Its funny how everyone has a different perspective. I have seen way too many kids physically/mentally abused, molested and isolated in jail because they were allowed to continue down a destructive path without any healthy intervention. The parents probably ended up paying $100,000 in legal fees anyway but what they end up with is a hardened kid who can relate to jail birds better than their own family or peers who have been educated. I get much more satisfaction focusing on and remembering all the kids who worked hard and that have been put back on track thru many of these TBS’s then I do those who never applied themselves.
Try talking to other kids who have passed thru the industry and you will gain a broader perspective, I guarantee you. Then meet some of these kids who are just coming out of lock-up and compare them to kids who are emerging from a TBS. I think you will see why I sleep well at night
I see what you're saying about jail time, but I can assure you, from personal experience, that it doesn't happen quite so dramatically in the real world. Courts are generally pretty sensitive about precisely that possible self-identification, especially when the kid comes from your tax bracket. Time spent in juvie is meant to be as much culture shock as it is meant punitively or as an intervention, and often works.
What you
don't get in juvie, unless you're on one of those TC-inspired psycho wards, is a whole lot of mind-fuckery like you get in a TBS. Worse, if actual
physical or sexual abuse or assault occurs in a TBS, it is always cloaked in ample Kool-Aid that indicates that this was done "in the spirit of helping the kid." If said transgression is too severe for that to be believable, facts are skewed or changed to indicate that it actually was
the kid's fault.Outside of the fact that this is clearly an immoral charlatan's way of making a living, it totally screws up the kid's self concept and self-identity afterwards. I would say, without some
serious and humane intervention with a knowledgeable and
independent therapist (almost impossible to find) to undo the damage done by the TBS, said kid could easily be viewed as a ticking time bomb for the next 5-6 years.
There are
other, genuinely healthy interventions which do
not involve mind-fuckery. The pool of possibilities is not limited to only jail or TBS. That is just what they were trying to sell you.