Doin' Time: Everyone Deserves a Second Chance (Australian Stories) - Softcover

Porter, Rachel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1925429210 ISBN 13: 9781925429213

Verlag: ROCKPOOL PUB, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Some kids get all the breaks. Some don't. Doin' Time tells the stories of nine men who got offered a second chance and grabbed it.

Facing up to their troubled, sometimes criminal pasts and the impact their actions have had on their victims, they have overcome many obstacles to become valued members of the community. Many of them now work with vulnerable young people, to give back, as mentors or welfare officers, motivational speakers and community leaders.

Alongside their inspiring stories, those who work with young people who are at risk or have offended -- Victoria's assistant police commissioner, former child safety commissioner and outreach workers, program managers, a psychologist and lawyer -- analyse the enormous impact drugs and abuse, dysfunctional parenting and unsympathetic education have had on the lives of our children and describe the wonderful and effective programs and organisations that are working to make them healthy and reconnected to the community.

Everyone deserves a second chance.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rachel Porter is general manager of Whitelion, a charity supporting thousands of vulnerable young people across Australia. She is on the board of Family Access Network and is an Australia Day Ambassador. She has been involved in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years, working with various children's causes, including World Reconciliation Day events with Nelson Mandela. Rachel has been recognised for her charity work as a finalist in the 2009 Australian of the Year awards and receiving the Patch Adams Humanitarian of the Year award in 1999.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Doin' Time

Everyone Deserves a Second Chance

By Rachel Porter, Mary Trewby

Rockpool Publishing Pty Ltd

Copyright © 2016 Whitelion Incorporated
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-925429-21-3

Contents

Prologue, 
Preface, 
The Whitelion Story, 
PART I, 
1. John, 
2. Todd, 
3. Jeremy, 
4. Arthur, 
5. Jeff 'Joffa', 
6. Stephen, 
7. Glenn, 
8. Peter, 
9. Tony, 
PART II, 
10. The view from law enforcement, 
11. Facing the law, 
12. The children's commissioner, 
13. Street beat: outreach workers, 
14. Working in the prison system, 
15. Mending broken minds, 
APPENDICES, 
Appendix 1: The ice issue, 
Appendix 2: The youth justice system, 
Appendix 3: Youth justice centres in Australia, 
Appendix 4: Resources for youth at risk, 
Acknowledgements, 

CHAPTER 1

JOHN

John has a burning desire to help young people who might find themselves in the same situation as he did when he was their age. When I arrived to talk to him, I was greeted by his partner and a healthy happy little tot scooting around on his three-wheeler.

It had taken John some time to agree to be interviewed and I could feel his emotional state from the moment I entered the room.

He described the last time he stole a car, where he and his cohorts drove the vehicle and where it was found. Strangely, I'd had my car stolen around the same time and it was recovered in the same place John mentioned. Could it have been my car they had stolen? They never found the culprits but I remembered my feelings when I saw the empty space where my car should have been and I never thought about who stole my car and what their lives were like. My world was very one-dimensional; my car was gone and I was hoping it would be found and the thieves punished.

As I listened to John, I started to understand why he engaged in criminal activities and how he escaped the temptation to continue a life of crime.

John: in his own words

I was born in a small country town. My parents got divorced when I was about two years old and we moved around a bit, to different towns, states, schools, just my mum and I and my three brothers. It was tough for my mother having to work and look after all of us and she did a good job. But it was still unsettling for us kids. I'm not sure why we moved so much. Mum had different boyfriends and became engaged a couple of times, so there were different men coming in and out of our lives.

There was no stable house or school life in those days, and no proper role model or mentor like a father would be, and that was pretty tough. She drank a lot and most of the boyfriends drank to excess, so with the drinking there was a lot of violence against her and us kids. These are the memories I have from when I was about four. Mum was always in abusive types of relationships that she couldn't get out of. If you don't change your habit you are always going to be in that same situation. I don't know much about what her life was like growing up — she was one of ten children, three sisters and six brothers growing up on a farm — but I think there were hard times, particularly after her father passed away. Her brothers were alcoholics for a long time and that's what she may have been used to — so it wasn't surprising she was in those kinds of relationships herself. She always tried her best to look after us, but she couldn't always achieve that.

I was the second youngest of four. My younger brother had a different father to us other three, which was a bit of an issue when we were little but it's not now — he's no different to my older brothers and we all feel the same about each other.

I started to get into trouble when I was about 10 or 12. Looking back, I think what I was doing was acting out trying to get attention, because I didn't want to be there. I started lighting fires on vacant blocks and in paddocks and that kind of thing. I wasn't trying to get caught, but it was just something I did. I don't know why. I did nothing for a while, and then I went through a time when Mum had no boyfriends and I had to deal with my brothers. My older brother tried to play the father role and help Mum keep me in line, but he was too overbearing and even tried to tell Mum what to do. He was only 16 at the time and he started to become abusive towards me, belting me if I came home late or grounding me for whatever. I felt scared all the time, and was depressed living at home. I was just waiting to escape but had nowhere to go.

One thing led to another and I started hanging around with some friends and we'd get into drinking and smoke drugs. That went on for a while and me not being home caused a lot of tension. My brother was always looking for me and Mum would call the police to try to find me. They never stopped to think why I was out all the time and why I didn't want to come home. They just thought it was me and my problem.

I have never told this story to anyone before. I took the opportunity and ended up doing a burg and assault. I just walked into people's backyards to see what I could find to sell or take away. It wasn't thought through at all and it was done in desperation. I thought if I could get money I could get away, but that didn't really turn out. I got charged two weeks later. I was only 13. My mum called my uncle and they came down to the police station. I was scared, not knowing what to do. I was being interviewed by the cops and trying not to get my friends in trouble. The police asked if I was under the influence — on drugs, drinking, and so on — and I was saying no to everything, even though I had been drinking and taking drugs. I found out later that if I had told the truth it would have been easier for me. But I didn't want to dob in my friends so I went through the whole process of being charged with assault, burglary, theft and going into the holding cells. Juvenile justice.

Once I was in the juvenile system I became more isolated with no friends or family. Mum came to visit a few times — it may have only been three or four times because it was a bit of a travel. It also must have been hard for her to visit her 13-year-old in jail. She probably thought she was a failure and she would cry herself to sleep, which she told me about — that was hard to hear. I didn't mean to upset or hurt anyone else or get into trouble but I just didn't know what to do and just wanted to be out of there and gone and thought life would be better.

I went to Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre on remand. I went to court and got sentenced to seven months in Parkville. I was in there for about three or four months and with remand it could have been five months total. Going into Parkville was a real experience. I was obviously scared and had to face the reality that now I had no control over my life — someone else was not just telling me when to go to bed or go to my room but everything I had to do. But at the same time, I know it's not as bad as the adult prisons, so I think myself lucky I wasn't in there.

Inside it was very industrial, with a lot of glass with metal frames around the windows and all fairly modern, apart from all the doors and locks. Some people were intimidating and I guess I had my moments in there just like the others. I didn't get picked on but you have confrontations. I got put into isolation for fighting but I didn't get singled out like a lot of the other kids did, the smaller ones.

The first time I walked into this...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: ROCKPOOL PUB
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1925429210
• ISBN 13: 9781925429213
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland