THE 57 BUS

Claim

In the book 57 Bus the author shows that there is a problem in todays society of too many kids being tried as adults in the justice system.

Topic 2

Purpose

of Justice System

The justice system was made to correct the behavior of teens.

"Across the United States, it is estimated that more than 61,000 youth are incarcerated each night, and more than 65 percent of these young people are youth of color. The overwhelming majority, 75 percent, are incarcerated for non-violent offenses."

Polish, Jennifer. “The Juvenile Justice System: Inequality and Unjust Treatment.” Law Street, 18 July 2016, lawstreetmedia.com/issues/politics/juvenile-justice-system-inequality-unjust-treatment/.

Richard, one of the main characters, was going to be tried as an adult which goes against the juvenile justice system. "Du Bois announcing his plans to file a motion contesting the decision to try Richard as an adult." P189

Tried as an Adult

Pic of Richard

Like mentioned earlier, the purpose of the juvenile justice system is to help troubled youth, so in the future the crime rate decreases, trying a 16 year old as an adult defeats the purpose. There's no use for JJS if they're going to try them as adults and it raises stress and tension for both parties.

"The Oakland teen who set a gender non-conforming high school student's skirt on fire on an AC Bus last year pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of felony assault and inflicting great bodily injury, and agreed to serve seven years in prison."

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sasha-Fleischman-Suspect-Richard-Thomas-Pleads-No-Contest-Sentenced-to-7-Years-279468642.html

He did end up serving his time in a juvenile facility but the fact that he had to fight to get a fair sentence shows how messed up the justice system is. He would get his sentenced reduced to 5 years instead of 7 for good behavior but if not he would be tranfered to an adult prison at 18 and serve the rest of his sentence there.

News Cover of the Story

pic of Sasha

"However, the risks of being tried in adult courts are also astronomical: approximately 2,500 youth are currently enduring life in prison without parole for crimes committed when they were children. In addition, youth are likely to experience extreme abuse in adult prisons. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities and face increased risk of suicide.”"

Risks of being tried as an adult

The juvenile justice system is there to separate the kids from the adults so putting a 16 year old in prison with adults makes no sense. Richard realized he made a mistake and was ready own up to it. Putting any kid on trial as an adult is too far. The system will never achieve the goal of keeping kids out of prison if they treat them the way they treated Richard.

https://static.prisonpolicy.org/images/youthpie_2018.png

This chart shows the amount of youth in each program. In the bottom right, it shows that there are roughly 4,656 teens in adult prisons and jails. Although that's a smaller number compared to the rest of the chart, that's still a big amount of teens to put into jail which alleviates the purpose of juvenile youth center.

“I know he hurt me. He did something that’s really dangerous and stupid. But then again, he’s a 16-year-old kid, and 16-year-old kids are kind of dumb.” pg 212

Sasha Speaks

She noticed that the punishment was over the top, coming from the victim. Trying him as an adult was preposterous. A 16 year old should not have to fight to receive an appropriate punishment. Sasha, who was attacked, realized he wanted to correct his wrong doing and that he deserved a chance to do so. Sasha also knew that putting him in prison with adults would not allow him to grow in this situation.

Pic Of Sasha

On page 201, a random lady says, "' Not that it's not a horrible crime...but it's also a crime to try a child as an adult."'

Civilian Speaks

Ladies from all over have spoken about the situation and believe, as well, Richard should not have been tried as an adult. It's adult prison for a reason. If they are going to start trying children as as adults there's no need for juvenile and adult prisons. They shall just combine them. This has become a bigger problem as years go on. Though they've made mistakes and committed terrible crimes, they're youth so they should be treated as youth.

"...Other than that he should be treated as a juvenile." Sasha's mother, Debbie, though. Pg 242

"' I don't want to be begging for lenience and then have him g out and hurt someone else. But I also don't want him send to adult prison,"' Said Debbie. Pg 242

Sasha's mom

Both of these text, coming from the victim's parent shows that even she doesn't think its correct to try him as an adult. He's not an adult so he shouldn't be sent to prison and treated as one. He did commit a horrible crime and action should be taken upon but this is not justice it's wrong. In this sense, the juvenile system serves no purpose if they will just continue to force children in to adult prison and have them treated as one. Instead of solving the problem for the child and trying to dismiss the criminal behavior they are wrecking the child.