Before we discuss what makes identity we must first know what identity is. Identity is who a person is. It is what differentiates a person from another. As such, having an identity is very important. It gives a person stability in a world where everything seems to be continually changing. He knows that whatever happens, he will still remain himself.

Now, identity is not something that comes fully formed from birth. It must be developed as one goes through one’s life course. A new -born baby has no sense of identity; it is the parents’ job to help the baby develop its identity. As the baby grows into a child, it will continually receive verbal and non-verbal cues from his parents about who he is. The parents convey information about the world and society to the child, allowing him to comprehend the world and discover what his place in the world is. However, all parents convey only information that they feel important according to their social standing, their position in society and even economic status. For example, a prince will have a very different view of the world than a common person. He will see the world as his kingdom while obviously the common person does not. “The region and social class of the family into which an individual is born affects patterns of socialization quite distinctly.” (Socialization and the Life Cycle. Essentials of Sociology. Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, Richard P. Appelbaum). As a result, each child perceives the world differently and has a different understanding of his identity from the next.

As the child grows older, he will encounter more people and have more social interactions. Friends then, become another important factor in the formation of the child’s identity. Children tend to view the world and themselves from their friends’ eyes because of a need to belong in a group. “He becomes an object to himself only by taking the attitudes of other individuals towards himself”. (Mind, Self and Society. George H. Mead) By adopting their ideas, he becomes one of them. This plays a large role in how the child views himself. For example, a child who is continually told that he is “cool” by his friends will most likely identity himself as “ I am cool.” He will then become more confident of himself and act accordingly.

It is true that social interactions play a huge role in the formation of identity, but we must not forget one last crucial factor: the person himself. Identity is not only what others view you as being; it is also what you view yourself as being. To have an identity, a person must view himself in an objective manner. Identity must not be confused with the physical body. To know who he is, a person must view himself from the viewpoint of others in a similar social situation.  He must judge and analyze himself as if he is another person judging himself. People are continually doing this judging and analyzing of themselves. For example, people often go through in their minds what they want to say or do before they actually act. Oftentimes, they will find that what they want to say or do is inappropriate and they will adjust their actions accordingly. During this process, the person then recreates his identity. “That the person should be responding to himself is necessary to the self, and it is this sort of social conduct which provides behavior within which that self appears.” (Mind, Self and Society. George H. Mead) Therefore, by the judging and critical analyzation of himself, a person forms his view of himself, and this contributes to what he calls Himself.  
 
Some parts of the formation of identity are fixed however. An example of this is the formation of a sexual identity. People generally accept the formation of their sexual identity as ‘natural’. They find it ‘natural’ that girls play with dolls and boys play with cars. This is a misconception. From the day of his birth, a young boy receives cues from those around him about how he should behave as a boy. He may reach for a doll only to have his mother pull it away and hand him a toy truck instead. As he grows, he would not have thought twice about why boys who play with dolls are considered ‘girly’. They just are, to him. He knows no other way of viewing this situation. Thus, generations after generations of boys and girls grow up ‘well-trained’ in the art of behaving in a way befitting a ‘proper’ boy or girl, and they live their whole lives with the identity of ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ already formed for them by their family, friends, neighborhood and community.

When all seem to be said and done about what makes identity, it actually is not. The formation of identity happens throughout our natural lives. Someone who is a ‘Daughter’ one day may become ‘Mother’ the next or even ‘Grandmother’. People are perpetually demolishing and recreating their identity based on who they say they are and who others say they are. This process is never-ending and is affected by multifarious factors too many to name and explain.

This is the first time that I had to combine information gleaned from several sources into one coherent essay. In Singapore english lessons are primarily about writing fiction so this class was a shock to me.

From this essay I also experienced for the first time what it meant to have to prepare for an essay beforehand but not be able to write the essay before the day itself. It was strange because I had to suspend my thinking process halfway.

