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Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth
A powerful, bracing and deeply spiritual look at intensely, troubled youth, Last Chance in Texas gives a stirring account of the way one remarkable prison rehabilitates its inmates.
While reporting on the juvenile court system, journalist John Hubner kept hearing about a facility in Texas that ran the most aggressive–and one of the most successful–treatment programs for violent young offenders in America. How was it possible, he wondered, that a state like Texas, famed for its hardcore attitude toward crime and punishment, could be leading the way in the rehabilitation of violent and troubled youth?
Now Hubner shares the surprising answers he found over months of unprecedented access to the Giddings State School, home to “the worst of the worst”: four hundred teenage lawbreakers convicted of crimes ranging from aggravated assault to murder. Hubner follows two of these youths–a boy and a girl–through harrowing group therapy sessions in which they, along with their fellow inmates, recount their crimes and the abuse they suffered as children. The key moment comes when the young offenders reenact these soul-shattering moments with other group members in cathartic outpourings of suffering and anger that lead, incredibly, to genuine remorse and the beginnings of true empathy . . . the first steps on the long road to redemption.
Cutting through the political platitudes surrounding the controversial issue of juvenile justice, Hubner lays bare the complex ties between abuse and violence. By turns wrenching and uplifting, Last Chance in Texas tells a profoundly moving story about the children who grow up to inflict on others the violence that they themselves have suffered. It is a story of horror and heartbreak, yet ultimately full of hope.
While reporting on the juvenile court system, journalist John Hubner kept hearing about a facility in Texas that ran the most aggressive–and one of the most successful–treatment programs for violent young offenders in America. How was it possible, he wondered, that a state like Texas, famed for its hardcore attitude toward crime and punishment, could be leading the way in the rehabilitation of violent and troubled youth?
Now Hubner shares the surprising answers he found over months of unprecedented access to the Giddings State School, home to “the worst of the worst”: four hundred teenage lawbreakers convicted of crimes ranging from aggravated assault to murder. Hubner follows two of these youths–a boy and a girl–through harrowing group therapy sessions in which they, along with their fellow inmates, recount their crimes and the abuse they suffered as children. The key moment comes when the young offenders reenact these soul-shattering moments with other group members in cathartic outpourings of suffering and anger that lead, incredibly, to genuine remorse and the beginnings of true empathy . . . the first steps on the long road to redemption.
Cutting through the political platitudes surrounding the controversial issue of juvenile justice, Hubner lays bare the complex ties between abuse and violence. By turns wrenching and uplifting, Last Chance in Texas tells a profoundly moving story about the children who grow up to inflict on others the violence that they themselves have suffered. It is a story of horror and heartbreak, yet ultimately full of hope.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 6, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
January 31, 2009
It took me awhile to finish this book, because just when I became completely immersed in it, I left it on a bus in Canada. Despite how much I was enjoying it, I refused to re-buy it, spent a couple weeks waiting for it to arrive from the NYPL and then started reading other things. But I finally read the last 50 pages this morning.
The book is well written. I found the re-tellings of the students crime stories and the psychological analysis of the individual students most interesting, but the author did a good job of breaking up the stories with facts about the penal system and youth crimes.
The concept of "resocializing" these youth (or in some cases simply "socializing" them for the first time) is one that deserved more coverage. We don't learn a ton about the program the students go through outside of their time in "Captial Offenders" (a group therapy of sorts for the students that have behaved well and moved through all of Gidding's "phases") which is largely where, I think, the chances to bring about real change in these students lies.
I can also understand the flip side of people who are afraid of releasing convicted murders back into "The Free". Aside from the fact that this program clearly has significantly lowered rates of recidivism, the best I can offer is something the author pointed out: When you convict a 14 year old to 40 years - they're going to get out by the time they're 54 and they're going to have just spent time in a cell hating the system that landed them here. Wouldn't you want to spend time at least trying to make them take ownership for their actions and hoping they can change?
Also, in case anyone was worried, students that do not seem to be responding to the program or progressing are sent to prison. The boy who gleefully recounted his many murders wasn't given any more chances. They're not soft on these kids. They just work really hard to help them.
The book is well written. I found the re-tellings of the students crime stories and the psychological analysis of the individual students most interesting, but the author did a good job of breaking up the stories with facts about the penal system and youth crimes.
The concept of "resocializing" these youth (or in some cases simply "socializing" them for the first time) is one that deserved more coverage. We don't learn a ton about the program the students go through outside of their time in "Captial Offenders" (a group therapy of sorts for the students that have behaved well and moved through all of Gidding's "phases") which is largely where, I think, the chances to bring about real change in these students lies.
