Week 14: Child Soldiers

        After viewing the films Invisible Children (2003, 2008), I was given a lot more clarity into the specific issues faced by the African countries of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo concerning the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Through the films, I was able to truly see just how colossal the problem has become—with so many lives lost, and so many children taken and forced into war, it was incredible to realize just how little I knew about what is going on in my world. The war is the longest war is Africa's longest war. The detriments that have occurred because of it have shaken a handful of African countries, and as the war wages on, these countries have continued to be affected by what Alice Lakwena, and subsequently, Joseph Kony began through the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). In this week’s post I hope to discuss some of the major issues surrounding the war, specifically, what is preventing the conflict from being ended and what might happen once the conflict has ended. At the heart of the matter is the LRA’s child soldiers—is there hope for them, and after the war has ended, will there continue to be hope?       

        Aside from the fact that the LRA functions under the authority of an occult-type leader, who uses fear tactics and a kind of religious base for support, there also exist a handful of other barriers to ending the war. First and foremost, it seems that one of the barriers exists in the form of public awareness and support. Indeed, it seems one of the largest difficulties to garner public support in countries such as the United States. But as the second film depicted, once this support had been gained, peace talks became much easier, as the Ugandan government was able to enlist the help of senior American diplomats.

                

        However, there was still no resolve, as Joseph Kony decided to renege on his side of the agreement—for the fourth or fifth time. This brings me to another barrier to ending the conflict, which is the idea that, not only is there limited public awareness and support from countries like the United States to end the war, but there is also an absence of economic resources. It was disheartening to see the image of hundreds of Ugandan child sleeping on verandas or on the pavement at night, in order to escape being abducted by the LRA. The strategy must be to disconnect Kony from his main holding—the children. If the government could provide a safe haven for children, if they could provide protection, some of the consequences of the war might not be as grave—such as the ones mentioned in the first film: child promiscuity, AIDS, etc.

        I have just discussed some of the major barriers to ending the conflict; but, what will happen when the conflict ends? The child soldiers that have become ‘monsters’, as one man in the film puts it, will have to go somewhere and will have to continue living. In one part of the film a boy who is a soldier in the LRA asks to come back to live with his mother; as the film (2008) suggests, his request might seem to highlight the overarching concern of how child soldiers might be reintegrated into society. Part of the solution might include strengthening the community with the means of giving emotional and psychological support for these invisible children—including utilizing transitional justice techniques: locating the children’s parents or closest family members, burying the dead/ marking the graves of those who have died, and especially bringing to justice those who have committed crimes. Other solutions might include providing the children with psychological and spiritual council, while also allowing the children to develop and even redevelop social and communication skills with their peers through school and education.

        In all, the films do a good job of presenting issues connected with the LRA and Uganda, Suden, etc. Perhaps the films’ biggest accomplishment resides in the idea that it has been able to garner so much awareness and support.  –By this, people around the world can be roused to illuminate the issue, to act, to discuss ways to end this war and pick up the pieces.

Works Cited

 Russel, J, Bailey, B. & Poole, L. (Creators). (2006, April 7)  Invisible Children  [Google video]. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from   http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643

Russel, J, Bailey, B. & Poole, L. (Creators). (2008, April 25)    The Rescue of Joseph Kony's child Soldiers    [online video]. Retrieved April 25, 2011 fromhttp://vimeo.com/3400420 

Week 13: Child Exploitation and Abuse - Youth Sex Workers

            This week’s subject matter on child exploitation and sex labor contained a lot of weighty inquiries and touched on grave issues. To hear the girls’ histories of sexual abuse and slavery stirred feelings of frustration within me. How is it possible that so much can be taken away from these girls and boys—their freedom, their childhoods, etc.—and yet so little is being done about it? In this blog I hope to discuss the circumstances that lead children into exploitative trades like slavery and sex work, while also drawing connections with previous coursework to ultimately propose channels of discussion for success in eradicating sex work and slavery.

