Juvenile Detention: Personal Statement

Background:

“Growing up I lived in a two family household. My mother was a school teacher and my father was a police officer. I was the middle child of three. I had one older brother and one younger brother. We lived in a suburban neighborhood and went to private school. We lived a typical life. Had dinner together, went on family trips and most importantly my parents were involved in my life. Even with my father being a police officer, I cannot name a time he was not there for me.

I had many friends growing up but my two closest friend’s parents were not so involved in their lives. I remember one end up going to juvenile at 15 and the other one being killed by affiliation of a gang. Those times were rough for me. But those are the main reasons

The voice for the future. You are able to change lives and give kids hope. Working at the Juvenile Detention I learned focusing on strengths, and rebuilding family structures is more important than the problems. You will end up helping child challenge all problems into peaceful actions.

Each day I am giving the opportunity to improve my craft as a counselor, mentor and supervisor. I have the chance to make a difference. I love the thought of it and the creativity ways I try to get the kids involved.

I loved the feeling of accomplishment I get from helping kids fight for the right reasons. Giving them hope and encouraging them to never give up. Besides they are not bad kids, they are just misguided and misunderstood.”

Worst Parts/Greatest Challenges:

“Taking my work home could be the worst. Especially if it is one of those days where I felt I tried all I can to help a child but it seem not to work. Even the idea of mixing the children together can sometimes be nerve wrecking. In JDC there are kids who are criminals, and those who are there because of non-support custody issues. Honestly to me that is corrupting the minds of the children who never committed a crime, especially if it is consider a minor offense.”

Why do you think children commit crimes?

“Many facts can arise why children become involved in offending.

Here are a

• Troubled home life.

• School disorganization.

• Opportunity for crime.

There many more reasons on why children commit crimes, the list can go on. Some risk factors associated with juvenile crime poverty and exposure to violence with a community. Drugs play a major role as well because they think doing it make them seem cool or fit in with their social group. More importantly an unstable family life is the trigger to the reason why children commit crimes.”

Why do you think children are violent?

“Children who are raised in unstable households and violent environment surroundings are likely to be violent. They are violent because they lack the basic needs every individual must have to survive. Any young person, who lacks support, feels neglected, disrespected, misunderstood, alone, or uncertain about their future are more than likely to be delinquent.”

Why do you think children abuse drugs or alcohol?

“There is no legit reason why children abuse drugs. But they become addicted to drugs or alcohol because they think it is an escape from life. Most children I came in context with at JDC said they used drugs for the fun of it, peer pressure, attention, to get back at their parents, boredom and