I can also understand the flip side of people who are afraid of releasing convicted murders back into "The Free". Aside from the fact that this program clearly has significantly lowered rates of recidivism, the best I can offer is something the author pointed out: When you convict a 14 year old to 40 years - they're going to get out by the time they're 54 and they're going to have just spent time in a cell hating the system that landed them here. Wouldn't you want to spend time at least trying to make them take ownership for their actions and hoping they can change?
Also, in case anyone was worried, students that do not seem to be responding to the program or progressing are sent to prison. The boy who gleefully recounted his many murders wasn't given any more chances. They're not soft on these kids. They just work really hard to help them.
October 30, 2011
Incredibly powerful book that tells the story of the most progressive juvenile rehabilitation center in the US. And yes, it's in Texas. Shocking, right?
Giddings State School is where the worst of the worst of juvenile offenders are sent. Murderers, rapists, entrenched gang leaders...people who are "beyond help." And they help them. Their philosophy lies in the basic concept that these teenagers have, as a protective mechanism, lost the ability to empathize. Through intensive therapy and group work (called resocialization), they push them to reconnect with their past and the pain they suffered and then show them how they inflicted that same pain onto others.
Giddings doesn't look or feel like a prison. It's got beautiful open spaces, no guards carry weapons beyond pepper spray (and only a few have that), they are called "students" instead of prisoners, and everyone is treated with respect. From the outside, it looks like a pretty easy life for someone who's committed such a destructive crime. But the administrators claim that it's the "hard" way. In prison, instead of being forced to confront their lives and actions, they harden themselves and defer even more responsibility. Giddings, in constrast, is a grueling psychological experience where they are not allowed to indulge in "thinking errors" like making excuses or avoidance. While the program has drawn a lot of controversy (I mean, it's in Texas! You can imagine there are a lot of opponents.), no one care argue with the results. It works.
Last Chance in Texas follows two students, one boy and one girl. After spending years earning privileges, they get the opportunity to do the Capital Offenses group. In small groups, each member tells his or her life story over several sessions. The rest of the kids in the group draw it out, asking questions and relating from their own experiences. They they role play key scenes from the kids life. After that, they go to telling their crime stories and it culminates with them role playing their crimes, the offender taking the role of their victim. The stories that Hubner witnessed and wrote about are absolutely heartbreaking. The amount of abuse and neglect that these kids have suffered is overwhelming. And then seeing them let go of their anger to accept responsibility (and guilt) for the crimes that they committed was amazing. A kid who successfully completes this group and other required activities will not be sent to adult prison.
Other things the book touched on that made it a much more realistic and fair picture: a history of juvenile convictions (since I have a longtime interest in prison rights it was mostly familiar to me but I'm glad it was there to give context for readers who might not be as well versed), examples of students who "washed" out of the program and were passed on to their long prison sentences (although the Giddings school thinks most people can be reached, they admit the existence of true psychopaths and will remove them to protect the rest of the students), and the rights of the victim and their families.
I have always respected the ability of people (especially teenagers) to change and be layered dynamic people and I strongly support the philosophy of looking at criminal justice system as a rehabilitative place instead of a punishment factory. But sometimes it is hard to look at people who have committed such atrocities and know what to do with them. This book (and program) offers solutions and most importantly, hope.
Giddings State School is where the worst of the worst of juvenile offenders are sent. Murderers, rapists, entrenched gang leaders...people who are "beyond help." And they help them. Their philosophy lies in the basic concept that these teenagers have, as a protective mechanism, lost the ability to empathize. Through intensive therapy and group work (called resocialization), they push them to reconnect with their past and the pain they suffered and then show them how they inflicted that same pain onto others.
Giddings doesn't look or feel like a prison. It's got beautiful open spaces, no guards carry weapons beyond pepper spray (and only a few have that), they are called "students" instead of prisoners, and everyone is treated with respect. From the outside, it looks like a pretty easy life for someone who's committed such a destructive crime. But the administrators claim that it's the "hard" way. In prison, instead of being forced to confront their lives and actions, they harden themselves and defer even more responsibility. Giddings, in constrast, is a grueling psychological experience where they are not allowed to indulge in "thinking errors" like making excuses or avoidance. While the program has drawn a lot of controversy (I mean, it's in Texas! You can imagine there are a lot of opponents.), no one care argue with the results. It works.
