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Lebrun, M. (2012). Rebels in society : the perils of adolescence. Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Education.There are always places in a society that people do not wish to think about. In many societies, these places are those that are outside of the normal everyday operations of people's lives. These things that societal members do not want to talk about or think about are the very things that they may consider dangerous or hurtful. Some of the things that many people may wish to push from their minds are adolescent crime, danger, and violence. While putting these things out of the mind when possible, the fact remains that violence and crime among adolescents is a very real concern and without knowledge and programs to aid these children, the likelihood of these issues exacerbating is great. With that in mind, Marcel Lebrun has written Rebels in Society: The Perils of Adolescence. In his book Lebrun engages the reader in an examination of many facets of the world of youth criminals, victims of mental and psychological disorders, and the programs that they find themselves involved in. Lebrun is an expert in the field of aggressive behavior and pathology of children. He has worked in education from thirty-four years and is often called upon to work in many parts of the world to aid with youth and youth offenders. He has taught in colleges in Canada, Haiti, France, and is currently working in the departments of curriculum and instruction and Special Education at Plymouth University in New Hampshire. Lebrun has written seven books on the subjects of youth offenders, youth experiences in schools, and child safety and security. The preparation that Lebrun has done for this book within his life's work and through his experience in education and educating educators presents him as an authority in the field and someone with the best interests of the child in mind as he approached the concerns in his book. The purposes of Rebels in Society: The Perils of Adolescence is to inform people who are in contact with youth, transform ideas and understandings held by all people about the experiences of youth offenders, and most importantly to provoke action to help these youths. When referring to the youth criminal justice system, Lebrun himself states that in parts of this book he has, "Deliberately painted a picture that will give you a straight and unbiased look at the realities and the failings of this system," (p. viii). The desire is education about the system and what is wrong with it. Also, he is looking to bring people to action in order to help change the system and save those youth that have become a part of it. With the idea in mind that many of these youths merely need more attention and help with coping and understanding their lives and issues, Lebrun gives his desire as, "My request to you is after reading this book, become involved; it starts with one person at a time. JUST DO IT," (p. ix). In the first chapter of the text, a close look at the sheer numbers involved in the system of juvenile justice is a focus. With a title like, "Wake up Call! Statistics Tell the Truth!," the expectation is that of shock value. That is what is delivered. The sheer numbers of children in the juvenile justice system are surprising. However it is not just the numbers here that are surprising. Once the statistics concerning the dangers that befall youth in the system with sexual violence, contact with adult prisoners, death while in the system, injury in the system, and the mishandling of those with mental and psychological issues, the stage is set for the reader and they want to read in to find out more and what can be done about it. There is a thorough trek through the problems facing youth in the world as well. The issues in the juvenile justice system are not examined in isolation. The issues that face a significant portion of all youth in the world are surveyed with attention paid to the fact that these issues are at least a part of the cause of juvenile offenders entering the justice system at a young age. The author completes a comprehensive coverage of these issues with a short explanation of the problems that arise from these issues. The shock value here is great and that is exactly what the author had in mind. The statistics come from groups that most people have heard of through television or fundraisers for children. Seeing names like: Children's Defense Fund, State children's Health Insurance Program, and the National Data Archive in Child Abuse give the statistics credibility and thus also give the author more credibility. In the first section the reader sees that there are local and national levels of information gathering and that the author has done his due diligence with regards to collecting information. That being apparent, the rest of the book appears from the onset as a reliable and trustworthy source of information and action. The fact that multiple sources are cited here also shows that the issues facing youth in the justice system is something that draws attention from multiple sources and should likely be a focus for anyone that is in contact with youth. Detracting from the credibility of the book is the interjection of author opinions with regards to some issues that affect youth. This can be seen as Lebrun seems to rant for a period of time on the issue of gun control and the "facts" that, "There has to be more stringent enforcement of gun laws at the state and federal levels. Americans have to cease their fascination with guns. Firearms must be removed from homes where children are present," (p. 3). At such an early stage in the book, the interjection of these opinions and conjecture regarding guns detracts from the likelihood that the reader would come to similar conclusions after reading the statistics regarding guns. The author here has hurt the focus of the book and distracted the reader at the outset. The next several chapters of the text comprise a section dedicated to looking at the kind of juvenile offenders that there are in the world of juvenile justice and