Juvenile-In-Justice

Wired just did a piece on Juvenile-In-Justice, a book by Richard Ross that takes a look into the juvenile justice system.  His photos are gripping, but so are the stories.  Wired notes he interviewed over 1,000 adolescents.  I highlighted a few pictures and quotes I thought were incredibly powerful.

“I grew up in a world where you solve problems, you don’t destroy a population,” says Ross. “To me it is an affront when I see the way some of these kids are dealt with.”


"The U.S. locks up children at more than six times the rate of all other developed nations. The over 60,000 average daily juvenile lockups, a figure estimated by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), are also disproportionately young people of color. With an average cost of $80,000 per year to lock up a child, the U.S. spends more than $5 billion annually on youth detention."


"...incarceration does not reduce recidivism rates, does not benefit public safety and exposes those imprisoned to further abuse and violence."

“I consider it a privilege to sit in a cell with these kids for an hour and listen to their stories,” says Ross. “Every time I went in to a cell I’d sit on the floor. I’ve a terrible back, but I’d sit on the concrete floor so the kid was above me and had the visual authority to realize that I was subordinate to he or she, and I took direction from them.”









The website has photos geotagged (you know how much we love that around here).  These pictures are from the Mendota Detention Center in Madison:

"Trap in door for security and meals."

"Restraint chair for self-abusive juveniles."