Last Chance in Texas follows two students, one boy and one girl. After spending years earning privileges, they get the opportunity to do the Capital Offenses group. In small groups, each member tells his or her life story over several sessions. The rest of the kids in the group draw it out, asking questions and relating from their own experiences. They they role play key scenes from the kids life. After that, they go to telling their crime stories and it culminates with them role playing their crimes, the offender taking the role of their victim. The stories that Hubner witnessed and wrote about are absolutely heartbreaking. The amount of abuse and neglect that these kids have suffered is overwhelming. And then seeing them let go of their anger to accept responsibility (and guilt) for the crimes that they committed was amazing. A kid who successfully completes this group and other required activities will not be sent to adult prison.
Other things the book touched on that made it a much more realistic and fair picture: a history of juvenile convictions (since I have a longtime interest in prison rights it was mostly familiar to me but I'm glad it was there to give context for readers who might not be as well versed), examples of students who "washed" out of the program and were passed on to their long prison sentences (although the Giddings school thinks most people can be reached, they admit the existence of true psychopaths and will remove them to protect the rest of the students), and the rights of the victim and their families.
I have always respected the ability of people (especially teenagers) to change and be layered dynamic people and I strongly support the philosophy of looking at criminal justice system as a rehabilitative place instead of a punishment factory. But sometimes it is hard to look at people who have committed such atrocities and know what to do with them. This book (and program) offers solutions and most importantly, hope.
December 5, 2020
highly emotional, complex and progressive analysis of a juvenile detention center in texas, filled with children who committed highly violent crimes. the detention center aims to truly rehabilitate them through an intense therapeutic and social experience. the stories of these children’s lives and the violence they then inflicted on others tug deeply at our most intimate feelings of empathy. violent criminals are commonly treated as aberrations of societies, not products of them. this book and this detention center serve as a means to understand “how,” children could ever do such violent things, and “what,” is to be done afterwards instead of giving up on them and sending them to serve life sentences in prison.
August 28, 2008
An incredibly interesting book, especially if, like me, you work with youth in trouble. This book introduces its readers to children in pain, who have in turn inflicted pain on others. Remarkably, it offers a path to healing that pain of all involved.
March 19, 2020
"When he went out for football, it was the first time he had participated in an organized activity other than a drive-by shooting."
This is a fascinating book about the Giddings State School, one of our favorite high school football opponents at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas.
I enjoyed this book very much. Part criminology, part psychology and group therapy. This is a great story about a place where at least some of the people convicted of crime in Texas are actually rehabilitated. The book is worth the read for a window into the abusive, crime-ridden homes that produce so many young offenders, as well as one of the state's (nations?) most successful programs for combating the recidivism that plagues so many similar programs. The counselors, teachers, and staff at the Giddings State School can go home at night and tell themselves that they really do make a difference.
I have seen it first-hand, though briefly. My son played quarterback at Faith West, and faced the Giddings Indians during all four years of high school. The players are athletic, scrappy, and fearless, with the toughness you would expect from them, and with discipline and humility you would not. The team moves up and down the field like a six-man football machine because the players are so disciplined and focused. I stood on the Giddings sideline holding the down markers, and must commend the players: they encouraged each other, they talked to me with respect for my son, saying that "number seven is fast" and "he can throw." (But they managed to beat us handily this year!)
EVERY YEAR I found the Giddings Indians to be the most respectful, most pleasant opponent that we faced.
This is a great book.
ON CRIME:
"We can deal with natural catastrophes, the Category Four hurricanes that swirl in from the warm oceans and the mammoth conflagrations that reduce mighty forests to ashes. They bring us together, help us re-create ourselves, make us stronger. What we can't deal with, what disfigures us, is the evil we inflict on one another. Why doesn't it stop?"
--LAST CHANCE IN TEXAS: The Redemption of Criminal Youth, by John Hubner.
This is a fascinating book about the Giddings State School, one of our favorite high school football opponents at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas.
I enjoyed this book very much. Part criminology, part psychology and group therapy. This is a great story about a place where at least some of the people convicted of crime in Texas are actually rehabilitated. The book is worth the read for a window into the abusive, crime-ridden homes that produce so many young offenders, as well as one of the state's (nations?) most successful programs for combating the recidivism that plagues so many similar programs. The counselors, teachers, and staff at the Giddings State School can go home at night and tell themselves that they really do make a difference.
I have seen it first-hand, though briefly. My son played quarterback at Faith West, and faced the Giddings Indians during all four years of high school. The players are athletic, scrappy, and fearless, with the toughness you would expect from them, and with discipline and humility you would not. The team moves up and down the field like a six-man football machine because the players are so disciplined and focused. I stood on the Giddings sideline holding the down markers, and must commend the players: they encouraged each other, they talked to me with respect for my son, saying that "number seven is fast" and "he can throw." (But they managed to beat us handily this year!)
