What Are Some Weaknesses Of The Book?

Meyer 3
Question 4: What are some weaknesses of the book? To top it off one of the largest weaknesses of the book is its extreme bias against any staff at correctional facilities. She clearly states that she is against the idea of the workers overall. Again chapter 2 is called “a birth of an abomination” (pg. 38) referencing correctional institutions as a whole. This makes her opinion of them very clear to the reader, and it makes it look biased. Bernstein also primarily only interviews Children who have suffered in the institutions. The closest she gets to interviewing a faculty worker is Gladys Carrion “then the commissioner of New York’s Office of Children and Family Services”. (pg. 210) and Carrion had her own bias, because she wants to

Thompson stopped breathing.” (pg. 215). Bernstein is really biased against the system, which is fair for what she is writing, but she could show some sympathy. I will be honest the next two weaknesses I think of are definitely a stretch. I thought this was a good book with very few weaknesses. Another weakness I would contribute to the book is perhaps their could be a chapter on the education and background on the staff committing these terrible things. It mentions in Chapter 2 the opening of “the Lyman School for Boys and the Lancaster School for Girls” (pg. 45) and later on it mentions the “Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys” (pg. 290) giving a whole chapter to the institution. Yet, it remains silent about background of the staff in general. I feel as though if Bernstein wanted to condemn the detention centers even farther, she could have added a whole chapter about the staff, and shown how messed up they were. Another weakness of the book is the continued use of the same kids stories. She mentions Curtis being “sent to the California Youth Authority at age ten” (pg. 143) while she then mentions him again by labeling him “the million dollar kid” (pg.266) can confuse the reader. I think the best way to handle these stories would to give the whole story from start to

One of the best lines that supports this claim is made at the end of chapter 6 made by Decker saying that “culture trumps everything...neither education nor detection, nor investigation, nor discipline, is as effective.” (pg. 128) Although not directly mentioned. The fact that these are more or less, primarily the education and disciple aspects, the things that a normal citizen would have, and that they are clearly not effective means that some form of a subculture exists here. The last theory has to deal with lifestyle theory. This is mentioned in the textbook as Life Course Theory, and is located in chapter 7 of the textbook. The theory roughly states that there are factors throughout your life such as family, school, and work that will affect how you act. This is made obvious in David’s story who “has done his time, learned his lesson, and was ready to begin anew...because of his time locked up.. the goals he had so successfully internalized were out of his reach” (pg. 183) this lack of ability to find a job could force kids into terrible situations that could get them to commit crimes again and get them locked up. This is exactly what the theory