Poverty

            In the documentary film Modern Slavery: Captive Servants and Child Prostitution, and in “Working with Child Prostitutes in Thailand: Problems of practice and interpretation”, as well as in other research, it seems there is extensive evidence for poverty as a driving factor behind exploitative pursuits such as child slavery and prostitution. I was shocked to understand that in many circumstances it is actually the children’s’ families that introduce them to sex labor or sell them into slavery. In other words, most of the time it is not by tragic accident that these girls or boys get sold into slavery or become prostitutes; rather, these circumstances are a consequence of the reality of poverty, of a lack of education, and so forth. Many times these families and their children lack the economic stability, and so they find ‘opportunity’, for example, in prostitution to support themselves—or in an offer from a stranger to take the child to another country where promises of prosperity are seemingly guaranteed. This point is especially poignant in Montgomery’s discussion of her own anthropological research on child prostitution in Thailand, where she found that the stance on child prostitution, of both the parents and the children, was one of acceptance—where prostitution was a viable means of fulfilling one’s obligation to take care of their parents, to support a household.

Culture and Society: Bun Khun

            Subsequently, and as I have alluded to in the preceding paragraph, children may be compelled into prostitution or slavery to fulfill traditional cultural and social expectancies and desires. According to Montgomery, in Thailand, children are expected to work and to provide income for their parents. A son or daughter’s worth is measured by this cultural standard of ‘bun khun’, where “children are said to owe a debt of gratitude to their parents and especially their mothers; they should be the ones to repay their parents for giving them life and it is part of children’s duty to support their parents in whatever way they can” (Montgomery, 2007; Mulder, 1979; Tantiwiramanond and Pandey, 1989). Also connected to this example, and to social and cultural elements as presented in previous course content, is the idea that these kinds of circumstances are highly cyclical. In her work, Montgomery writes, “In eight of the 14 households that contained child prostituted, the children were the second or third generation to have worked as prostitutes. Their grandmothers worked with American servicemen during the later stages of the Vietnam War, their mothers worked with tourists and the children worked for child sex-tourists” (2007). In the setting as described by Montgomery, men play little to no role in family connections and the household is controlled by the matriarch.

Intervention: Government and NGOs

What I found most interesting throughout the media presented is that there was no clear-cut method for handling issues of child slavery and prostitution, and the prevalence of these exploitative trades remains huge. In the media presented throughout this week, it seemed clear that many of the governments had no means to deal with this. Not only was much of the work left up to NGOs, but also when the government did intervene, it tended to support the status quo—either by treating sex workers as criminals, or by turning a blind eye. Either way, it seems that not much is being done by the government, and what little good that is being done, has been accomplished on part of NGOs like Gary Haugen’s International Justice Mission, where tactics like sting operations are used to extract kids from dangerous situations like sex labor.

Conclusion

            The issues of child sex labor and child slavery remain significant in today’s world. These underground industries are fueled by poverty and, as Dr. Montgomery might hesitantly admit, cultural and social norms and traditions. But the question is, by what methods do we go about abolishing these trades? Even though the tactics discussed in Dateline’s Children for Sale, seem extreme, I believe that these tactics are necessary for initiating the abolishment of exploitative trades like prostitution and slavery. The NGOs that employ extreme tactics like sting operations and ones that work to educate, have begun to create positive effects.

On another level, however, social welfare programs in each of these countries vehemently need to be established in order to educate and economically support families exposed and prone to sex labor and slavery. Additionally, the government needs to put competent legal infrastructures in place for prosecuting and sentencing individuals involved in sex labor and slavery—it should not be the case that prostitutes and sex laborers are considered the criminal in these circumstances. This is where further research needs to be done. What kinds of programs would be successful in societies constrained poverty, by cultural traditions, by currently inactive governments? 

Works Cited

Modern Slavery: Captive Servants and Child Prostitution. Films Media Group, 2008. Films On Demand. Accessed 18 April 2011 http://digital.films.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=1850&xtid=41369.

Montgomery, H. (2007). Working with child prostitutes in Thailand: Problems of practice and interpretation. Childhood, 14(4), 415.

