Our Lost Children

What the hell is going on with our children?

In one high school in Palo Alto, California four teenagers, acting separately, killed themselves recently by stepping in front of a train.

And who wasn't stunned by the recent reports, also from California, about a group of 20 high school kids either participating in or standing around watching the brutal 2-hour long gang rape of one of their female classmates? The attack took place outside Richmond High School during the homecoming dance. Not one person bothered to call 911. Police are still struggling to identify those involved.

Who is responsible for that ghastly crime? The rapists, of course but also responsible are those who watched, and by some reports cheered on, the attack. Legally, nothing can be done to them because the law there only mandates eyewitnesses report a crime against a child under the age of 14. This unfortunate victim is 15.

I blame faulty parenting for failing to instill the basic idea that if you see a crime in progress you call the cops! To paraphrase the old saying, evil triumphs when good men (and women) do nothing.

As a nation we fail our kids in many ways. We continue to look past all sorts of troubled children. A recent FBI sweep arrested 700 people suspected of trafficking American children into prostitution. 52 kids were saved, the youngest just 10 years old.

We've got to try harder to keep kids from being pulled into this desperate, criminal world in the first place.

Numbers are difficult to come by but it's believed police get reports of about 1.6 million children running away from home every year. Many return, voluntarily, within a short period of time but there are countless others who are chronic runaways, children whose home life is so horrific they'd rather take their chances on the streets.

We often know who these kids are but communities haven't made it a priority to protect those minors whose parents have fallen down on the job due to drug abuse, mental illness or other of life's maladies. These kids didn't wake up one morning and decide, "Gee, I think I'll run away." Children who are loved and cared for do not leave home.

Once on the street the most popular way of earning a living is prostitution.

Case in point: 11-year-old Sara Kruzan. She was raised in Riverside, California by a drug addicted, abusive mother. When a 31-year-old neighborhood man named G.G. befriended Sara, plied her with attention and gifts and began grooming her for a life of prostitution she was too young to realize what was happening. By the age of 13 this honor roll student and aspiring writer had lost her virginity to G.G. and he had turned her out onto the streets. No one stopped him. Ultimately, things got so abusive Sara killed her pimp, was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole. This 11-year-old victim had been transformed into hard-core criminal status in just 5 short years. She's condemned to die behind bars.

This is not an isolated case. In the United States there are nearly 2,300 boys and girls convicted of crimes and serving "life without" as they call it. Amnesty International reports in the rest of the world combined there are just 12 children serving such sentences. A disproportionate number of these juvenile offenders are members of a minority group.

In other words, America seems okay with condemning children, many who were victimized first, to die in prison with absolutely no chance of ever having a full, free life.

I'm not okay with that.

Currently, 42 states allow children to be sentenced to prison without the possibility of ever being released. Judges have no discretion in these states; they must sentence these kids to the max. Only eight states -- New Mexico, New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado and Alaska -- and the District of Columbia have banned "life without" for juveniles. There's a bill pending in California, which imprisons 227 of these unfortunate convicts, but it's not clear it will pass.

For Sara Kruzan, who is now 29 years old, the change would be welcome but it means she'd still have to serve at least a dozen more years before it would apply to her. She's expressed true remorse for her crime, she's dedicated her time behind bars to furthering her education and she's reported to be a model prisoner. Doesn't she deserve some sort of break in her life?

If we don't deal with the needs of kids like Sara from the get-go we'll likely have to deal with them later in their scarred lives. If they are, indeed, part of our future we're all in deep trouble.

 

Follow Diane Dimond on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dianedimond

Comments

[LONDON3]

One parent, two parents, good schools, good education, good this and good that...bad this and bad that....there are NO guarantees of how a child will ultimately turn out. Even the so-called two-parented good school kids sometimes turn out to be criminals on some level, it does not have to be violence or drugs all the time. Look at our wonderful greedy CEO's of some fortune 500 companies. Brainiacs some of these guys but still that criminal element lingers doesn't it. I believe in re-habilitation for the youth. Damn...give them chance to break the cycle, especially when they are still young enough to try....What good is an almost entire city within a city of prisoners rotting away at taxpayer expense. ALL criminals should be forced to learn a trade (regardless if they ever get to use it)...They should be forced to work and not just lay and sit around smoking and watching tv all day. FREE wk NO PAY! Like one blogger said below....The criminal justice system is a BIG CRIMINAL BUSINESS !

