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Rating: 
Summary: Fine insider narrative, self-defeatingly factless
Review: Ed Humes provides a superior account of the human (and inhuman) side of the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles. Accolades to his reporting are justified, but Humes' advocacy of the juvenile justice system suffers a fatal mistake: he relies on secondary sources for basic facts and presents a completely backwards picture. The startling truth, clearly evident from reviewing crime statistics for Los Angeles from the state Criminal Justice Statistics Center, is that juvenile crime (especially serious crime) has been PLUMMETING DRAMATICALLY for 20 years. Teenage felony rates fell more than 40% from 1975 through 1995 (and dropped even more in 1996 and 1997), with sharp decreases in property and drug crimes and no increase in violent crime. Had Humes consulted original sources instead of relying on the inflammatory secondary commentators on juvenile justice, he would have authored a revolutionary and inspiring treatise on how -- despite the negative odds of growing poverty, more chaotic homes, and deteriorating job and education opportunity for youth of color -- Los Angeles teenagers and the stressed juvenile justice system can boast surprising successes. Instead, Humes resorts to unwarranted, inflammatory denigration of an entire generation and produces a disappointingly standard book that misses the real story.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful, haunting, and illuminating
Review: I read this book for a history of child welfare class and found it impossible to put down. Humes clearly illustrates the problems with the U.S. Juvenile Justice system in Los Angeles. He follows several teen-agers through their trials, mis-trials, time in the California Youth Authority, and rehabilitation. Even though these children are often convicted, you have a chance to see that they really are just children. This book inspired me to pursue a career in juvenile justice.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent view into the world of the juvenile system
Review: I read this book for my intro to sociology class my freshman year of college. I could not put the book down. Humes does an excellent job of stringing the reader along, from the details of the juvenile court system to following individual teenaged offenders around the city.
If you ever have to read a book for a Sociology or Criminology class, I highly recommend this book. It is so enchanting that it makes the reading incredibly easy
Rating:
Summary: Excellent view into the world of the juvenile system
Review: I read this book for my intro to sociology class my freshman year of college. I could not put the book down. Humes does an excellent job of stringing the reader along, from the details of the juvenile court system to following individual teenaged offenders around the city.
If you ever have to read a book for a Sociology or Criminology class, I highly recommend this book. It is so enchanting that it makes the reading incredibly easy
Rating:
Summary: One of the best I've read
Review: I read this book for my sociology class. It was the best I've read. The stories of these kids are so involving and twisted that you wonder if this is book is fiction. This gives such insight to the problems of todays juveniles and how the court system fails them repeatedly and how the kids fail themself. Truly sad and yet reminding us how cold life can be and how fortunate some of us actually are relative to these kids. Although you can read this book in a few hours, it's still worth having on your shelf. This book is part indictment of the system and part spotlight on the troubles ahead for us all if it's not corrected.
Rating:
Summary: My heart heard Georges Voice.
Review: I was lucky enought to meet this "heaven sent" man. When I read the book, I finally realized why I was so drawn to George. He was like me. A child that lived a life of being inprisoned because of the unfair life we were raised to lead. If your a so called "Failure to Society," then this is a book that would relive your soul. You will finally discover that you are not alone. To George, I wanna say thank you for everything, and I love you with all my heart and soul.
I dont want to see, this hell sent tragity? We are seperated unlawly. How could this be? Like the life I lead, When I love, Someone ends up to leave. I wind up with a broken heart, that will forever greeve!
Rating:
Summary: there has to be a better way
Review: Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Humes is a wonderful writing who has the skills to draw the reader in in such a way as to "experience" the things he is writing about. Readers, though, ought to be aware that this is a book about a very specific system-the California Juvenile Justice System-which as most people in the field know is substantially different than, say the juvenile system in Topeka, Kansas. I think part of the book's utility, and the reason I think anyone in the field out to read it, is the way in which Humes makes salient the individuals that make up the larger system in much the way Marc Parent did in Turning Stones.
Rating: 
Summary: Good systems book
Review: Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Humes is a wonderful writing who has the skills to draw the reader in in such a way as to "experience" the things he is writing about. Readers, though, ought to be aware that this is a book about a very specific system-the California Juvenile Justice System-which as most people in the field know is substantially different than, say the juvenile system in Topeka, Kansas. I think part of the book's utility, and the reason I think anyone in the field out to read it, is the way in which Humes makes salient the individuals that make up the larger system in much the way Marc Parent did in Turning Stones.
Rating:
Summary: Right Out of the Headlines...
Review: This book, which just won the PEN Center USA West Literary Award in Research Nonfiction, is a must read for anyone who is concerned about youth, crime, and our justice system. Humes presents the incredibly complex situation in Los Angeles' juvenile courts to the reader, allowing us to feel it, see it, hear it, and at times even smell it. We see the impact of tougher laws, how they tie the hands of all involved, and we begin to understand that decisions are rarely based on what's right or even what's best. Instead no one seems satisfied with the way our juvenile courts work, certainly not the judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, families, and victims. Humes, who spent a year observing the court system and who taught creative writing to the some of the troubled youth, allows us to see just how vulnerable or horrific some of them are. You will never read the headlines in the same way again. The most engrossing book I've read in years
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