Faculty Highlight — November/December 2008
TAMU-SA ASSISTANT PROFESSOR INCREASES AWARENESS IN JUVENILE JUSTICE
November 4, 2008
SAN ANTONIO — When fixing anything, it's important to seal the cracks in the foundation, or system, in order to make things better and stronger than they were before. Dr. William Bush, an Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, has researched a particular issue within Texas for almost nine years, and through his findings is attempting to "fix the cracks" within the problematic juvenile justice system.
"Texans should care about juvenile justice policies because they are being carried out in their name, but often without much accountability or success," Dr. Bush said.
Dr. Bush stated that a successful system accomplishes its goals of rehabilitation.
"Most of the youth who pass through the juvenile system are going to be released back into the community at some point," Dr. Bush said. "If the system isn't fulfilling its stated goal of rehabilitating juvenile offenders, then it is failing not only the youth themselves but also the State of Texas. Therefore, we all have a practical as well as humanitarian interest in ensuring that at-risk, delinquent, and offending youth receive appropriate interventions."
Dr. Bush's near-decade long research has resulted in a two-part policy series he's producing for the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC), a non-profit advocacy organization in Austin.
It began after Dr. Bush wrote an opinion-editorial in the Austin American-Statesman last year (March 7, 2007) on the child sexual abuse scandal that happened in the Texas Youth Commission (TYC). In addition, the report has been sent to all Texas legislators, the Governor's Office, the leader of the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, the TYC Blue Ribbon Task Force, and TCJC e-mail list numbering around 7,000 individuals.
"The goals of the project are to educate the public, the legislature, and the child welfare and juvenile justice professionals on the history of juvenile justice in Texas," Dr. Bush said.
When the op-ed piece came out last year, Dr. Bush said that in addition to the American-Statesman, he was contacted by The Texas Observer, Texas Monthly, The Dallas Morning News, and The Washington Post. In addition, he was interviewed for a documentary about TYC in an untitled production that profiles several youth who have spent time in the system.
Dr. Bush's report is ultimately part of a book project, entitled The Origins of the Super-Predator: Race and Juvenile Delinquency in Twentieth-Century Texas. The book is slated to be published in Fall 2009 by The University of Georgia Press.
Dr. Bush may be contacted at william.bush@tamuk.edu. To view his bio, click here.
To read the previous Faculty Highlight, click here.