Juvies (2004)

Polina and I are in a class together and last week we watched a movie called “Juvies” directed by Leslie Neale in 2004. The movie tells the story of 12 “juveniles” in a L.A. county juvenile hall who were tried as adults in adult courts and received sentences from 3-7 years in prison to life in prison. This documentary was eye opening in the fact that it discusses how severe the U.S. criminal justice system has become and how people as young at 14 are being labeled “gang members” and placed in setting where they will be forgotten, many times not even understanding what 50 years in prison means. The movie portrayed these adolescent’s dreams, thoughts, life stories, and coping mechanisms. Any project that gives a voice to incarcerated people is important to me, especially when we consider how this very large population of U.S. society is forgotten and stripped of any form of agency and voice. Another very interesting aspect of the movie is that it came out of a project that provided “juveniles” with cameras and, thus, many of the shots in the movie were actually taken by the adolescents in the documentary. I left the movie thinking about why such projects cannot be used as a tool for rehabilitation and reentry, rather then as a limited opportunity a small number of adolescents receive before they get sentenced to life in prison.

Juliana