[theycallthewindmariah]

I'm from Kentucky, one of the states that reformed its laws in this area. If I remember correctly, the test case involved a particularly brutal murder committed by a 15 or 16 year old, a boy who was judged to be a sociopath without concern for the pain he inflicted, and who expressed no feeling or remorse for his actions. He murdered a young girl by repeated stabbing, making the mother watch before he tried to kill her. She lived. They were neighbors. Our excellant newspaper at the time, the Courier Journal covered the story and its implications. If I remember correctly the boy was sentenced to "life without" and then later the law was changed based on his appeal. Kentucky has some good lawyers & child advocates.

Although I think children and teens should have a chance at parole, we have to understand that some are sociopaths...unable to feel the pain of others and are highly manipulative. I do not know if that comes from brain damage or what. I don't think it is "learned" behavior. I don't think there was ever an explanation of why this boy murdered other than he just wanted to.

As we reform laws, we need to keep this in mind. Not all the kids who are in prision for life will make for safe neighbors if and when they get paroled.

[yamaniyama]

Most inmates, especially youth, never stood a chance in the first place given their backgrounds, and most are completely rehabilitatable. There are many wonderful, innovative and effective programs being conducted at the grass roots level in prisons across the nation, and have been for years. Why aren't we instituting these on a larger scale? Perhaps this is why......

"Prisons are big business. A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that's where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That's why America has the world's largest prison population ­-- because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line." - from Bill Maher's 7/23/09 post, New Rule: Not Everything In America Has To Make a Profit.

[gal416]

We reap what we sow and it's a harvest of vengence. The atheists say we/they don't need God, well, they are being proved wrong.

[TheSojourner]

Atheists are about .02 percent of prison inmates. Doesn't that blow your assumption?
People learn the difference between right and wrong through society and ethics. Your so-called god has perpetrated murder, slaughter of innocents,vengeance etc. Just read your bible. I don't have to enumerate the evils in the world because of religious zealotry, through the ages,.

[martinfrosa]

So, so many of these children act out because they were born to unwed mothers, with no fathers for role models, and no hope of escaping poverty given the education level of their single parent.

America's biggest problem is not poverty, it's illegitimacy.

[TheSojourner]

Even a child with one parent, who is really supportive, caring and loving can make it. Does the name Obama ring a bell? Two lousy parents who are abusive, drug addicts or criminals can totally ruin a child's life. It's quality not quantity that's important. Illegitimacy doesn't help, but that's not the cause, it's an effect, one of many. Some children can survive even that and find a fulfilled, wonderful life, others become tomorrow's abusers and criminals. Too many factors go into creating one's life and lifestyle. A two parent home is a very simplistic answer to a very complex problem.

[martinfrosa]

Even a child with one parent, who is supportive, caring and loving can make it - true. In Obama's case, he was raised by his grandparents, not his mother. Had she raised him, things might have turned out different.

Yes some children born into one parent homes surivive and live productive lives but the odds are stacked heavily against them as any sociologist will tell you. There are three primary determinants of poverty and they are - unwed motherhood, education, and the age a couple marries. Among those Americans who finish high school, don't marry before their twenties, and do not have children without being married, the number who live in poverty is very, very low.

Illegimacy creates poverty pure and simple. Sometimes the truth hurts.

[dahpunkster]

the incident last with the eight year who shot and killed his stepmom last year made me so sad. I mean who gave him access to the gun anyway is what I wanna know.

[Shirley Fisk]

11/11/09
4:30pm
Alexandria, VA

RE: "Children who are loved and cared for do not leave home."

