I believe what's not talked about enough is the parenting or lack thereof. It is easy for us to point the finger at the system that locks up the child but we need to step back and look at the lack of parenting that that child received. Why is it tolerated and okay to have child after child when you can't even take care of yourself. I got in trouble when I was a kid. I even went to jail when I was 18 I took responsibility for my actions. I blamed no one but myself. my mom still apologizes for me for the lack of parenting that she provided as a single parent she believes she could have done better. I truly don't believe it would have mattered. I was old enough to make my own decisions "I thought" and no one was going to stop me. at least I learned my lesson I have not been in trouble since. I have raised 9 children all of them graduated and went on to college. Life is made up of choices at you have made. you cannot blame other people for the choices you make even if you were young when you made them. you have to blame yourself you have to take responsibility and you have to make better choices from there. No one said life was easy but trying to make it easy for everyone makes it harder for them in the long. Parent the child. educate the child.