Oh, and I forgot to address this.
I don't know what to think about Amber Lee.
Carey, we sort of abandoned earlier topics about why these people do what they do. Maybe now we can get back to that. I really think I've got some of that figured out over the years. I've had to because I used to be one, sort of, to some extent. And my whole family is pretty much still in the Program.
Based on what little I know of the Amber story, she's probably a bit confused about the whole thing. In order to be on staff at these programs, you must be either a true believer or a true sadist. I don't think she's a sadist. I think she believed. Now it seems she's defected from WWASP and become a true believer in PURE. The only reason/excuse I've seen for her withholding testimony when your boys needed it and, instead, giving it to PURE was that holy higher purpose; the great lawsuit. Higher purpose is powerfully intoxicating and can be blinding.
I know what I think about programs, I don't agree with them. I think they are another form of incarceration and I still say kids have a right to thier freedom just as we adults do. I still think due process and the juvenile justice system serves the purpose. I still think there is a high risk of "abuse" happening in programs, due to the nature of the beast (isolation, untrained staff, etc.).
I'm very much concerned over the state of due process in the juvenile justice system. I think a kid stands a better chance in it than in the private prison industry, even today. But, as time goes on, it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference.
I hate to frame the argument as juvenile justice v private placement because, it seems, the Program philosophy believers have made great progress over the past 20 years in infiltrating and influencing juvenile justice.
The Goose Creek SWAT raid is an excellent example of that. Just listen to the principal and police spokespeople defending that action. They sound just like Program proponants to me. Their motives are not dark or sinister, but they truely believe that a joint in a kid's back-pack is far more dangerous than a SWAT team, high on adrenaline pointing loaded weapons at the kids' heads.
In my view, this makes them dangerously unbalanced and, therefore, unqualified to hold positions of authority and responsibility over our children. And, incidentally, makes it just that much easier for Program proponants to draw comparisons between their programs and the public ones. This has just got to stop somewhere.
T'is an ill wind that blows no minds.
--Syadasti
