Juvenile Justice: Pain and Promise
EDITOR'S NOTE: Associate Editor Mary Hargrove and photographer Stephen B. Thornton spent a year tracking the fate of delinquent children sentenced to state facilities. Meet Charles, a 13-year-old with the IQ of a 5-year-old, who was handcuffed and taken to the state's most secure lockup for ringing a doorbell. And Christopher Rapier, a likeable boy whose life was spent battling good and evil -- with little help from his family or the state. A related series, Juvenile Justice: The War Within, published in June 1998, examined conditions in the state's juvenile justice system. Overview Day 1, Sunday, February 27: PAIN AND PROMISE -- At 13, Charles still couldn't pass first grade. He couldn't define "cow." Or "donkey." He couldn't tell time. His speech defect was so severe that he was nearly impossible to understand. When teased by other children, he cried hysterically.