Discovering and establishing a personal and social identity is a process that all inevitably go through as part of growing up. Rose Castillo Guilbault’s memoir, The Farmworker’s Daughter, presents an intimate opportunity to follow Gilbault along her journey of self-discovery as she grows and meets with various important agents of socialization. As we explore the major influences in Guilbault’s life, I shall also discuss my own process of growing up and how my identity has developed through a process not dissimilar from Guilbault’s.

It is clear that as primary agents of socialization, parents play a huge role in identity formation. Guilbault’s mother play a defining part in her life. She raised Guilbault and was the only constant in Guilbault’s ever-changing world. In many instances in the book, Guilbault continually cites her mother as a reason or factor when making decisions. For example, in the chapter Dragging Main, Guilbault and her friends look for “interesting guys” to have fun with. This seemed like an activity that her mother could not possibly have an influence on, and yet, when Karen and Erline wanted to go with the soldiers, Guilbault remembers her mother’s admonishment that “Nice girls don’t go walking with strange boys.” Subsequently, Guilbault requested to be sent home earlier. This shows that Guilbault has internalized and adopted her mother’s opinions and values as her own, making them part of her identity.

Guilbault tells us that Tito, her natural father, “was away so much he was nothing more than a tall shadow in the doorway, an impatient voice in the dark.” (11), but even through his absence and rejection, he affected Guilbault. Decades later, though Guilbault is now a successful career woman and wife, she still remembers “his impatience. How he’d push [her] away after a hug.” (12). The memory of his rejection stayed with Guilbault, manifesting itself in instances when she had little confidence in herself and assimilating itself into her character as her low self-esteem.

My parents too, taught me many things just by raising me. The moral values that they taught me I will always remember. My father is a humble man, and imparted onto me, through his example, that one should never be haughty and self-consumed. My mother guided me through life, dropping small but crucial pieces of advice here and there along the way, making sure that I would not go the wrong way. Now, even as I live separate from them in this foreign land, their lessons still lead me through my days and I cannot conceive thinking of my identity without considering myself as their daughter; Part of my character, of who I am, is made up of their characters.

When she was only 5 years old, Guilbault had to move from a familiar home to America, where people spoke a foreign language and lived an even more foreign culture. It was very hard for her, and she tells us that “At six years of age, [she] lived in a world of confusion- the language, the kids, the culture spun around [her] like a vortex.”(47). Guilbault probably felt lost and insecure then. It was during tumultuous times such as this that Guilbault strived to create her own identity and find a shred of security. To create her identity, Guilbault must first integrate into society and figure out where her position is. It was difficult.

Language hindered her from interacting socially as “[she] couldn’t understand most of what is being said….”(48). Other children like “the American children who lived across the street”(39) were reluctant to play with her as they “had no patience for sign language games.”(39) Thus, Guilbault spent the first few months of her new life with no interaction with other children of her age group, hindering her integration into American society.

Life after overcoming the language barrier was not painless either. To quote Guilbault, “Cultural gaffes were far more difficult to overcome than language gaps.” (50) Though she understood the language, the people were more complicated. In school, she often felt left out as “The girls talked about things [she] knew the words for but had no point of reference on….”(50). As a result, Guilbault had no close friends and she constantly felt like the “outsider” (50). Try as she might, she would never be able to shed the fact that she is Mexican, short as her life in Mexico is.

Similarly, when I was six, my parents brought the family to Singapore, where I spent the next 10 years of my life. I couldn’t speak English at first, and had to communicate with my schoolmates with gestures for the next 6 months before my English improved to an understandable standard. During that time, I felt much like Guilbault did, with the world being a “vortex” (47). I could not ‘find’ my identity; I did not even know who I was then. It was all confusing to me. It was only after I was able to establish myself in my new community that I finally felt a sense of who I was. I was, at the very least, ‘X’ ‘s friend or a student of class ‘Y’. It wasn’t as hard on me as it was for Guilbault though, most probably because I had my parents to guide me and they could speak English and Mandarin fluently in addition to Bahasa Indonesia. They anchored me in the “vortex” and helped settle me down.

