Last Chance in Texas

Hubner, John. (2005) Last Chance in Texas The Redemption of Criminal Youth. refreshing York, NY. Random House Inc. Last Chance in Texas is an eye commencement look into the efforts of the juvenile justice system to rehabilitate youth offenders and desegregate them back into society. The book chronicles the research of author John Hubner who heard most(prenominal) a facility in Texas that ran an aggressive and angiotensin-converting enzyme of the most masteryful, word course of instructions in America for violent schoolboyish offenders. He was particularly laughable how a state like Texas, kn consume for its hardcore attitude toward crime, could be a leader in rehabilitating violent and troub conduct youths.Through a thwart of over nine months at The Giddings School in Texas, Hubner discovered that make offenders understand their past and how their actions affected others was key to successful reformation. By spy schools healers and students, Hubner learned that the reh abilitation process was an intense self realization program that forced offenders to review and re-live their past experiences that led up to the crimes they committed. The staff at Giddings challenged offenders to step into their past and visualize their crimes before and later on they were committed, as well as the impact of those around them.Different techniques were used champion the students remember their pasts that most have tried to forget. Forcing them to recall specific flesh out of their lives and the pain they suffered allowed them to address these experiences that ultimately led to them to violent crime. In most cases, the offenders were victims of frenzy well before they became violent offenders themselves. It was an wound uply painful and cartridge holder consuming program designed to reprogram them and their behavior by understanding their own feelings and how their actions affected other people.In the program at The Gidding School there was a specific gang me mber named Ronnie who was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping of an hoary couple. Through intense therapy it was learned that he previously suffered from various forms of subvert by means ofout his life. Family fighting, drug use, poor parental guidance ultimately led to a life of anger and violence. As a child, his incur would lots reach Ronnie and his brother Kenny alone while she went out to use drugs. On occasion, his aunt would look after the two boys while their mother was away.Not completely did their aunt physically abuse them, but later on their mothers boyfriend introduced them to using and selling drugs, stealing, and guns. Re-living these memories was as agonizing and traumatic as one could imagine but it was paramount in larn how and why he became the person he did. Many boys at Giddings were positive(p) that no one loved them, and Ronnie was no exception. Giddings therapists used these sessions to break through the wall he put up thinking that no one lo ved them or cared what happened to them. More often than non, they were successful reaching students this way.One unique preliminary to developing self worth for the students at Giddings was the organization of a football program where they actually played surrounding schools. Hubner saw that this not only was a large release of aggression but likewise created a sense of trust and camaraderie among students based on usual respect. Ironically, it was on the football field where they learned that there are alternatives to the violence they usually used to resolve differences. Unlike many football teams with teenaged boys, winning was not the ultimate goal for the players at Giddings. In fact, they disordered their final game.However, they all felt a sense of pride and cite for starting and finishing the football season as a team. The girls at Giddings, on the other hand, were treated somewhat different than their male counterparts. They had different ways of expressing their e motional pain that led to the crimes they committed. Surprisingly, one hundred per centum of them had been sexually or physically assaulted. With females, therapist had to dig even deeper than they usually would have with boys. This could be somewhat dangerous since the girls were much more than emotional and measurably more violent during therapy sessions.Oddly enough, female fights were more unexpected, viscous, and ended more painfully than those of the boys. One interesting approach in therapy was when parents of murdered children visited the program and told their stories. The idea was to appeal to the inner hearts of the emotionally withdrawn preadolescent female offenders. It was thought that females would divulge identify with the stories of these families and be able to name their own story. It proved effective as many make great emotional progress and were able to tell their own stories in therapy.One by one all the young women opened up, pouring out their feelings t hey had been prop inside for so long. It was an incredible experience to witness for everyone in attendance. Upon step from The Giddings School, each student goes their separate way. For many, going back to institutions and detention centers was their adjoining stop in their journey. Others went back to their respective homes with their families. Many of these students managed to change their lives for the better and become someone they never thought they could.They are the rehabilitation success stories for The Giddings School. Sadly however, there are many that are not rehabilitated and finally return to correctional facilities. This book is an intense story about rehabilitation and hope within the juvenile justice system. The young men and young women at Giddings tolerate go through years of intense therapy and counseling. just after they learn how to deal with their past and the pain they have endured, can they begin to heal. Most kids enter Giddings with no feelings of lo ve, self worth, respect for others, or hope.However, through very structured program administered by loving therapist and staff members, most students begin to realize that though they have made mistakes, they too are loved. This book would be an outstanding reference for anyone evoke in learning about a more positive approach to rehabilitating violent youth offenders who seem to have no hope. The Giddings School systematically provides some of the best results in the county. At Giddings, kids with no hope they leave with feeling of self worth, love, and sometimes even a new family.