Panel Day Reflection

I personally feel that we had a very helpful and informed panel but I would have found some debate more interesting. Because all three of them, Beth (Supervisor at DCF), Andie (State Attorney), and Dave (Parole Officer), got along extremely well. This is great for all the juveniles of Vermont because these three work together very often but for us students sitting in chairs for 2 hours it gets a little boring. Andie was able to give great insight on hearings and personal opinions on how he felt about the topic. Although he was not able to reveal details about the cases he worked on he was able to tell us about the cases quite effectively. Beth provided great depth and detail about the actual rehabilitation process that they all greatly supported. To go along with these details and to prove to us that rehabilitation is really possible, Dave told us about the good and bad tales of his job. On more then one occasion he mentioned that many cases go well and the juvenile rehabilitates but this can only happen if they want it to. He told of a young boy who was into things he shouldn’t be into and skipping school. His mom begged Dave to get him to go and to help her but the young boy never did. He found school boring and useless. After a year or so the young man decided to go to school. Dave asked why he had suddenly decided to go. Without hesitation the boy said because he wants to. Dave realized that he finally had a want to go and therefore became content with going. He wasn’t going to do something he didn’t want to do. This is true for so many teenagers and is why this story really stuck out to me. I am a teenager myself and I know for a fact that if we don’t want to do something and don’t see a point, we won’t do it. This boy thought that he could make his own decisions and didn’t want to listen to anyone who told him how to live his life or what to do and not to do.  Once he finally wanted to go to school he went. This was a decision he needed to make himself.