Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 300 EAN: 9780375759987 ISBN: 0375759980 Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 304 Publication Date: 2008-04-29 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Release Date: 2008-04-29 Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews: 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. From the Hardcover edition.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Interesting Concept Comment: "Last Chance in Texas" is about Giddings State School in Texas. Bad teens are there with a chance to maybe get help and not get sent to the big prison. You will not forget the story of Ronnie. What I found very interesting is the other offenders help by role playing Ronnie's life story. Customer Rating: Summary: no holds barred Comment: Excellent book on criminal youth and the audacity that they can be helped. These children have committed such horrible crimes and also come from such horrible histories. This book made me cheer for the process that gives kids a last chance. Customer Rating: Summary: If You Really Want to Change Kids and Crime Comment: Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth. By John Hubner. NY: Random House, 2005. Cloth on boards with a jacket. 277 pp. No illus. Hubner has been a Massachusetts and California writer on juvenile crime and justice. He heard of Giddings State School's [...] surprising success with some youths. He spent months at the "school" observing capital and violent offenders. He draws their stories from their dialogue, records, and interviews. Gidding's gets the worst, and this book genuinely mirrors much of their lives and predicaments. Beyond the individual and societal tragedies, Hubner finds that sometimes Texas love and nurturing, along with discipline, saves some of those previously ill-destined kids. It reduces crime in your future too. Customer Rating: Summary: Hopeful Comment: Would give this book 5 stars for the hopeful ideas about rehabilitating violent youth offenders. Successful treatment program could be used nationwide and lead to increased rehabilitation instead of increased recidivism. Youths from horrific backgrounds and who committed horrendous crimes begin to feel empathy and remorse. Customer Rating: Summary: a dose of a different reality Comment: For those of us who have been sheltered from the abuse and misery caused by illegal drugs, both passed on unfailingly from one generation to the next, this books is almost an overdose of what reality is like for the abused children of users. It is also an absorbing account of pain and hope in the Texas juvenile justice system. I'm glad I heard the author interviewed on NPR, and I'm glad I read his skillful account of one program in the justice system that appears to work. More Reviews