EVERY YEAR I found the Giddings Indians to be the most respectful, most pleasant opponent that we faced.
This is a great book.
ON CRIME:
"We can deal with natural catastrophes, the Category Four hurricanes that swirl in from the warm oceans and the mammoth conflagrations that reduce mighty forests to ashes. They bring us together, help us re-create ourselves, make us stronger. What we can't deal with, what disfigures us, is the evil we inflict on one another. Why doesn't it stop?"
--LAST CHANCE IN TEXAS: The Redemption of Criminal Youth, by John Hubner.
January 18, 2020
Texas is known to have one of the toughest and most forbidding Criminal Justice Systems of the western hemisphere - yet the youth department of TDCJ is also home to the Giddings State School, a flagship detention facility where all clocks are set on therapy and rehabilitation and really giving Criminal Youth a second chance at life.
Following both a group of boys and a group of girls through the therapy programs at Giddings State School this book explores how oftentimes a history of being a victim of abuse in their own childhood evolves to inflicting pain on others later on and how the therapeutic programs try to break up thinking errors and undo emotional shutdowns to reconnect Criminal Youth to their emotions in a surrounding where there's help available to learn deal with the flood of emotions that have been suppressed for years. It's a story of facing the past and growing the emotional strength and stability to really move on to a more positive future in a very unique - but as statistics show highly successful - way.
For me this has been the most extraordinary read. Though sometimes painful to read when it comes to the kids lives in the past, this book has taught me volumes about psychology and allowed me an entirely different view on Criminal Youth and what alleys might be available to rehabilitate those who seem 'beyond hope'. I must strongly recommend this book to anyone who feels the Criminal Justice System isn't working as it should and is looking for alternatives. Maybe they are in fact much closer than we think...
Following both a group of boys and a group of girls through the therapy programs at Giddings State School this book explores how oftentimes a history of being a victim of abuse in their own childhood evolves to inflicting pain on others later on and how the therapeutic programs try to break up thinking errors and undo emotional shutdowns to reconnect Criminal Youth to their emotions in a surrounding where there's help available to learn deal with the flood of emotions that have been suppressed for years. It's a story of facing the past and growing the emotional strength and stability to really move on to a more positive future in a very unique - but as statistics show highly successful - way.
For me this has been the most extraordinary read. Though sometimes painful to read when it comes to the kids lives in the past, this book has taught me volumes about psychology and allowed me an entirely different view on Criminal Youth and what alleys might be available to rehabilitate those who seem 'beyond hope'. I must strongly recommend this book to anyone who feels the Criminal Justice System isn't working as it should and is looking for alternatives. Maybe they are in fact much closer than we think...
July 28, 2021
One of my all-time favorite books which is kinda weird to have based on what it's about, but it gives such a great example of what our juvenile justice system should look like in all states. It's not for everyone based on the specific horrific events that have happened to these kids and that the kids did but if you can stomach the material, it's a must-read.
June 10, 2024
The book that made me decide what I want to do for the rest of my life
May 7, 2008
This book is truly, truly amazing. The kids in this book have done horrible things...rape, murder, attempted murder, etc. So much of our societal culture just screams "lock them up and throw away the key". And then you read this book. The pain, loss, abuse, and trauma these kids absorbed during their formative years will just tear you heart up. Most of them learned through years and years of teaching that you can't trust anyone, that everyone you care about will hurt you or leave you, and that you have to become seriously, intensely, incredibly angry all the time to cover that hurt, sadness, and pain. For example, one girl's stepfather started raping, beating, and threatening to kill her when she was four years old. She crawled into her mother's bed for protection and her mother pretended to sleep while her stepfather raped her right there. It's no wonder they lose their sense of empathy.
This book chronicles the stories of some of these kids as they go through the very progressive Capital and Serious Violent Offenders Program that attempts to put these kids back in touch with the feelings they've buried for so long with the goal being to put them back in touch with empathy so they won't hurt anyone again. This innovative program has experienced very high success rates with most successful completers not reoffending. These kids will be back out on the street someday and we can either try to help them while they are still young and impressionable or deal with them after long prison sentences where they just learn to be angrier and better criminals. A very powerful book everyone should read as the success or failure of these kids affects us all.
This book chronicles the stories of some of these kids as they go through the very progressive Capital and Serious Violent Offenders Program that attempts to put these kids back in touch with the feelings they've buried for so long with the goal being to put them back in touch with empathy so they won't hurt anyone again. This innovative program has experienced very high success rates with most successful completers not reoffending. These kids will be back out on the street someday and we can either try to help them while they are still young and impressionable or deal with them after long prison sentences where they just learn to be angrier and better criminals. A very powerful book everyone should read as the success or failure of these kids affects us all.
