No Matter How Loud I Shout Summary

The Juvenile Court each year focuses less on children in danger, and more on dangerous children, locking more away, sending more to be tried as adults, imposing stiffer sentences. And still, the fear grows; […] the fear of our own children”1. Chronicling his time as a counselor and writing teacher for delinquents in the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles, Inglewood, and Pomona; Edward Humes, author of No Matter How Loud I Shout, tracks the inefficiency and failures of the Juvenile Court systems. Although his book follows the stories of seven kids in the mid 1990’s, the inefficiencies and flaws Humes identifies are widespread as the issues are prevalent in past cases dating back to the beginning of the United States Juvenile Court system. By using the individual stories of Carla James, John Sloan, Andre and Elias Elizando, Ronald Duncan, Geri Vance, and George Trevino; as well as, many other inserts of other children, Humes critiques the errors made due to illogical laws and those with their own agenda.
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Instead Humes proves that the ineptitude of the court system can only be fixed once everyone in the system has the same goal and is willing to put aside all outside factors such as race or relation in order to fulfill the courts original wish, to rehabilitate and heal. I thought that the book No Matter How Loud I Shout was enjoyable to read as I hope to have a job in the juvenile judicial system as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children. However, for a reader with no prior knowledge about the juvenile court system, can be widely confusing due to the use of judicial jargon and little background information. For a reader with enough judicial knowledge the book provides an aggravating look into the flaws of the court system and how it affects today’s