Error in an NPR article

[Oscar]

I saw this story: A Glimpse Behind Bars: Juveniles In The Justice System

One of the photos is from Redcliff Ascent where a teenager stands in a red set of clothes because the individual is a flight risk.

Why is this photo a part of the article. The teenagers detained at Redcliff don't need to have a criminal record to earn their imprisonment. They don't have to be part of the juvenile justice system. In fact it could improve their situation to be part of this system. I find the photo misplaced in the article.

[Ursus]

I saw this story: A Glimpse Behind Bars: Juveniles In The Justice System

One of the photos is from Redcliff Ascent where a teenager stands in a red set of clothes because the individual is a flight risk.

Here's that photo, along with accompanying text:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

12.08.11
Wilderness Camp, St. George, Utah


Image © Richard Ross

I was brought here by transporters–been here 13 days. I have to wear this red jumpsuit because I'm a "flight risk."

I'm from San Jose. I live with my mother, stepdad, and three sisters. I don't get along with my stepdad. He's a contractor. Mom stays at home. I'm a sophomore in high school. Basically, at home I smoke weed, hate school, and just focus a lot on my music. I play guitar—any and every genre. I wasn't skipping school. My mother doesn't know me very well. My parents are divorced. I'm more like my dad—something my mom doesn't like so I just don't listen to her—she goes against me all the time. My mother hasn't written me. I am just doing my work. All I want to do is get out of here.

- P.C, age 15

[/list]
Red Cliff Ascent is a privately owned Wilderness camp outside Springville, Utah. The kids go out into the wilderness and stay there until they are able to build a fire, usually a month. They sleep away from any shelters and live a generally frontier existence. A typical scenario used to involved parents refinancing their homes to pay for the program. Since the sub-prime mortgage meltdown people don't have the ability to refinance anymore.


Copyright © 2012 Juvenile In Justice

[Ursus]

Why is this photo a part of the article. The teenagers detained at Redcliff don't need to have a criminal record to earn their imprisonment. They don't have to be part of the juvenile justice system. In fact it could improve their situation to be part of this system. I find the photo misplaced in the article.

As to your question — "Why is this photo a part of the article?" ...Possibly to show more of the continuum?

All of these kids were or are being detained in some fashion or another for the purposes of behavior modification. Perhaps also for punitive reasons. Some of these kids, even wilderness facilities like Red Cliff Ascent, are court-ordered there ... in lieu of serving their sentence in a juvenile detention center.

Fwiw, there is also a photo/description devoted to Cross Creek.