May 30, 2013
Really intriguing insight into the alternative forward thinking ways another country is rehabilitating these young offenders. Really hoping that more amazing statistics can be reported and proven that influences the way other countries can utilize this model, rather than focusing on solely the punitive component of treating at offender.
I enjoyed reading about the lives of these youths and even though the disparity of the crimes committed didn't marry up with the major crimes committed in Australia (especially the high prevalence of gangs and gang related violence) I think I took a lot away from this book.
I can only imagine the hard work the clinicians feel after working with these troubled youths on a day to day basis and the self care component must be huge - especially with the emotional involvement of separating work and life after you finish your shift.
Great work Texas and am so glad to see that alternative approaches are being taken to look at realistic ways of rehabilitation!
I enjoyed reading about the lives of these youths and even though the disparity of the crimes committed didn't marry up with the major crimes committed in Australia (especially the high prevalence of gangs and gang related violence) I think I took a lot away from this book.
I can only imagine the hard work the clinicians feel after working with these troubled youths on a day to day basis and the self care component must be huge - especially with the emotional involvement of separating work and life after you finish your shift.
Great work Texas and am so glad to see that alternative approaches are being taken to look at realistic ways of rehabilitation!
February 3, 2011
I would give this book 5 stars, but because I couldn't read it at night or after I ate, it got 4.5, rounded down. This book was assigned in my Psych of Law class. Yesterday John Hubner actually came to our class to talk about the book and his experiences. The stories he told were just as horrifying (or even more) than the stories in the book. This book is incredible. Your jaw will drop, you will gasp, and you will cry. These kids have been through some of the worst experiences you can even imagine. John does a great job telling their stories and explaining what they go through in the program. It's motivated me so much that now I've added another thing I possibly want to do with my life once I graduate. Seeing how much these kids go through and that most of them come out of it alright (after all the crimes they commit, of course)really inspires me to push through any hard times I'm facing.
September 10, 2013
Not an easy read, but certainly worth it. Redemptive.
May 13, 2020
If I could give this book 6 stars, I would. It is one of my absolute favorite books and I recommend it to everyone! It completely changed the way I saw rehabilitation and incarceration in the US.
January 2, 2024
Really good if you are looking for something to increase your knowledge of the legal/prison/juvie system.
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July 1, 2020This book made me sob. John Hubner, the author, began researching juvenile delinquency programs for work he was doing as a journalist when he repeatedly was told to check out a facility in Texas that was pushing the envelope in terms of prisoner treatment and psychological development of it's juvenile population. The Giddings State School is located in Giddings, Texas, a small town in a state known for an extreme "tough on crime" attitude and culture. Every year, it is handed the cases of juvenile offenders who have raped, murdered, tortured, abused, and defiled victims in unimaginable ways. And every year, it returns a large number of graduating offenders back to the world, 90% of whom will never see the inside of a prison cell again.
While reading this book, the first thing I had to do was to get myself to a place of radical empathy. The stories of the horrors that were inflicted on innocent people by the children, and they are children, at Giddings are sometimes hard to stomach. They beat younger siblings almost to death, they killed elderly grandparents, they raped significant others, they tortured rival gang members with knives and fire. Mentally allowing yourself to see these kids as anything other than evil and deviant people is almost impossible at first. When you learn of their equally tragic pasts, childhoods full of rape, beatings, homelessness, unspeakable abuse and psychological degradation, it becomes easier to understand them as children who have been conditioned to behave negatively toward absolutely everyone around them, simply because they have never had the opportunity to do anything else or behave in any other manner. They are the disadvantaged, the abused, the powerless. And when their time to exert power over someone else arrives, they jump at the chance, because that is what life is to them at its core. A literal kill or be killed, regardless of their victim's innocence or guilt.
What allowed me to empathize completely with these young offenders were their reactions to the psychological treatment used at Giddings, which in and of itself is a radical experiment in empathy. In their final year at Giddings, offenders are placed in group classes consisting of 10-12 other students. This group, their final Giddings stepping stone, requires them to re-live their abuse as well as their criminal acts through live role-play and live narrative. As the students describe their lives and then watch them play out, they are entirely engulfed in the fear and the pain that they were forced to endure as children. Similarly, when their crimes are acted out in front of them, and they are forced to sit face to face with their role-play "victim," the guilt physically throws most of them to the floor, and they sob and scream and cry out for it to stop. They understand their victims' pain because they have just described their own pain, and they do not want it to continue.