Acceptance by her peers was very important to Guilbault from the very beginning when she had just moved from Mexico. Guilbault tells us that “she wanted desperately to fit in.“(49) She tried all manners of methods, from bringing her doll to school to making her mother bake cupcakes, to no avail. However hard she tried though, she could never be “American…just like everyone else”(52). Always, the ‘Mexican’ in her or her family will surface and betray her ‘un-American-ness’. According to Guilbault, “I felt like an outsider, I would not be able to shake that sense of alienation throughout my school years in king City. “(50). As such, Guilbault was continually conscious of her identity as the ‘Outsider’.

It was very important to me too, that I was accepted by my friends. Like any normal teenager, it means a lot to have a group that I could belong to. It would be like an anchor in a vast wide world. Unfortunately, I could relate to Guilbault very well as for the whole of the 10 years that I was in Singapore, I too was always very conscious of my being a foreigner. It was as if there was a stamp on my forehead proclaiming that fact. Until now, I am still unsure of who I am and which identity I should use. Currently, I am part Indonesian part Singaporean, neither one nor the other, a little bit of both but in reality none. Interacting with either Indonesian or Singaporean friends was hard. Inevitably, they could sense that I was different, but yet the same. The ambiguity confuses them and me, and prevented me from truly belonging.

Students spent almost one-third of their days in school (8 hours) and it is of no surprise to anyone that teachers are often a great influence on their charges. When Guilbault was in San Lorenzo Elementary School, she met Mrs. Laura Rojas, “the sole Mexican American teacher in the agricultural town where [she] grew up…“ (85). Mrs. Rojas never discriminated between Latinos or Americans but treated all students equally and fairly. In one example, she named a Latino the most beautiful girl in class, shocking the Americans and Latinos alike. They had never thought that a Latino could be better than an American. They never thought that they could be judged on their own unique qualities alone without their ethnicity coming into play. According to Guilbault, “What Mrs. Rojas gave [her] was something more intangible. The seeds of self-worth, acceptance, and pride in who [she] was were planted so subtly that [she] didn’t even realize they were growing until many years later, when [she] found them rooted inside [her]. “. Mrs. Rojas thought Guilbault to see herself as a unique individual, beyond being just another farmworker’s daughter, and to be proud of who she is. She impacted Guilbault deeply, prompting her to say that “In the decades since fourth grade, I’ve thought about Laura Rojas often, as one remembers teachers who have made a difference.” (86)

Teachers affected me deeply too. I had an experience with one; unfortunately, in a negative way. When I was 7 years old, I was a favorite target of bullies. Once, I defended my friend against some bullies. They quickly turned on me, teasing me for being “a Christian who just had to love everybody”. I did not fight back, but I felt tears running down my cheeks. At that instant, my teacher, who was grading papers in front of the class, called me to her. She coolly commented on my work and told me to work harder in the future. I returned defeated to the bullies. I could not understand why she had chosen to overlook the bullies‘ behavior. I think that it was from that day onwards that I started to mistrust teachers. That teacher only taught me for one year when I was 7 years old, but she caused me to have a deep wariness of every teacher, and every figure of authority that I ever encountered afterwards.

Role models play a large role in our lives. When we have a role model, we will seek to emulate him/her and this will affect how we think and act, and consequently, our character and identity. They inspire us to reach beyond our present circumstances. Guilbault’s first role model in America was a Latino performer on TV. She recalls, “There was one TV character we could relate directly to, and that was Desi Arnaz…a handsome, successful latino making it in an American world….Desi Arnaz was our symbol of success, and by rooting for him we subconsciously cheered for ourselves to do well in this new land.” (42) By doing well in America, Desi Arnaz showed Guilbault that she too had a chance to succeed in America. It was previously unthinkable to her that a Latino could ever rise out of their lowly status in society. He gave her hope and a dream of a future that could be, fuelling her ambition to do well.

