Letter To A Representative

Dear Representative,

I am writing to you to share my opinion with you on our current juvenile justice system and some changes I hope to see in it. As you may know, there are currently over 100 juveniles in prison with a life sentence without parole and over 100,000 children in the juvenile justice system nationwide. These children are incarcerated and then return to their life of crime when they are released. This is not beneficial to the United States because it costs the country around 100,000 dollars a year to keep one child incarcerated and there is constant crime.

The state of Missouri has begun to take measures to improve their juvenile justice system. They have turned toward rehabilitation and love instead of security guards and barred windows. If we could create a model for a national prison system that focused on rehabilitation, like Missouri’s does, we would have fewer adolescent and adult criminals. When young children commit crimes, they are likely to commit them again and end back up in jail. When a prisoner is rearrested, it is called recidivism. In America, the national average recidivism rate in the juvenile justice system is forty percent, whereas the recidivism rate in Missouri’s juvenile justice system is about ten percent. This is an obvious improvement and proof that their new kind of system works to change the kid’s lives. Missouri’s rehabilitation system not only changes children’s lives but it costs less than traditional incarceration. To rehabilitate a child costs about 50,000 dollars a year compared to the 100,000 it costs to keep a child incarcerated.

If you could help spread awareness by showing your support for these kids, we could change the situation in the juvenile justice system for the better. The easiest thing you could do to help is to support the need for a rehabilitation system, instead of supporting the incarceration system. I am petitioning our state senator to change the juvenile justice system in America, and if you sign the petition it will help being us closer to a better America. I am grateful for your time and consideration. Thank you for everything you do for our people.

Sincerely,

Mariah Ciani