The Revolving Door: Stories from the Juvenile Justice System

• In Event: Interrogating Inclusion to “Re-mediate” Unjust Educational Spaces

Abstract

Purpose
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) should be utilized to attain an appropriate education for youth with disabilities who are in the juvenile justice system (JJS). However, students with disabilities are disciplined through out-of-school suspensions and referred to police at higher rates than their non-disabled peers (Losen et al., 2021). This study explored how racialized, disabled, and othered children are forced to move between the revolving door of institutions, from discipline in schools to incarceration in the JJS.

Theoretical framework
I grounded my exploration in narrative inquiry, a theoretical framework conceptualized as stories to live by — a narrative view of identity.

Method
I recruited seven adult participants from across the midwestern state who had lived experience in the juvenile justice system as adolescents. I conducted the study in 2022, on zoom, during the pandemic, collecting group and individual reflections, and engaged in Clandinin and Rosiek’s (2019) mapping the landscape of narrative inquiry to explore borderland spaces and tensions.

Data Sources
Data included stories and anecdotes, artifacts, and reflections.

Results
Participants shared stories of their time in the JJS, from which I wove three resonant threads: the revolving door, the ruining process, and “fire tests gold” – resilience. Stories resonated in many ways. JJ, who started his time in the JJS at 13 and was released from adult prison in 2022 at age 34, described the logic of the JJS: “When people say the system is broke, no it’s not. The system is doing what the system is supposed to do”. Sam, who entered the JJS at 11 and was in custody until 16, pointed to special education as his first experience with the revolving door of JJS: “I started off as a special education case for behavioral disorder relatively early, like I was behavioral problem from basically kindergarten”. According to TJ, incarcerated from age 13 to 18, the revolving door of JJS could not prepare him for later life: “How are you expecting a kid to not only find a job, find a house, but also be able to pay off court fines? Like, that’s insane, especially if they don’t have any job history, barely have education. It’s setting kids up for failure and then keeping them in a redundant loop”. Nicole, 13 when she was trafficked and arrested for prostitution, described how the ruining process extended across settings including foster care and various state placements: “It was literally a living fucking hell, and that was just because I was either on the run, or I was in detention”.

Significance
All seven participants showed resilience by devoting time to mentoring young people. Implications for policy include stopping the process of labeling young kids as “bad” and abolishing early punishments. “Invest, don’t arrest” (i.e., increase funding for community- and school-based services rather than for policing), and ending fines and fees. Policies for practice include creating transformative approaches to juvenile justice through restorative practices that could move us toward a more balanced society in the lives of youth.

Author

• Christie Scanlin Dobson, StormDoor Productions