile prison system and how it came to be, the disturbing reality that many incarcerated youths face while in the system and discusses strategies on alternative methods to help our youths survive our broken criminal justice system.
This book is disturbing, emotional, and eye opening. Probably a book I never would have read if it hadn't been assigned for a class, but I'm glad that I did. This book is brutally honest in its portrayal of exactly where we stand as a society in our treatment of the youth who were already suffering before they were locked away and motivates the reader to do something about it
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A fascinating overview of the history of the juvenile justice system followed by an anger-inducing discussion about the ways children have been treated in the juvenile justice system. However, it ends with a hopeful look at the few people who have made and are making the concerted efforts to make a positive change.
“Young people who are involved in delinquent acts, it goes without saying, need to make better choices. But the odds of their doing so will be vastly increased if we make some effort to ensure that they have better choices.”
This has to be one of the most depressing and saddest books I have ever read. What we are doing to the youth in our country is beyond criminal and we all as voters are complicit in the continued crimes against our youths.
An impassioned, factual read about the deeply troubling problems in our juvenile corrections system and the USA as a whole. Anybody who has anything to do with anything in this country needs to read this. It is super important.
A powerful discussion based on years of interviews with everyone involved in the juvenile delinquency system in America. Very eye opening about the realities, harms, and successes of the system, showcasing how little things have changed for the better in 150 years.
eye opener!
Provides the perfect balance and statistical evidence and personal narrative. Offers solutions to juvenile prison crisis.
Read this for a class in my doctorate program. Alarming look inside juvenile correctional facilities.
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Nell Bernstein is the author of All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated, a Newsweek “Book of the Week,” and Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison (both published by The New Press). She is a former Soros Justice Media Fellow and a winner of a White House Champion of Change award. Her articles have appeared in Newsday, Salon, Mother Jones, and the Washington Post, among oth
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“These are the lessons young people who are locked up learn instead: to close off their emotions, shut down their intellect, quell their individuality, avoid forming connections, and view all interactions through the prism of Power.”
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“Only a handful of states, it turns out, have not been determined to have systematically brutalized the youth in their care. A review of all fifty states found only eight where there was not conclusive evidence of system-wide mistreatment.”
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