Hole: An Analysis of Juvenile Justice - Article Example

The physical attributes are reminiscent of adult correction facilities with similar wardrobes and the performance of hard labor, rather than a “wilderness facility.” In a scene of the video that reminds one more of Oliver asking for more porridge in Dickens’s Victorian nightmare, “Oliver Twist,” the youths are made to grovel for water, are intimidated and embarrassed by the adults in charge, and treated with little regard for their humanity, and are encouraged to solve differences by fighting, rather than discussing their problems.

The five goals of juvenile justice are hardly met in this clip. Deterrence could be the most widely met goal of the system in “Hole,” as no person would want to return to that lifestyle, although it borders on inhumane treatment saved for the most brutal prisons in Turkey. There is little or no rehabilitation or reintegration in the facility, as children are made fun of, taught to fight, and any attempts by the adults to teach them life lessons are countervailed by inhumane treatment.

There certainly is a lot of punishment, as the kids are made to perform physical labor, beg for water, physically fight each other, and suffer continuous degradation at the hands of the adults. The kids are being given no skills to use upon their return to their homes and neighborhoods, other than the lesson of treating others with contempt, fight to solve your problems and listening to adults, no matter how abusive they are. There are some elements of humanity in the video, between characters and a more sympathetic female adult, but those are offset by the conditions and circumstances which surround this abusive lifestyle.

The original goal of this facility camp may have been within the juvenile corrections parameters, but has failed miserably at actually carrying out those goals, due to the lack of an understanding of juvenile detention, no assimilation of goals and activities, and an absence of implementation of productive activities by the adults in charge. Such facilities as this are rife with abuses of the juveniles, as their isolation, lack of supervision, and inherent cruelty contribute to an abuse of power by those in charge.

The video was aptly named.