Week 12: Child Labor in the U.S. and Internationally

         This week’s content on child labor was illuminating and very interesting. In this discussion I hope to talk about some of the challenges, developments and future of the movement against child labor in accordance with the film India: Working to End Child Labor, the piece “The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data” and finally, youth employment laws in the United States, and particularly in Arizona.  This discussion will draw upon these sources to hopefully offer a balanced take on the issue, and desires to ultimately foster more discussion on the issue.
         Firstly, the film on India was especially poignant in highlighting the issues associated with child labor—particularly in addressing the types of environments exploitive child labor thrives in. As the article mentioned, “child labor is an important global issue associated with poverty, inadequate educational opportunities, gender inequality, and a range of health risks”, additionally ninety-six percent of child laborers live in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America (“The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data”, 2007). The case of India especially pointed out these elements of the article, while also addressing something that may be unique to India; that is, India’s caste system—which is rooted deeply within the culture and religious beliefs of many of its people. India’s caste system serves the dual function of justifying the poverty much of its population suffers, while also justifying the indolence of the wealthy. In this way, child labor seems to be very much a social issue that needs to be challenged on many levels—including religion, culture and community.
         Subsequently the media also mentioned child labor’s effectual relationship with education. It is interesting to note that many of the children interviewed mentioned that their families depended on them for the income they brought in—and so they must work and could not go to school. Here, we see a few affects: “short term, the most obvious economic impact of child labor at the family level is an increase in household income. Long term, the underaccumulation of human capital caused by low school attendance and poor health is a serious negative consequence of child labor, representing a missed opportunity to enhance the productivity and future earnings capacity of the next generation” (“The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data”, 2007). This verity unwittingly contributes, as India’s caste system also purportedly does, to a cyclic, persistent condition of poverty—one in which there seems to be no means of escape. These are some of the elements that Shanta Sinha, founder of the MV Foundation in India (an organization that seeks to abolish child labor, and promote education) face.

         Roggero's et. all research also found that child labor had significant impact on the health of children in ways that include how work can “expose children to physical and social environments conducive to high-risk sexual behavior”, that work inhibits girls from attaining an education that promotes their health and the health of their progeny, and also on the direct measurement of child mortality rates (“The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data”, 2007). In accordance with the findings of the film, the element of health had a significant impact, not only in the way that it impacted the child’s future health, but also as a determinant for whether and when a child entered the labor force. Several of the children’s stories of child labor were initiated with the existence of a parent’s’ health condition.

         As mentioned above, the MV Foundation serves as a good example of how one organization has sought to end the effects of child labor. As I looked through Arizona’s laws and regulations concerning child labor law, the contrast between child labor in the United States and India struck me—U.S. labor law is basic, clear and defined. On the other hand, it seemed that in the case of India, child labor is left up to the discretion of the child’s parents and the child’s employer—the film mentioned no instance of the government protecting a child’s right to education or a regulated work age or schedule. Thus—the obvious observation that child labor continues to be hidden under a veil of culture and tradition. But in order for advances to continue, it needs to be brought out as a more perceptible political issue.

     Finally, one of the largest factors for whether developing nations can overcome exploitive child labor to create laws that can realistically be enforced—is whether or not the country and organizations can establish programs that promote the welfare of its people. Why do children enter the labor force in the first place? The reasons may not be so fundamentally clear as merely economic—they may stem from issues of health, etc.: for example many of the children in the film had parents with bad health, which forced them to take up jobs, as their parents could not.  In this sense, it might be beneficial to explore different programs which include health, culture, education, etc. to promote child welfare and abolish child labor. 

Works Cited

Meehan, Ruth (director). "India: Working to End Child Labor" 2004. Online video clip. Arizona Universities Library Consortium. FMG Video On Demand. Peadar King (Executive Producer)Accessed on 11 April  2011. http://digital.films.com/play/VBRGKP


Minor, Robert (Cartoonist). Child Labor [Political Cartoon]. Accessed on 11 April 2011. http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/human-rights-cartoon-80/

Roggero, P., Mangiaterra, V., Bustreo, F., & Rosati, F. (2007). The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data. American Journal of Public Health, 97(2), 271-5.