detention. Although there is not coverage of every single type of offender, the main categories that criminal offenders fall into are considered. These sections are not exhaustive with regards to specifics, but they appear to be categorically well researched and detailed. Here Lebrun goes into great detail about the sexual based offenses, including prostitution, sex trafficking, child trafficking, sex tourism, touching and non-touching offenses. Also, the groups including sociopaths and serial killers are looked at. Cases involving what are referred to in the juvenile justice world as status offenses are given only a mere mention in passing in these chapters. The idea of a status offense is not detailed itself. The only time it is brought up is when referring to children who are involved in other aspects of the world of juvenile justice. With the focus of the text major offenders and their journeys in the juvenile justice system, the lack of concentration on status offenders is understandable. However, with a look into the system itself, the concept of a status offense should likely have been explained as it is mentioned from time to time in context with other issues. A status offense is an offense that is only a crime when performed by someone under the age of eighteen. There are offenses such as running away, possession of alcohol, engaging in sexual activity underage, truancy, and other offenses that apply only to youth. The fact that many of these offenses are nonviolent and not serious is likely why they are left out. However, these offenses are often entry points into the juvenile justice system and should thusly be examined in some detail. If the title of the book is Rebels in society these stages of rebellion should be looked at as well. The section here devoted to the main areas of crime and the largest proportion of major crimes outside of the status offenses is described in enough detail to give the reader a quality view of the kinds of crimes committed by juveniles and the ways in which they are handles by authorities. There is some attention paid to the possible reasoning for the crimes. In some areas this is well detailed. One area is the fact that mental illness and substance abuse is a significant component of the psychological evaluations of a multitude of juvenile offenders. However, at the same time, for some categories, such as sociopaths (which is part of the title of a chapter) there is not as in -depth coverage as here are for offenses of a sexual nature and murders. It is not a leap to assume that there has been enough research done with regards to sociopathic behavior and its causes to fill in a section of longer than a paragraph in order to delve into the causes of this kind of behavior. In describing cause for other mental illnesses Lebrun gives a detailed description of heavy metals found in hair samples, childhood abuse, and even the lack of medical care that kids get when they come from low income and minority families. In each section there is quality information again on the processes of dealing with these kinds of youth. The goals and ideological ways to deal with these kids is spoken of in detail and is a true aid to those dealing with these kinds of youth in specialty centers, the community, or in schools. Although the information in this section once again gives the impression that it is well researched as the reader sees citations from reputable places such as the American Psychological association and Harvard University, there is information used to inform the section on sociopathic behavior that comes from a surprising source. Information on mental disorders and mercury fillings comes from a website that is a Florida conservative voter's group website [...]. If someone were to take the time to look at some of the resources used, especially for such a large portion of a chapter and as basically the only source cited for a serious area such as sociopathic behavior, the credibility of the section and the author is lost somewhat. In addition, in this section citations are used from [...] and [...]. One may become suspicious of the amount of research done in some areas and as to whether the author is claiming knowledge that is not specific enough or has merely been acquired through the performance of the authors many years of working with youth and then cited in a half-hearted way to get a citation. In all likelihood, there is a better place to find information on the effects of heavy metals in the body and other causes of sociopathic behavior than a voting rights group in Florida. Another problem that is a concern is the contradictions that appear in the writing across specific details about youth behaviors. A major contradiction that could not be explained away is in the way that Lebrun examines the motivations for some of the behaviors he discusses. At one point in the text, he describes the fact that many of these offending youths have abnormal brain function of some sort and that the brain of a young person is not completely developed. This leaves that youth unable to make fully informed decisions and unable to fully reason through their decisions, sometimes until they are out of their teen years. Then later he states that, There is a very high incarceration with high recidivism...They do not seem to learn from their mistakes," (p. 23). This is a contradiction and a fallacy in logic for the basis of several pages of text. Of course they do not learn from their mistakes, they often have abnormal brain function and do not have fully developed brains. In addition, Lebrun has already spoken to the lack of support that these children get at home and in the system itself. He has stated this as one of the major reasons for the entry and lifelong struggle in the justice system. Then here he says, quite conversationally, that they do not learn from their mistakes. This is an issue in the book. At times, Lebrun is specific and scientific in ways that present him as an expert. However at times like these that are not appropriate for it, he becomes suddenly conversational and loses some of that well deserved credibility. The middle part of