Eng333 Week2 Blog

           In “No Matter How Loud I Shout,” Edward Humes explores many different children in the juvenile court system. The book explores the juvenile justice system in the 1980s.  He portrays that the system is not saving the children from the dangers of the street and their potential fate, nor is it protecting the public from the children who need to be locked up before they cause serious harm.  Humes shows many different children’s stories in which they all have taken part in some kind of crime.  The children see a significant difference in the court sentences—so much in fact that it seems unfair to everyone—the children as well.

            The writer seems to be giving an expose about the juvenile justice system in California.  He wants to see how kids just fall through the cracks every day and how the people in charge are put there—a lot of times, they have no desire even to be there.  Through the classes I have taken on the justice system, it is easy to see the flaws in the system from the 1980s and how they have changed since then.  A huge debate that will always be in the juvenile justice system is whether or not the system is fair to youths.  There is always the question of whether the punishments are too harsh, or whether they are hard enough. Humes explores that with the children that he sees on a daily basis as they go through his writing course and their experiences within the system and court proceedings. He was researching the juvenile justice system and found a perfect match when he entered as a teacher into the system with the kids.  The publisher, Touchstone, seems to do non-fictional teacher tools, which makes me think this was why my professor assigned us to read it.  It is a true story, some of the kids that are in the book are now out of jail and trying to do good things for kids in their community.

            The author’s intended audience is anyone who is interested in the topic of juvenile justice. It is a good learning tool for teachers and students, but also for those who are studying the subject in general.  The writer seems to make the assumption that the readers know the lingo of the juvenile justice system, because it is much different than that of the adult court system.  The wording is different so that the children are not subjected to discrimination or labeling, and will hopefully be rehabilitated after entering the system.  The juvenile justice system has gotten so large over the years that kids started to slip through the cracks and not have the chance of rehabilitation.  When the juvenile justice system, first began there were several rights that did not exist for minors. They did not have to have a lawyer present or contain any due process rights. Now a days, they are required to have some of these, but a jury still is not present.  The juvenile justice system has progressed a lot since the 1980s, but it is a good tool to make sure that it does not get as bad as it did then.