This book changed the way I look at some of my students at MERC. It reminded me to let their trauma of past incidents through my educational blinders when I'm talking to them, to recognize that their anger and hostility almost never has anything to do with me. They are children, my students. They may be forced to live the lives of adults but they are children. Being more informed about ways to assist them through their difficulties is immensely helpful, and this book and the stories it told were enough to make me want to continue this work for a long time to come.
Immediately after it was announced that Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the killing of Mike Brown, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’ son Samori got up and said “I have to go.” Coates wrote this book for him. The Michael Brown case was the first big blow to Samori, his first witness to what racial inequality can imply. Between the World and Me is a very personal novel about Coates’ own experience as a black American, growing up in Baltimore, attending Howard university, and becoming a Journalist. Addressed as a letter to Samori, He tries to say everything he can to his son, not to comfort him, but to prepare him for his own struggle as a black american.
Rather than approaching systematic racism with heavy theory (which, of course, is still there), Coates is offering something more poetic. He’s not concerned about empirical evidence. He’s writing to his son. Every word he puts down is from his personal experience. He speaks of influential black writers by their first names not only to highlight their importance to him but also their allegiance in struggle, e.g. Malcolm, Stokely. He labels Howard University as “The Mecca,” the place where he was educated and exposed to the diversity within his diaspora (and others). While this extremely personal form of writing is sweet and endearing at times, it can also be heart-breaking. For example he recounts a time when Samori was 5 (or 6) and an adult woman pushed him out of the way for not walking faster. Coates blew up at this woman, looking for an apology. He never got one. In fact, a crowd gathered in support of the woman. Someone even threatened to call the police on Coates. Coates recounts this as an example of how survival can mean swallowing your pride and/or self respect. As a parent, he regrets his reaction because of what it could have been done to Samori.
While reading this book, I was often reminded of what political theorist Jodi Dean said at a recent UMN symposium, “Instead of looking at the whole, we must look for a hole.” By showing what it is like to be a black father, Coates is simply embracing the personal experience of race; as apposed to arguing facts and figures. Though I did feel as though I was invading their space, reading this personal letter between father and son, Coates knows there is an audience of all shapes, colors, and experiences. He knows the importance of this side, to illustrate the pain of discrimination and bodily violence. He offers not a solution necessarily but a mission. He tells his son that he must struggle, but only for himself and his people. He must not struggle for the “people who believe themselves white.” We must learn to struggle for ourselves, to understand what our dream (i.e. the fantasy that opposes the “world”) is founded on.
I don’t often get emotionally invested in books, but this one left me with serious chills. It really burrowed its way into my mind and won’t leave anytime soon. To read this book is to practice extreme empathy. It walks you through a lifetime of struggle and, most importantly, doesn’t wrap it all up in nice box with a bow. There is nothing “feel good” about this book. We are only told we must struggle. We cannot claim not-racist and move on. We must constantly work against racism, i.e. to be anti-racist
While reading this book, the first thing I had to do was to get myself to a place of radical empathy. The stories of the horrors that were inflicted on innocent people by the children, and they are children, at Giddings are sometimes hard to stomach. They beat younger siblings almost to death, they killed elderly grandparents, they raped significant others, they tortured rival gang members with knives and fire. Mentally allowing yourself to see these kids as anything other than evil and deviant people is almost impossible at first. When you learn of their equally tragic pasts, childhoods full of rape, beatings, homelessness, unspeakable abuse and psychological degradation, it becomes easier to understand them as children who have been conditioned to behave negatively toward absolutely everyone around them, simply because they have never had the opportunity to do anything else or behave in any other manner. They are the disadvantaged, the abused, the powerless. And when their time to exert power over someone else arrives, they jump at the chance, because that is what life is to them at its core. A literal kill or be killed, regardless of their victim's innocence or guilt.
What allowed me to empathize completely with these young offenders were their reactions to the psychological treatment used at Giddings, which in and of itself is a radical experiment in empathy. In their final year at Giddings, offenders are placed in group classes consisting of 10-12 other students. This group, their final Giddings stepping stone, requires them to re-live their abuse as well as their criminal acts through live role-play and live narrative. As the students describe their lives and then watch them play out, they are entirely engulfed in the fear and the pain that they were forced to endure as children. Similarly, when their crimes are acted out in front of them, and they are forced to sit face to face with their role-play "victim," the guilt physically throws most of them to the floor, and they sob and scream and cry out for it to stop. They understand their victims' pain because they have just described their own pain, and they do not want it to continue.