the book details the criminal justice system and the way in which it works. This is a section that Lebrun truly shines in. The details of the processes within the juvenile justice system are faultless. Lebrun goes into enough detail so that anyone who picks up this volume will have a good understanding of how the juvenile justice system works from beginning to end. Here Lebrun highlights the differences between the adult system and the juvenile system so that youth and those that deal with them can see the differences in all aspects of how each works. This is the most details part of the text as many specific state and local court sites are cited in the work of finding sense in the system. Lebrun looks deep into the processes and the rational for these processes. There is a close examination of the good points and the bad pints of the system. In many ways the book is an unbiased reporter of facts. However here, the examination is done from the point of view of what is best of the child and the reasoning of why it is best for the child. Lebrun looks at the system from an insider's perspective and has the benefit of already building himself up as an expert with the first parts of the book. With that done, he can examine the system and its good qualities as well as look at the issues that are still at hand and point out where there is a need for change. In this portion of the text, there is much attention paid to looking at the system and pointing out faults. Unlike in other points of the book, there is a call to action and some suggestions as to what can be done for the system. An example of this is the attention paid to zero tolerance policies in courts and schools. Lebrun looks at the reasoning behind these policies and then proceeds to look at good and bad points of zero tolerance. After looking at the issues with the procedures, he looks to incite the reader to understand that a change is necessary because of the irreparable harm hat these policies can do in many cases. Through the detail of the explanations of many of these policies and their historical basis, Lebrun can also point out the contradictions in policy that are harming youth. The zero tolerance policy, for example, often puts kids in situations of confinement and holding that directly conflicts with the, "Historical justification that secure juvenile detention should only be used: `(1) to ensure that alleged delinquents appear in court and (2) to minimize the risk of serious reoffending while current charges are being adjudicated," (p. 76). Lebrun cites the National Juvenile Detention Center as the source of the reasoning for detention. Here the contradictions of the system itself make for a good argument that there is a place for reform and the system is that place. All aspects of the situation are detailed systematically and thus one can make a decision based on thorough information. Lebrun does nudge in the direction of change, though. Also in this part of the book, Lebrun gives an opinion that they system is obviously broken in many ways and then gives some suggestion as to what can be done to look out for the safety of children. However, to lend more credibility, he looks at the work of others, especially a researcher Laurence Steinberg, to make suggestions for how the system can be fixed or at least the steps that can be taken to make a difference in the system to a point where the youth that spend time in confinement and under the scrutiny of the system do not suffer for the shortcomings that Lebrun has elucidated. Lebrun finishes the book with a detail of many programs that help struggling youth and their families. Here there is a highlight of using the family and the community to enact change and help these youth along their way. There is a significant amount of research that has gone into looking at and pointing out specific programs around the United States an d other parts of the world that can be called upon to help with preventing issues, working through issues, and then helping to recover from issues that youth face in the world described in the previous sections of the text. The end of the book also looks deep into sixteen specific case studies from around the world and specific examples of many large industrialized nations from around the world. This section presents the fact that these troubles are happening in all nations and with all children. It is not an epidemic that has its only home in the United States. With the look at the other nations, people in those nations can now associate their problems with the systems and the helping groups that are detailed within the covers of this book., These final sections allow for the book to transcend the United States and its population and be used in the rest of the word as it was clearly intended here, as a source of information and help as well as a call to action to aid these youth and the systems that often fail them. The author and the text here go to great lengths to accomplish the goals that they state for themselves. These goals are information and a call to action. The research and the many years of experience that have gone into the writing of this book are obvious to the reader. At the same time the fact that the author is a member of the society and the programs that he details is obvious as well through the everyday speak and common language that is often used. It is obvious that this book is a resource for anyone that deals with youth in any way in the world today. Except for the few cases noted, the author thoroughly looks into the topics that pervade the world of juvenile justice. Each are of fault is often made up for through the skill and experience of the author in the areas of detail here. The research that has been done comes from websites that are modern and constantly refreshing. Many of these sites are agencies that are a part of the system and others are private agencies that are looking at the issues concerning youth as watchdogs to help keep advocacy for these children alive. This book is a quality text written with a purpose with which it succeeds.
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