have a disastrous outcome for the juvenile. The goal of juvenile detention should be to rehabilitate and develop the individual. Appropriate educational skills need to be taught. Children need to be put in touch with their feeling through counseling. Juvenile offenders need to be exposed to role models from within their community and without. A sense of hope should be instilled so that the young offender is not resigned to the fate of a "second class citizen."More important than efforts to rehabilitate the offender would be programs to prevent the juvenile from committing crimes to begin with. Keyshawn Johnson, a wide receiver for the NFL's New York Jets, recently said "People hate to say it, but what you are around is what you're going to be. At 13 years old and you're around crime, you're going to be a criminal." For this reason, prevention efforts must involve the entire community, including schools, faith-based organizations, business, law enforcement and most importantly, the parents. If parents are unable to properly educate their kids, then programs need to be developed to train the parents. Boys and girls clubs basketball leagues, The Jessie White Tumblers, adult mentoring, and student exchanges are all positive prevention programs that need to be continued and further promoted.It is imperative that our federal government set a tone and send the message that juveniles who come in contact with the law are entitled to protections not available to adults. Rehabilitation, not long term imprisonment, should be the goal, and prevention now is preferable to punishment later. 2.3 million juveniles were arrested in 1992. It is in the best interest of America to see ...
