What Happened To Johnnie Jord Summary

Upon completing What Happened to Johnnie Jordan?: the Story of a Child Turning Violent, I was struck with a feeling of frustration and agitation toward our current juvenile system. Johnnie was continually let down by his family, Children Services, foster care, and the juvenile justice system. He repeatedly displayed behaviors of a child in desperate need of help and he did not receive it. Although I believe that Johnnie should have been punished for his actions, I think that the system that he was put into was responsible as well. I was disappointed that Children Services did not learn from what happened with Johnnie and continually denied any responsibility for what happened. Even more concerning is that the agency did not make any changes, they were only concerned with diverting the blame onto Ellen Jones, former director of Children Services, and I feel that she is someone that had the initiative to make the changes in the system that are so
Johnson. I believe that Dr. Hershel Thomas explains what may have been the reason quite well. He explains that often violence by young people happens as a response to rejection and embarrassment. Johnnie was ridiculed at school by peers and at home. He never felt that he belonged anywhere. I am actually surprised that Johnnie was not very active in a gang. I feel that the anthrological approach to why juveniles join gangs would have applied to Johnnie. He was so desperate to be loved and be part of a family that one would think that he would be the prototype of the type of child that would join a gang. Johnnie was repeatedly rejected and he finally "broke" when the Johnson's did not want to adopt him and wanted him out of their house. What is extremely frustrating is that there were numerous warning signs that this break was going to happen. The system either did not care or thought that it was not their