This book changed the way I look at some of my students at MERC. It reminded me to let their trauma of past incidents through my educational blinders when I'm talking to them, to recognize that their anger and hostility almost never has anything to do with me. They are children, my students. They may be forced to live the lives of adults but they are children. Being more informed about ways to assist them through their difficulties is immensely helpful, and this book and the stories it told were enough to make me want to continue this work for a long time to come.
Immediately after it was announced that Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the killing of Mike Brown, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’ son Samori got up and said “I have to go.” Coates wrote this book for him. The Michael Brown case was the first big blow to Samori, his first witness to what racial inequality can imply. Between the World and Me is a very personal novel about Coates’ own experience as a black American, growing up in Baltimore, attending Howard university, and becoming a Journalist. Addressed as a letter to Samori, He tries to say everything he can to his son, not to comfort him, but to prepare him for his own struggle as a black american.
Rather than approaching systematic racism with heavy theory (which, of course, is still there), Coates is offering something more poetic. He’s not concerned about empirical evidence. He’s writing to his son. Every word he puts down is from his personal experience. He speaks of influential black writers by their first names not only to highlight their importance to him but also their allegiance in struggle, e.g. Malcolm, Stokely. He labels Howard University as “The Mecca,” the place where he was educated and exposed to the diversity within his diaspora (and others). While this extremely personal form of writing is sweet and endearing at times, it can also be heart-breaking. For example he recounts a time when Samori was 5 (or 6) and an adult woman pushed him out of the way for not walking faster. Coates blew up at this woman, looking for an apology. He never got one. In fact, a crowd gathered in support of the woman. Someone even threatened to call the police on Coates. Coates recounts this as an example of how survival can mean swallowing your pride and/or self respect. As a parent, he regrets his reaction because of what it could have been done to Samori.
While reading this book, I was often reminded of what political theorist Jodi Dean said at a recent UMN symposium, “Instead of looking at the whole, we must look for a hole.” By showing what it is like to be a black father, Coates is simply embracing the personal experience of race; as apposed to arguing facts and figures. Though I did feel as though I was invading their space, reading this personal letter between father and son, Coates knows there is an audience of all shapes, colors, and experiences. He knows the importance of this side, to illustrate the pain of discrimination and bodily violence. He offers not a solution necessarily but a mission. He tells his son that he must struggle, but only for himself and his people. He must not struggle for the “people who believe themselves white.” We must learn to struggle for ourselves, to understand what our dream (i.e. the fantasy that opposes the “world”) is founded on.
I don’t often get emotionally invested in books, but this one left me with serious chills. It really burrowed its way into my mind and won’t leave anytime soon. To read this book is to practice extreme empathy. It walks you through a lifetime of struggle and, most importantly, doesn’t wrap it all up in nice box with a bow. There is nothing “feel good” about this book. We are only told we must struggle. We cannot claim not-racist and move on. We must constantly work against racism, i.e. to be anti-racist
September 3, 2017
Inspiring! I have not been this inspired by a book in a long time! I work in a field that addresses juveniles and (a lot of times) criminal behaviors or behaviors that can lead to a criminal life style. I have been doing it for a while and it just seems like it's a never ending need. This book helped reignite the flame I need to continue doing the work I do and it also gave me ideas and hope!
These young men and young women that were discussed will provoke a lot of emotions while reading about their crimes and their life; yet if it doesn't provoke inside of you a need for change in our system then there is something you missed while reading.
More politicians, Juvenile Justice leaders, Directors and Superintendents of facilities need to dive head first into this reading and start making changes within our system.
It left me saying WOW!
These young men and young women that were discussed will provoke a lot of emotions while reading about their crimes and their life; yet if it doesn't provoke inside of you a need for change in our system then there is something you missed while reading.
More politicians, Juvenile Justice leaders, Directors and Superintendents of facilities need to dive head first into this reading and start making changes within our system.
It left me saying WOW!
October 27, 2020
I loved this book! It was super informative about the Texas criminal justice system for youths while at the same time giving really personal and real viewpoints of the juveniles in this alternative program. I love the idea of giddings and the ideas it brings to the table, while starting at looking at trauma and mental health and treating the issue instead of punishing it. I think that our justice system has many flaws and breaks in it and if we started thinking with this mindset about rehabilitation period than I think a lot can change and we can finally progress forward instead of outdated ways of dealing with offenders.