Week 8: Poverty and Schooling in the U.S. and Internationally

          Poverty manifests itself in varied and diverse ways; how do we detect it, and what are its effects? This last week’s material truly connected the dots between youth experiences of poverty and education. Overwhelmingly, it seems that according to the two films and research article, poverty interacts with education and opportunities to impact youth experience. Here, I will discuss the films Born with a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty U.S.A. and Through a Child's Eyes: Views of Global Poverty, and the article “Orphans in Africa” in order to sketch out a full picture of child poverty.

           

First and foremost, one of the largest themes discussed in both films was the idea that there exists a kind of ‘generational poverty’—where a cycle of poverty is perpetuated and passed on from parent to child (Born with a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty U.S.A. 2006). As Guinness also expresses in his film on poverty in the international realm, evidence for generational poverty extended across borders (Through a Child’s Eyes: Views of Global Poverty 2006). Closely tied to the idea of generational poverty is a concept coined by Oscar Lewis—the culture of poverty. According the film Born with a Wooden Spoon, a culture of poverty is characterized as “people who live in poverty conditions learn from one another… learn a new set of cultural norms and the new set of cultural norms are outside of the mainstream. Those norms include non-work…not putting a heavy emphasis on education for children” (2006).

Similarly, it seemed that an included aspect of this culture of poverty was the idea that the families in poverty had a lot of children. As I watched Martin Guinness’ film on poverty around the globe, most of the children interviewed were part of large families, not having less than four children. On this point however, I want to bring up the stories of Sangeeta and Shadi. In their respective interviews, both children expressed a desire to only have one or two children—perhaps rejecting the ‘culture of poverty’ instilled in them by their parent and by other members of their community.

Aside from ‘non-work’, lack of social capital, a tendency for teen girls to become pregnant early and to have many children, one of the largest contributors to poverty is a lack of education. According to Guinness’ documentary, most of the children interviewed were lacking in education. In Pune, India Sangeeta only goes to school for four hours a day; in Bucharest, Romania Florin is denied an education almost entirely, as it is only available to some. In her interview with Guinness, Justine touches on the real and simple relationship between poverty, access to schooling and youth experience of crime and violence: “You shouldn’t smoke, ‘cause that’s bad. You shouldn’t drink, ‘cause that’s bad. You should skip those things and go on with your life…Going to school is fun ‘cause you learn stuff and you get smarter. You go to—you get better grades.. and if you don’t go to school, you live in the streets… and that’s not good” (Through a Child’s Eyes: Views of Global Poverty 2006). In many ways, poverty and access to school retain a cyclical relationship—where each affects one another. In a study conducted by Case et. all, it was found that poverty had a significant effect on whether or not children attended school generally. Interestingly however, with specific regard to orphans in ten African countries, poverty was not the paramount contributor—rather, there was a special disadvantage orphans faced when it came to their living arrangements, specifically the hypothesis that orphans were shown discriminatory behavior by their caretakers or extended family when it came to education opportunities when compared with non-orphan children in the same household (2004).

In considering the information provided by the films and article, it would seem that the connection between poverty and schooling is overwhelming. Not only does a child in poverty have limited access to schooling and the resources it takes to retain an education: books, supplies, uniforms, etc. –but also children who are denied access to schooling are impacted later in life and are more likely to commit themselves to a culture of poverty, exemplified in Florin’s case—where, in Romania the poor are almost completely denied access to education, and where subsequently thirty percent of the population lives in poverty (Through a Child’s Eyes: Views of Global Poverty 2006). Through Guinness’ film, we also see how children in poverty are made aware of the connection between crime, violence and poverty—as in the cases of Justine, and also of Tamires. In each of these cases, we can see the connection between poverty and access to schooling. But in regard to the content of the article, where it is hypothesized that the status of being an orphan should be weighed much more heavily as opposed to a child being impoverished, especially where such information may be used by organizations in their focus on creating access to schooling, I think the results are inconclusive. To me, it would still seem that poverty is the bigger factor when it comes to access to school.

Works Cited

Case, A., Paxson, C., & Ableidinger, J. (2004). Orphans in africa: Parental death, poverty, and  

school enrollment. Demography, 41(3), 483-508.

Guiness, Martin."Through a Child's Eyes: Views of Global Poverty" 2006. Online video clip.

