John Lash

OP-ED: It’s All About the Pecans

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It was all about the pecans. Growing up in south Georgia (where we pronounce the last syllable as “can”), I was accustomed to the highest quality pecans: large, light brown and delicious.

John Lash

OP-ED: Moving from the Traditional Idea of Punishment to a More Measured Response

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One of the most entrenched ideas in American culture is that punishment is effective both at creating justice and at affecting change in those who do wrong. The basic concept is that when someone does something I don’t like I hurt them, or threaten to hurt them, and they change. Obviously this kind of violence does work, but it is limited by my ability and willingness to harm you. We see this idea demonstrated in everything from child rearing to war. We also see it played out in the realm of juvenile justice policy.

John Lash

OP-ED: At Thanksgiving, Reflecting on Justice for Native Americans

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The myth of Thanksgiving is deeply embedded in American culture. I can remember cutting out paper turkeys and making pilgrim hats and Indian headdresse as a small childs. The teachers would tell us the story of the near starving pilgrims, saved by the Indians. Visions of Squanto, fish heads, maize and peaceful coexistence made for a nice story that I never had reason to doubt. As an adult I have learned more about the history of Thanksgiving, including how the story we tell is mostly historically inaccurate.

John Lash

Too Many of Our Kids Up Against a Stacked Deck

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The woman, a grandmother, was telling me about her two grandsons, aged four and five, “I’m afraid for them, and they are just little boys.”
She was explaining how, as boys will, they tussled and played rough sometimes. One of them was a little “hyper,” but they were both good kids. The boys’ mom was raising them with the help of the grandmother, and both were invested in bringing the boys up to excel in school and in life. The grandmother was worried that their rambunctiousness might be labeled as inappropriate and the boys could already be going off the tracks. Why was she so concerned?

John Lash

OP-ED: To Understand Juvenile Detention, Listen to the Kids Inside

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There is a world within prisons that only the prisoners know. Correctional officers, administrators, counselors and academics may all have access to a part of the life of a prisoner, but these windows by their nature only offer a limited view of the happenings behind the barbed wire. There's a disconnect that makes it difficult to see that world through a prisoner’s eyes. One way to bridge this gap in information is to go directly to the source: the prisoners. The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators recently featured a short article by Kim Godfrey, the Executive Director of Performance Based Standards Learning Institute (PbSLi).

John Lash

OP-ED: Transforming How We Treat Incarcerated LGBTQ Youth

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On my first day in prison the doctor checked to see if I was a homosexual. It was a regular part of the intake process, and anyone discovered to be gay (as determined by the doctor) was placed in segregation. This was my introduction to the extra burdens that gay men faced in confinement. Beyond the normal dangers of being in prison, gay men had to face additional dangers, and were always more likely to be assaulted, robbed and raped. Even so, many men who were gay preferred to live in the general population instead of the “sissy dorm” and many others worked to hide their sexual orientation from the staff and the inmates.