The Hamilton County Juvenile Court Youth Center
(From: http://www.juvenile-court.org/juvenilecourt/Youth_Center/ychome.asp) Readings:
An overview of the OYAS assessment tool
(Dr. Ed Latessa, 2010)
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My final reflection for the class
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So much of my college education is focused on nursing concepts - patient care, clinical activities, research, community health, etc. With such a structured curriculum, it is often difficult for me to find time to pursue other interests and passions. With the Kids Who Kill honors seminar this semester, I got to explore my curiosity about the fields of criminal justice and psychology.
In this course, we looked at the various factors that may influence a child or adolescent to commit murder (psychology, genetics, neurologic factors, "evil") as well as actual cases, both historical and contemporary, of juvenile killers. Additionally, we heard from a number of speakers, including a former Hamilton County judge, the creator of the OYAS risk assessment tool (which attempts to predict offenders' risk for re-offending after being released from prison), and even an individual who was convicted of murder at age 14 and served 21 years in prison for this crime. The texts we examined included peer-reviewed articles about the neuroscience of the adolescent brain, opinion pieces about violent acts committed by children, and several notable Supreme Court cases: Roper v. Simmons and Miller v. Alabama. Additionally, we toured the Hamilton County Youth Detention Center, located at 2020 Auburn Ave. and learned about the inner workings of the juvenile justice system. This seminar challenged many of my beliefs and introduced me to new, controversial topics, including the concept of good vs. evil, the morality of the death penalty or life without parole for offenders under the age of 18, and the question of whether humans truly have "free will." I also learned quite a bit about how the juvenile justice system works and about the history, laws, and court cases that have shaped it into what it is today. I believe the things I've learned in this class will be valuable, though perhaps not directly to my field of study. I have a new perspective now on the social and scientific aspects of why some children commit murder and I have been challenged to question my own views about a variety of phenomena - Why am I in college and not in prison? Do my genetics or the environment I was raised in have more of an impact on the person I've become? Am I truly capable of "free will"? Is evil real? These may not be easy questions to answer, but I have now been tasked, even if just for a semester, with attempting to answer them. I think such profound topics have only deepened my knowledge of the world around me - and my curiosity, too. |