Arizona Universities Library Consortium. FMG Video On Demand. Accessed on March 21 2011. http://digital.films.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/play/3K645E

Films Media Group. Born with a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty U.S.A.. 2006. Films On

Demand. Accessed on March  21 2011. <http://digital.films.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=1850&xtid=36501>.

Week 7: Histories of Schooling in the U.S.

            This week’s blog topic concerning schooling in the U.S. touched on myriad concerns, including controversy on how American schooling has been transformed since the late 1800s, how it should continue to evolve, and questions of how America’s program of public education has impacted students socially. In this writing, I hope to address two films, As American as Public School: 1900-1950 and Student Threats of Violence, and the piece “Social Capital and Adolescent Violent Behavior: Correlates of Fighting and Weapon Use among Secondary School Students” by Darlene R.Wright and Kevin M. Fitzpatrick.

            First, through the documentary film, As American as Public School: 1900-1950, we see a framing of American schooling that has changed dramatically since the early 1900s—somewhat due to the inception of John Dewey’s Progressivism. It was extremely interesting to hear that  schools began to transition from not very conducive to a child’s growth and well-being; but began to offering classes like home economics and wood shop during the time, while also beginning to incorporate ‘amenities’ like swimming pools and zoos—as in the example of Emerson school in Gary, Indiana. And although we can readily admit to the fact that most schools no longer have their own zoos or offer classes like ‘animal husbandry’, it seems that in some ways contemporary public schooling has tried to hold on to the idea that elective classes like music and art enhance a child’s education—or the “work, study, play” approach (As American as Public School: 1900-1950 2000).

Additionally, the film highlighted the ever-present fact that there continues to be a tug of war between progressive education and traditionalist programs of education. Retrospectively, it was a positive thing that schools had taken on a Progressive curriculum to do “everything the parents were not doing”, especially in light of the fact that most families were poor and could not offer their children some of the things they could only get at school like a bath and meals (As American as Public School: 1900-1950 2000). But to an extent, Progressive education had evolved to touch every aspect of a student’s life—which included socializing them and their parents in certain ways. Is this a bad thing, though? In some ways, it might be seen as a negative thing. For instance, American schooling had played up the idea of patriotism, while deemphasizing and sometimes even reprimanding children for speaking a language other than English. In this way, schools way in on the political debate about immigration, and seemingly influence their students to take sides (I am reminded, in the film, of the group of children seen destroying their German textbooks).  Similarly, because of the volume of immigrant students, schools started to adopt a program that rewarded the students who demonstrated their gifted abilities through standardized testing, while seemingly dismissing other students to career paths such as carpenters and homemakers. In many ways, these aforementioned points are still heavily debated today, should American schools remain English only? Is standardized testing really the best means of appreciating a child’s level of intelligence?

My next point has to do with another controversial subject pertaining to public schooling: school violence—which is something the second film, Student Threats of Violence, and Wright’s and Fitzpatrick’s “Social Capital and Adolescent Violent Behavior: Correlates of Fighting and Weapon Use among Secondary School Students” address. One of the overarching questions of each of the films and writings was this: how does school create an impact on youth and socialization? And more specifically for the latterly mentioned, what correlations exist between school and youth violence? In Student Threats of Violence, Dr. Dewey Cornell expressly mentions that school violence is misperceived in the U.S.: it remains much lower than most Americans believe it to be; Cornell nonetheless attempts to offer a model of dealing with school violence that remedies the problem—which he believes is not widespread school violence, but a program of ‘zero tolerance’. In the article, Wright and Fitzpatrick are under the view that youth violence is a very pressing issue; and they come at their research on the basis of socialization and building social capital. Social capital according to Wright and Fitzpatrick is “resources embedded in social relationships and ties that can be used for expressive purposes such as the maintenance of physical health”, in other words, social capital is the mode by which meaningful relationships provide for many aspects of a person’s well-being (Wright& Fitzpatrick 2006). For example, social capital may manifest itself in schools through attaching feelings of pride to academic achievement, closeness with peers and teachers, etc. In their paper Wright and Fitzpatrick offer an argument which expresses that socialization and the building of social capital among child-parent familial relationships, as well as neighborhood-community relationships, school affiliation, and religious affiliation all impacted children positively when it came to lower incidents of violence.

