Battery. Robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. False imprisonment and conspiracy for same. Arraignment. Notice of intent to claim alibi/entrapment.
So reads the kid's biological brother's online court records.
Armed robbery with a deadly weapon, 2+ offense. Possession of a firearm by a felon. Parole violations.
So reads the kid's mom's online court records.
I don't know what that is like for her. To know that your brother and your mother are in jail and prison. Do you wonder if crime is in your DNA? Or do you know they are different people with different stories, people who are ultimately more independent of you than the people who are actually in your life now? I do know what it is like to be the child of an addict, and to feel that coursing through my veins. On a bad day it feels... inevitable. On a good day it feels like a lot to have overcome.
For me, it's scary. I don't think she will end up on that road, but I don't know. No parent knows. I have met fabulous parents whose kids seemed to have been dealt a winning hand, and yet they still lost their babies to drugs, crime or abusive relationships. The US Department of Justice says children whose parents are incarcerated are six times more likely than their peers to be incarcerated as adults, and 1 in 10 will be confined while still a juvenile. More than half of the population of confined juveniles have a parent who is or was incarcerated. Now, many of those kids are in the home through which a parent is cycling in and out of prison. And many others of those kids are out of that home but are living with family members who also live a lifestyle that is close to the edge. They are not in prep school. They do not listen to Whitney Houston. Their parents are not us. They are not her.
I guess we chalk this up to just another question mark to live with, another difficulty to overcome.
Oh yeah, and it makes me f*ckin angry as hell.
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