When I was in secondary school (middle school), I joined the school’s Media Club and a particular senior girl made herself my honorary mentor. She was the president of the club. I really looked up to her and all the things that she had done. She came to my school with a PSLE score (similar to the SATs) so low that she barely made the cut, but she persevered and became one of the top students in the school and a president of a club to boot. Before I met her, I did not think that I could ever achieve anything and so I never tried. But after I met her, I actually thought to myself “If she could do it, why can’t I?” I revised my work ethics and sought to be a responsible team member. I changed just so that I could be more like her. Two years later, when I became the president, I attributed it to her for she had made me determined to do my best.

Edith Winslow was a journalist for Rustler Herald. Upon hearing that Guilbault wanted to become a journalist, she took her under her wing. At risk to her job security, Winslow made use of (or abused?) her position to improve Guilbault’s self-esteem and position, taking “it upon herself to promote every single victory [Guilbault] accomplished in school by featuring [her] in articles and photographs in the weekly town paper. “(145) She even helped Guilbault cinch “a newspaper internship as well as a college scholarship.”(145) Winslow believed in Rose’s abilities to become a successful journalist. She told Guilbault that “Everybody has a chance.“(146); a chance to succeed and a chance to fulfill their dreams. Just knowing that there is someone in this world who believed that you can do it is a very powerful feeling. It empowers and motivates you. Guilbault had Winslow. Now she had another reason not to fail, for how could she let Winslow down and prove her faith in her wrong? Sometimes, when I have to achieve what seems to be impossibly difficult, and I feel like giving up, the knowledge that my juniors look up to me and fully expect me to complete the project kept me going. I just could not disappoint them; not after they had trusted me so much.

Guilbault faced a lot of opposition from people who did not think that she could do it. But that has not stopped her. She became even more resolved to do well to prove them wrong. Her indomitable spirit allowed her to go through many of life’s discouragements to be where she is now, the vice president of corporate affairs at AAA of Northern California, Nevada and Utah. Guilbault remembers that “[her] parents had no college ambitions for [her], but then again neither did [her] teachers or counselors.”(141) There was no one who expected her to become someone great. Not even her parents. There were however, people who expected her to fail. When Guilbault decided to try and become a journalist, Winslow’s husband shot her down, telling Winslow in front of Guilbault that he did not think Winslow “should be encouraging [Guilbault] to be a journalist so much” (146) because Guilbault had “no contacts or family connections” (146) and “being Mexican”(146), her chances were low. His comments sparked Guilbault’s fire. She “vowed [she] would not let anyone stand in the way of [her] chosen career path. [She] would do it to prove him wrong and [she] would do it to prove [Winslow] right.” (146) Guilbault did not allow herself to be looked down upon. She became doubly determined to succeed where others expected her to fail.

I can identity with her. I always felt like a little rebel. Whenever someone says that something could not be done, I would have an urge to try and do it just to prove them wrong, and maybe, just to see if I can do it. I wonder why my mother never realized that it is counter-productive to warn me against doing something by telling me NOT to do it. One day, I will dye my hair hot pink just for fun; and to see her expression. On a more serious note, I think I own many of my accomplishments to this “rebelliousness”. I came from a family with a Chinese background, where the belief that boys are more precious than girls is deeply entrenched. From my birth, I was continually being compared to my 2 brothers and male cousin. There would be no other granddaughters until I turned 9. My family’s expectations of me was frustratingly and infuriatingly low. I could be a total failure and it would be alright because the family already had 2 boys. Part of the reason why I am in the United States right now was to prove to my family, and anyone who doubted, that I would achieve more than my brothers or cousins. This is the spur that pricks the sides of my intent.

As I read Guilbault’s memoir, I cannot help but identity with her for we have gone through so many similar experiences. Society really does make the man. Without social interaction like those explored above, how could Guilbault and I have developed and discovered ourselves? Parents, teachers, mentors and more, all have played a part in helping Guilbault and me create an identity for ourselves. I wonder whether Guilbault knew that by writing her memoir, she has caused me to ponder more deeply on things and issues that seemed, on the surface, so mundane but yet has such a huge impact on my take on identity; things like reading a book titled “Farmworker’s Daughter.”

