I've seen that phenomenon, and I've also seen a phenomenon in my practice—and as I indicated earlier, I've been doing nothing but youth cases for seven and half years—that it becomes kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you tell a kid that he's really bad, he's going to think, well, I'd better act bad because everybody thinks I'm bad, and they want me to be bad, and that's all that's expected of me. On the other hand, if you give a young person a chance, if you say we're going to let you start without this black cloud hanging over your head, and we're going to give you another chance to make your way in society and make yourself into a useful citizen, then without that handicap, he could do that. In the long run, isn't that what we all want? Isn't that what serves society--for that young person to make a good life for himself and become a productive citizen?
On March 9th, 2011. See this statement in context.