I don't agree with the above statement. You are assuming that all children who run away from home are unloved and/or uncared for but I personally know of children who have run away from loving homes because they were lured by "friends" or wanted to do drugs, etc. But that is the only part of your blog that I disagree with.

I'd also like to add that a teen's brain is not even mature--they deserve a break if they can straighten out.

[i-am-mouse]

The issue described in this article is just another example of legislative over-reach. I think mandatory minimum sentences are unconstitutional, since sentencing is properly a judicial function. But, as long as people continue to fall for the security theater offered by "tough-on-crime" politicians (both Dems and Repubs are guilty of this), then REAL justice in our "justice" system will be hard to come by.

[MicheleCA]

The practice of prosecuting children as adults is fundamentally flawed There are states that allow 10yos to be tried as adults! Why does this phenomenon exist?

[robadeaux]

Why, because this is a god fearing, christian nation. Puritan in our actions and beliefs. That's why we can warmonger too! It was her own damned fault, she got what was coming to her and we locked her up to protect everyone from her natural criminality...







(can't wait to see how many take me seriously and either agree or condem)...

[MicheleCA]

(your usage of "warmonger" blows your cover.)

[latoussaint]

Thank you. As I sit next to my newborn baby reading this, I am now making a vow to try and keep her happy, honest, and sheltered from public schools, popular media, unhappy sick people who have unhealthy lifestyles and negative energy, dishonest people, etc...unfo­rtunately, this beautiful world seems to have a lot of negative energy out there. In Palo Alto Hills you have the rich kids who have pressure of test scores and getting into the right college, and in East Palo Alto you have kids worried about where there next meal will come from, incest, drugs, gangs. As I even read Huffington Post, I am irritated at the smut and negativity of the news, how can these kids possibly be happy if this is what they are being bombarded with and ignored by their families? As an educator who has taught k-college kids in various demographics, from East Oakland to Nob Hill, SF. Parents need to be parents and teach kids how to be honest, respectful, responsible, empathetic, kind, generous, all those other great tenants, but most of all how to love themselves and love and give to others, including animals. I can whole-heartedly say that most teachers I have met have gotten burt out by the "system" and ignore teaching these basic tenants to kids. So who will, if parents and teachers aren't? This is a sad world we live in. I am happy that you are asking these questions.

[bh4099]

If you think you can simply shelter your child from public school, and someone else's out-of-control kids you are missing the point! One day you may allow your child outside the house, to go to a movie, or a dance class, and one of these angry children will be there too. Or they will carjack you one day--or whatever. The point is we are all connected in a society, simply taking care of our own and insisting that others do the same is not enough. We have to break the cycle. Why wait til the kids have made mistakes to try to do something? We need to make sure all kids have their basic needs met. Any teacher can point out to you the kids who are most likely to get into trouble, now or later in life. Steering these kids into smaller schools or classes would be a great way to help all of our children. A small classroom with a caring teacher can be a substitute for kids who lack decent parental care at home. But we have to want to make a change.

[dontpanic1]

Thank you for this article. You'd have to be pretty callous to sentence this girl after hearing about how she got to that point.

[FerrellGummitt]

Diane: Thank you for the good read. Kids need and crave discipline, a strong family structure - mom and dad both actively participating and finally to know the difference between right and wrong.

[MapleApe]

Those who did not participate and encouraged the attack should be charged with aiding and abetting. Their cheering was undeniably a factor in prolonging and aggravating the brutal beating and rape. Statements of the few witnessed that have come forward are clear that they were also a key factor in preventing anyone from stopping the attack.

Additionally, those who photographed and filmed the attack and have not given the evidence to the police are guilty of the manufacture, possession and possible distribution of child pornography. Those who have threatened those who want to come forward or have been looking for the recorded evidence are guilty of the obstruction of justice.

While most of the burden of guilt lies on those who savagely raped, beat and kicked this girl till she was in critical condition, the blame lays on far more people than have been arrested. Hopefully the police will leave no stone unturned to uncover those involved.

[jhNY]

Happy to agree!