From this essay, I learned that a strong and effective thesis is a really important part of your essay. Your thesis must be interesting, strong and suitably easy to prove within the ‘frame’ of your essay. This is because your thesis “guides” and “drives” you essay. If your thesis is too broad then your essay might not have enough depth to it. On the other hand, if your thesis is too specific, then your essay might turn out too “narrow-minded” .

Also, from this essay i learned that personal response is important. Personal response can make your essay more powerful and impactful. It will make a more lasting impression on the reader when they read you essay.

Why does crime happen?  Simple question; complex answer. Theories have been formed, and speculations made about just WHY crime happens. Elijah Anderson attempts to put this question to rest with “Code of the Street”, a discussion of crime in the inner-city.

The main theories in “Code of the Street” are the Interactionist and Functionalist Theories. A sub-theory from these theories is the theory of Differential Association: Learned Deviance. According to Giddens, Duneir and appelbaum (ES, 140), “Individuals become delinquent through associating with people who are the carriers of criminal norms.” This means that people do not inherently know how to commit crime; they pick it up as a skill from others. In “Code of the Street’”, Anderson posits that “street” people learned their “skills” from parents and through socialization with peers. He says, ‘The street-oriented home may be fraught with anger, verbal disputes, physical aggression, and even mayhem. The children observe these goings-on, learning the lesson that might makes right.” (CS, 175) Children pick up behavioral cues from their family and learn that violence is the way to go. Even through play, children compare “what they observed in the home and [match] their skills against those of others”. (CS, 175) Through these methods, “the violent resolution of disputes…gains social reinforcement.” (CS, 175) Since everybody around him is “violent”, how could the child learn to act otherwise? He knows no other way than that taught to him.

As “code of the Street” progresses, it is shown that through Differential Association, there is no place for those who not embrace the Code. Fighting is not just a physical sport, it has “social meaning.” (CS, 176) If a person was to eschew violence, Anderson observes that he would “at the very least [be] alienated from street-oriented peers and quite possibly [become] a target of derision or even violence” (CS, 182) It could be dangerous to be nonviolent.  Violence is rewarded and nonviolence punished. Also, “For these young people the standards of the street code are the only game in town.” (CS, 182) They simply do not know of any other way to live. Street-oriented people are trapped in a roller-coaster ride of violence and crime, with no idea of how to get off.

Anderson briefly mentions the Labeling theory as well. The gist of the labeling theory is that once a person has been branded “a criminal”, he then “comes to accept the label and sees himself as deviant.” This is crucial, because according to Giddens, Duneir and appelbaum, “how we think of ourselves and how we believe others perceive us influences our propensity for committing crime.” (ES, 141) If you feel that others see you as “deviant”, you would most likely act deviant. In “Code of the Street”, Anderson tells us that “The labels ‘decent‘ and ‘street’, which the residents themselves use, amount to evaluative judgments that confer status on local residents”. For the “street” people, they have internalized this label to such extent that they would not think twice about acting “street”; acting “decent”, on the contrary, would simply be out of one’s “status”. 

The Functionalist Theories are also a reason for crime, as cited by Anderson. The theories see crime as resulting from the “disparity between desires and fulfillment” which will “be felt in the deviant motivations of some of  [society’s] members.” (ES, 137) Anderson agrees, saying that “the inclination to violence springs from the circumstances of life among the ghetto poor- the lack of jobs…the stigma of race, the fallout from rampant drug use and drug trafficking, and the resulting alienation and lack of hope for the future.” (CS, 171)  In other words, a person will be more inclined to commit crime if his social and environmental surroundings and circumstances cause him to feel hopeless about his future. In fact, it is “the seeming intractability of their situation” opined Anderson, that “has engendered deep-seated bitterness and anger in many of the most desperate and poorest….”, fueling their propensity towards crime. Their abject situations cause them to feel frustration and anger, thus driving them to violence.

