The Washington Post's Sari Horwitz continues that newspaper's fantastic coverage of issues in Indian Country. This latest installment looks at how American Indian youth sent into the juvenile justice system are just locked away most of the time. There is no schooling, counseling or vocational opportunity at the juvenile facilities like the one on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota (which has been known to be the poorest part of the entire United States), just the "isolation of incarceration." When serious cases are handled by federal prosecutors, juveniles are sent into the federal system where there is no juvenile division or probation system for juveniles. In contrast, the juvenile facility on the Rosebud Reservation seeks to integrate "'traditional Lakota cultural information, and rehabilitate our youth by bridging the gaps they might have with their identities and who they are.'"
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