To continue our discussion of Wright and Fitzpatrick, I found it interesting to read that, on their results, low income did not have either a negative or a positive correlation with incidences of violence among youth—it seems that this finding almost goes directly against Dr. Cornell’s findings on economic status, where he reasons that parents who make more money in their primary job don’t have to seek out two and three jobs—affectively allowing them to spend more time with their children after they get home from school. I seem to agree with Dr. Cornell on this one, and believe that economic status might have some bearing on a child’s access to social capital. The only stipulation here though is how much the factor of low income is attached to how many jobs the parent holds—and more importantly, something that Wright and Fitzpatrick do not fully explore, what is the connection between low income and child-parent relationships? Should there be one, as Dr. Cornell explains it? Overall, I agree with Wright and Fitzpatrick’s hypotheses pertaining to socialization and social capital, but I believe that further research might make the argument more lucid. 

Works Cited

Films for the Humanities and Sciences."As American as Public School: 1900-1950"
2000. Online video clip. Arizona Universities Library Consortium. FMG Video On
Demand. Retrieved March 7, 2011. http://digital.films.com/play/P7J4SF.

ResearchChannel (Producer) (2008, February 21). Student Threats of Violence.
[Youtube video]. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXiK0A43Xk4

Wright, & Fitzpatrick (2006). Social capital and adolescent violent behavior:
Correlates of fighting and weapon use among secondary school students. Social Forces, 84(3), 1435-1453.

Week 6: Child Identity Development and Justice

 

Is our identity born of uncontrollable internal factors, or does the environment shape our self-image as children, and later, who we believe we are as adults? This seemingly ever-present question is one that sociologists, philosophers, psychologists, and intellectuals across the board have been considering for many years. The film Identity Crisis: Self-image in Childhood, investigates this exact question, and seems to conclude, seemingly positively, that a child’s surroundings make all the difference when it comes to constructing self-image. For students contemplating the juvenile justice system, the case made in the film has many important implications. Here I will discuss some of the specifics of the film, including aspects of identity formation and development that the documentary poses as influencing youth’s perceptions of social characteristics, their own potential, and their likelihood of engaging in criminal activity.

The documentary unfolded to present the argument that factors such as a child’s family’s economic position, views about physical appearance and attributes (including gender and ethnicity), and familial relationships and friendships influence a child’s self-image. One of the most significant points made within the documentary, was the weight that a child’s socio-economic position has on a child’s growth. In the film, the audience is introduced to James, who is being raised by his mother. James’ mother lives in constant fear of her ex-boyfriend, and must rely on government assistance to escape her situation. The only stability availably to James remains in the positive experience of being at school. When asked to differentiate between the family living in a large, stately house and a smaller shabby house, James demonstrated that he believed rich, good people lived in the nicer house and that the smaller house belonged to poor people. When asked about what the child living in each of the houses would like to be when they grew up, James responded: “Umm, I don’t know yet” (Identity Crisis: Self-Image in Childhood, 2005). Just as the researchers posited, it seems that socioeconomic factors certainly influence a child’s perception about their future and of their own potential. Particularly in James’ cases, which was one marked by uncertainty of a home, with broken family ties and with a parent who was uncertain of her own future, it seems quite apparent that James has been influenced by his surroundings, and that those influences reflect directly on his own self-image.

Next, I would like to discuss the aspect of physical appearance associated with body image. It was surprising, or at least unexpected, to hear that a child’s body image was so greatly impacted by their parents’ own body image; but from Rebecca’s story, and because I felt I could relate through my own experience, I am persuaded to believe it is the case that even at such a young age, we acquire meanings and learn to judge our own body and how food can have such an influence through how our parents view themselves. If this is the case with food and body image, it seems possible that how parents conduct themselves and view themselves can have great impact on how a child might conduct and view themselves. I think this point was even made in the case of William, as presented through the film, who we are told, is a replica of his father.  