The Conflict Theory is incorporated too. The Conflict Theory sees crime as occurring intentionally and for political reasons. Anderson feels that crime, in some part, is committed due to the “street” people’s “profound lack of faith in the police and the judicial system” and “profound sense of alienation from mainstream society and its institutions.” (CS, 172) According to Anderson, many feel that “if mainstream society has done nothing for them, they counter by making sure that it can do nothing to them.”  (CS, 181) It is as if the “street” people are committing crime, not wholly but perhaps in some part, as a way of mocking the judicial system, and in a way protesting against their desperate conditions.

Personally, I feel that most crime generally can be explained with the Interactionist and Functionalist Theories. I feel that the Conflict Theory plays too small a role in why crime happens as only an insignificant percentage of crime occurs due to political reasons. I do not dare, however, to presume that these theories will ever be able to adequately explain why crime occurs since the reasons for this problem are highly complex. For the purpose of this assignment though, I think that Giddens, Duneir and Appelbaum have managed to present the answer neatly, saying that “Whether someone engages in a criminal act or comes to be regarded as a criminal is influenced fundamentally by social learning and social surroundings.” (ES, 143) That is, the reasons for a person to commit crimes can be found if one looks at his circumstances in life, his physical surroundings and the people that he socializes with. 

From this essay I learned that sometimes it is better to have too little evidence (quotes) than to many. If you put in too many quotes without adequate explanation of each one then you may confuse your reader. Also, including too many quotes may distract you from the personal response part of the essay, leaving your essay ‘feeling’ like a list of quotations.

Next time i will place more emphasis on the personal response part and not get too obsessed with proving to the reader why I am right. I have learned the importance of choosing and using only the most effective quotes and not all of them.

Before reading true notebooks, I have to admit that I had a very callous view of juvenile inmates being tried in adult court. I thought, “Hey, they committed a serious crime, of course they should be punished just as severely as adults. Period.” I had never really thought about the issue in any other way. It was plain as day to me; I did not feel sympathy for the juvenile inmates at all but only that a sense that justice was being done. In fact, I did not see the juvenile inmates as thinking feeling individuals, capable of remorse and regret. They were just a mass of people labeled “criminals”; a uniform blob of “someone else(s)”. After reading True Notebooks however, specifically the inmates’ essays and following them through the thick and thin of one year of their lives, I feel ashamed of my initial cold and critical judgments. I found that I did not even know them, and had no right to criticize them. Like Salzman, I found my opinions of the inmates changing drastically as I got to know them. According to the law, juveniles who have committed serious crimes like murder must be tried in adult court. During the process, many juveniles ended up being given long sentences to be spent in adult prison. I am not quite sure now, of whether the current procedures of trying juveniles in adult court is appropriate or whether it should be done at all.

The more I read about the inmates, the less I see them as “someone else”. They become as real to me as my next door neighbor. They are somebody; someone’s son, daughter, father, friend, brother. When I thought of them as “someone else” , I did not have an interest in their well being and thus it was easy for me to dismiss their plight and consider them conveniently “finished” and undeserving of costly rehabilitation. Now however, once I have learned more about who they are, I am all for their rehabilitation. To simply cast them away into adult court is akin to dismissing them forever as “BAD” and ignoring the rest of who they are just because of a crime committed during youth. When you hear pleas for help like Duc Bui’s, “…I lonely. I need help.” (224) or hear Francisco’s confession, “I might seem like if I’m big and tough, as if I’m hard as a stone on the outside, but deep inside of me, I am a person with fear, anger and hurt.” (65) you have got to be dead for your heart to be unmoved. Many times we just focus on the exterior and forget about their “soft” interiors. We see them and instantly think “CRIMINAL”, but we do not bother to make the effort to dig deeper down and see who they really are.