October 23, 2023
Very few people will be prepared for the deeply upsetting contents of this book. No amount of warning can accurately describe the horrors that humans inflict on one another. Many of the stories are hard to believe yet the author leaves you wanting to know more. I asked myself why I kept reading and why I couldn’t put the book down even when I began to tear up at the stories. In the end, we keep reading because we hope for redemption and we believe in the good of human nature. It’s hard to say whether or not the book satisfies that hope, I think that’s up to each individual reader. All I know is that this will move you unlike very few things you have read in the past.
July 10, 2024
Such an outstanding book. The author does an amazing job of following several kids throughout their time in this program, & shows the methods that actually work to rehabilitate juveniles. By telling each kid’s life story in the context of their charges & highlighting children’s heightened capacity for change, the author shows how trauma can lead to abusive behavior, but that the cycle can be broken with proper intervention.
This kind of treatment should be implemented on a much larger scale as all kids deserve the chance to start again. Anyone interested in lowering crime rates, recidivism, & making our communities safer should read!
This kind of treatment should be implemented on a much larger scale as all kids deserve the chance to start again. Anyone interested in lowering crime rates, recidivism, & making our communities safer should read!
April 3, 2024
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. This isn't a religious book, but as a religious person myself, I see such a reflection of Christ- like character at Giddings. Suffering for those who don't want it, and society would say don't deserve it. And truly suffering is the only way to term it the Guddings staff work a hard job, and that's why not everyone does it. In order for us as a nation to achieve success like Giddings has, we have to abandon the need to punish and adopt a mercy mindset that is nothing if not Christ-like
January 19, 2025
I had to read this for a class in graduate school but I can’t recommend enough. It’s educational but told in moving narrative that makes it engaging. It’s an older book but still holds so much value I think.
I think my favorite part is the balance, it doesn’t pity these children who have had incredibly hard lives or shy away from the incredibly brutal crimes they committed. The balance, I think, comes from the honesty of the book. This book doesn’t shy away from anything, doesn’t sugar coat it.
I think my favorite part is the balance, it doesn’t pity these children who have had incredibly hard lives or shy away from the incredibly brutal crimes they committed. The balance, I think, comes from the honesty of the book. This book doesn’t shy away from anything, doesn’t sugar coat it.
May 16, 2018
I found the stories and the explanations riveting and I totally agree with what the State of Texas is doing for these teens. I would love to see a follow-up book that shows where these youth are in 10 years, how their families respond to their new ways of thinking, how they assimilate into the community, ect. Also, how the therapists "survive" in not burning out.
July 17, 2018
This book was incredible. The description of the crimes and the rehabilitation that leads to a 90+% non-repeat offender. I wish that more people could look at humanity and see that we are products of both nature and nurture and that our experiences shape us, even what may seem the most horrible of humans. I would recommend this to anyone.
July 31, 2019
Review to come. This was the second book I read with my group of teenage girls after they talked about it weekly throughout our first book.
Half of the girls it hit hard and the other half said they couldn't finish it because it was too technical and they couldn't stay interested so a good mix of reviews from them.
Half of the girls it hit hard and the other half said they couldn't finish it because it was too technical and they couldn't stay interested so a good mix of reviews from them.
December 7, 2020
Glad there is rehabilitation happening in the juvenile justice system, especially in Texas. Even happier that there is writing about it; however, I wish there was more time dedicated to talking about the young women themselves. Seems like a lot the “Girls” chapters were not centered around these students’ stories in comparison to the “Boys.”
November 8, 2024
I found this book so moving and surprising and interesting. If you are interesting in the best juvenile criminal justice system in the United States? It’s in Texas, who knew?
This book was amazing, well written, funny, and gave me a little hope for violent juvenile offenders in Texas. I just hope what happens in Giddings spreads throughout the country!
This book was amazing, well written, funny, and gave me a little hope for violent juvenile offenders in Texas. I just hope what happens in Giddings spreads throughout the country!
March 28, 2020
A very unique youth reformatory in Texas that does the hard work of actually trying to ‘reform’. It was fascinating to watch their stories transform from victims to victimizers. An incredible success rate...wish we had more programs like this.
August 29, 2022
Very tough subject matter but this was so enlightening and eye opening. It makes you think what if the juvenile Justice system could really be run like this across the U.S. I think things would be significantly better and a lot less people would be in prison.
March 18, 2024
this is a PHENOMENAL book. of course it’s so hard to read and incredibly disturbing at times, but i was so immersed in these kid’s stories and their growth. made me excited (and a little scared) to go into the social work field!
April 29, 2024
I had to read this book for class, and I couldn’t recommend it more. Such an excellent look into a juvenile corrections facility that is working for a better future. You can tell they truly want the best for everyone that walks through the doors. We need more places like this in the US
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