On another point relating to physical appearance and attributes, the film also illustrated how race and gender play a role in constructing identity. We’re introduced to Tyrese:

“I think Tyrese will have a harder time than some of the other children—yes, because he’s black. But also because he’s a black male. And because he’s dyslexic. So he’s got a lot of things stacked against him”  (Identity Crisis: Self-Image in Childhood, 2005).

 On his mother’s view, race and gender greatly factor into the shaping of Tyrese’s identity by raising some of the obstacles that come with being a certain race and gender. According to the film, children who are four and five years old already know much about race, ethnicity and the stereotypes attached to them, so it is important for parents, teachers, guardians, etc to work to challenge such stereotypes. Tyrese’s mom, Marie, demonstrates this, by exposing Tyrese to subjects and knowledge associated with black history. And it seems that by the case study involving Tyrese, Marie’s efforts have worked: he was the only black child to chose (from the pictures of a white, black, Hispanic and Asian child) to play with another black child. So what kinds of implications do positive perceptions of race have for child identity development? When I saw the example of Tyrese and of the case study he was associated with, I remembered an example in my own childhood, of when I could relate. My brother (who resembled my light-skinned mom with German in her background), would always say my sisters and I (who resembled my tan-skinned dad who was Mexican) that he was “four drops German” and that we were only one drop German. Looking back now, I think of it as a silly story; but when I was a child, his expression truly seemed to impact my views of what was better—and of exclusivity. There doesn’t seem to exist a definitive answer, but it would appear that having a positive perception of one’s own race and ethnicity seems to affect our sense of belonging.

 On the whole, I found that I agreed with most of the points made throughout the film. The information presented in the documentary was well-argued and illustrated, and I was made to see how socioeconomic disposition, physical image and appearances and familial relationships and friendships influenced a child’s self image.

“For four year olds, gender is so fluid, it’s better to stick with the rules: rigidity” ((Identity Crisis: Self-Image in Childhood, 2005).

What I thought was quite interesting as well was the film’s findings about gender and appearance: mainly that children didn’t know too much about it, and so their opinions on it were influenced by ‘rigid’ norms of what a girl looks like and does, and what a boy looks like and does. But the film questioned the way children differentiated between appearance and gender, and marked it as flawed. So this brought me to a question of my own, and that is, what’s the difference between how a child cognizes gender and appearance and other factors like economic class? I think in most ways, rigid norms govern the way children condition their opinions and views of external people and things, and of their own identity. So, as the film mentions, it is our obligation to challenge those norms and stereotypes that children pick up.

In that vein, I think it might be beneficial to dig deeper into the research of child cognition, and also how we might best challenge those norms and stereotypes we pick up as children. How do we teach a child to think critically about their environment, and to challenge their assumptions without jeopardizing their own identity—including constructing a positive self-image and their likelihood of engaging in criminal activity.

Work Cited
Identity Crisis: Self-Image in Childhood. Films Media Group, 0. Films On Demand. Web. Accessed on 28 February 2011. <http://digital.films.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=12280&xtid=>.

Week 4: Youth, Interrogation and Capital Punishment

                 As I read through the articles and viewed the film attached to this week’s subject of youth and capital punishment, I came to one paramount conclusion: we’ve only begun to scratch the surface—that is, we have only minimally begun to understand youth and how to manage those youth who have committed crimes, especially violent crimes. This is especially apparent in the history of the juvenile justice system—which originated with the purpose to provide rehabilitation but has shifted to espouse a more punitive approach. This punitive approach has effectively resulted in things such as trying juveniles in criminal court, bestowing harsher sentences, and most gravely important, the institution of capital punishment for young offenders.

       So why then, in 2005, did the Supreme Court strike down the death penalty for juveniles?  Madlyn C. Morreale and Abigail English in their piece “Abolishing the Death Penalty for Juvenile Offenders: A Background Paper” and Laurence Steinberg and Elizabeth S. Scott in “Less Guilty by Reason of Adolescence” give very compelling rationale for eliminating the juvenile death penalty. Here, I will try to outline some of those reasons in accordance with the film Death Row Kids and the 2005 Supreme Court decision in Roper v. Simmons.