A few of the inmates, like Duc Bui and Kevin Jackson, touched me with their remorse and desire to turn over a new leaf. When I read lamentations like Kevin’s “I wish the things that I done didn’t occur…I wish I could take them back….” (309) , Duc’s “I feel regret but it’s too late.” (289) or Jose’s “Now I pray for the people I hurt.” (271), my resolve that they all deserve to be in prison for as long as possible crumbled. I could feel their sincerity; they really do seem to realize their mistakes. I feel that as long as someone has regret for what he has done and is willing to change, he will respond well to rehabilitation. The inmates are still so young, and if rehabilitated properly, they have so much that they can contribute to society. How then can we just throw them into the bowels of adult prison, and flush them down while we are at it?

Another thing that I realized was that I had judged them through MY view of this world; and this is unfair to them. My circumstances in life have little in common with theirs. Reading about their lives made me feel guilty for as Victor puts it “They don’t know what it’s like when you come from a family that didn’t have a father to guide you…when there is nothing to eat when you come home from school… when you need to quit school to get a job….They don’t know because they come from rich families…”(290). I am part of “They”, and Victor is right; I know nothing. The inmates come from circumstances that are very different from yours and mine, and their propensity towards crime, though unquestionably wrong, could not be dismissed so easily as due to their being “bad people”. It is not that simple, and until we can step into their shoes and see the world as they do, I do not think that we could ever gain full insight into why they commit crimes, and thus we could never be fully justified to punish them for their crimes of which we understand nothing. This said, we should not be so harsh and final in deciding that all juveniles who have committed crimes like murder should be tried in adult courts; everything should be handled as a case-by-case basis.

I am not saying that all the juvenile inmates are misunderstood angels however, I agree that some inmates like Nathaniel Hall seem to be unrepentant and even anticipating their sentencing to adult prison as “graduate school on full scholarship” (141). Since these people, like Nathaniel Hall who had proudly declared that “…The day I get released, I’ll go right back to bangin’…”(146), would probably not be receptive to rehabilitation and could pose a danger to society once released, I feel that it might not be altogether unfair to try some juveniles as adults. As such, it is tough to discern which inmate “deserves” to be rehabilitated and which “deserves” to be sent to adult prison. There simply is no secret infallible formula to decide whether someone is genuinely regretful and would respond well to rehabilitation. I sympathize with the law makers who are right now struggling to draw the line between being merciful to the inmates and exposing society to dangerous criminals.

One other reason why I am doubtful about sending juvenile inmates to adult prison is because I feel that a stint at an adult prison will actually encourage them to continue in the life of crime. People, especially young adults, learn by observing and internalizing the behavior and values of those around them. So, if we place a juvenile, still malleable to the hands of peers and society, in the midst of hard-core adult criminals, it does not take Einstein to figure out just what values he will internalize. In adult prison, the juvenile will receive positive reinforcement for engaging in criminal behavior in the form of much-sought-after safety from others and only hardship and abuse if he chooses to eschew it. Even the most honorable and straight-walking of men may eventually surrender to the pressure of violent prison life. As Francisco puts it, “Negative leads to more negative, and positive leads to more positive. That’s how I changed.” (94); put a “criminal” among his peers and he will never learn to live otherwise. Therefore, in order to set a wayward juvenile straight, one should keep him far away from his violent peers and surround him with those who practically sweats values that you want him to adopt from their very pores.

The bottom line is this: do not cast all juveniles into one mould and declare them all “unsalvageable”. Each child is different and some do have the potential to be rehabilitated. I agree that some juveniles “deserves” to be tried as an adult but some do not, as thus they should all be treated on a case-by-case basis. There is no valid justification for trying juveniles in adult court simply on the basis of the severity of crime. Such sweeping generalization undermines the value of a young person’s life. Every single case that comes before the judge should be treated with utmost solemnity and decisions to try a juvenile as an adult should be done on a case by case basis because the outcome will make or break a young person’s life and future. To all who casually flings a juvenile into adult court like used toilet paper, one day you may do so to a person who is genuinely willing to change, and he will turn and say to you, “Thank you for destroying my future…” (Jimmy Wu, 208). And that, is not justice.

For this essay I used a different approach. I started by freewriting and planning out the entire essay first. Previously I would start by finding good quotes from inside the text to use in my essay. Obviously, the freewriting approach worked better.