       First, it might be beneficial to consult Steinberg and Scott when it comes to framing the death penalty issue: that is, in terms of excuse versus mitigation. Their writing expresses: “The public debate about the criminal punishment of juveniles is often heated and ill-informed, in part because the focus is typically on excuse when it should be on mitigation. It is often assumed, in other words, that the only alternative to adult punishment of juveniles is no punishment at all—or a slap on the hand” (2003). In this sense, our perception of juvenile offenders is often wrongly interpreted to be a ‘black and white’ or transparent issue. When in truth, the issue covers a lot of gray area. By viewing cases, where the death penalty is involved, through the lens of mitigation, we rightly enact a scale of proportionality, where youth who commit crime aren’t allowed to just ‘get away’ with their crime, but are reasonably reprimanded for the crime they have committed.

       Both articles, by Morreale &English and Steinberg &Scott provided a lot of support for the use of mitigation as a means for eliminating absolute sentencing for youth—among the weightiest of support was evidence for psychosocial immaturity, which, it must be mentioned, was also alluded to in Kennedy’s delivery of the court’s decision in Roper v. Simmons:  “From a moral standpoint, it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor's character deficiencies will be reformed” (2005). In “Less Guilty by Reason of Adolescence”, Scott gives a number of psychosocial factors that account for differences in decision making by adolescents and adults, including a sensitivity to peer influence, attitudes toward and perception of risk, future orientation and the capacity for self management (Scott, 2003). It is interesting to note here, that in the film, at least one of the interviewees, Soriano, experienced a significant amount of peer pressure. On another level, both Soriano and Jacobs illustrate certain other factors of psychosocial immaturity which include a skewed perception of the risks and the capacity for self management. Soriano’s story makes Scott’s point about psychosocial factors quite poignant.

“…I didn’t know he had a gun, and when we got inside the store, he tells me: ‘Here, get this gun’.  I said: ‘What do you want me to do with a gun’. And he says: ‘I want you to point it at the clerk’… So when I get to the counter I point this gun at the clerk… I don’t want to hurt this man… I knew better than that” (Death Row Kids, 2003).

Separate from the points of mitigation and subsequently psychosocial immaturity, is an idea that the death penalty has a disparate impact when it comes to race. Morreale and English write that Blacks and Latinos make up a disproportionate amount of those on death row (2004). Additionally, the film Death Row Kids mentions that poverty is also heavily correlated in the case of juveniles who have been given the death penalty (2003). With this compilation of facts, we must first ask ourselves whether or not the figures are merely coincidence. If they are not, as Morreale and English express it seems appropriate to suggest that maybe we need to partly treat this issue as a social problem.  

 “I grew up knowing that I had to die for a crime…and I know one day they might have to stick a needle in me… but I know that I didn’t continue in [those] ways” (Oswaldo Soriano, Death Row Kids).

       It seems that the death penalty is an issue marked with doubt and question—this alone is justification enough for the Supreme Court, in Roper v. Simmons, to deem the death penalty unconstitutional. But I’d like to draw attention to the court’s decision in one other way: in the fact that it relies so heavily on an ‘evolving standard of decency’ of national and international society. Should the changing attitudes of society be given weight in such an issue? Or is it just enough to say that we cannot institute capital punishment for juveniles, without knowing the whole truth?

Works Cited

Films for the Humanities and Sciences."Death Row Kids" 2005. Online video clip. Arizona Universities Library Consortium. FMG Video On Demand. Accessed on 14 February 2011. http://digital.films.com/play/ VGL58V

Lane, C. (2005) 5-4 Supreme Court Abolishes Juvenile Executions. The Washington Post, A01-A02.

Morreale, M. C., & English, A. (2004). Abolishing the death penalty for juvenile offenders: A background paper. Journal of Adolescent Health, 35(4), 335-339.


Parker, Jeff. (Cartoonist). (2005). "No Death Penalty for Juveniles". Accessed on 14 February 2011. http://www.cagle.com/news/DeathPenaltyJuveniles/main.asp

Steinberg, L., & Scott, E. S. (2003). Less guilty by reason of adolescence: Developmental immaturity, diminished responsibility, and the juvenile death penalty. The American Psychologist, 58(12), 1009-18.