Arthur Argomaniz

Final Essay
Portfolio Project
WRIT 340 Prof. Hinrichs
May 1, 2008
Three Wise Men

Life without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) is essentially a death sentence. This

sentence has become even more widely used for juvenile offenders since the 2005 U.S. Supreme

Court decision in Roper v. Simmons, which established: “abolishing the practice of juvenile

executions […], the Court has referred to the laws of other countries and to international

authorities as instructive for its interpretation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel

and unusual punishments” (Leighton and Vega 16). Does juvenile LWOP reflect the sentiment

of our citizenry or does it reveal the nature of the imposed prison industrial complex?

Throughout history we have been reminded that silence to injustice and not understanding

interdependence can result in a single act of injustice stretching its tentacles into the lives of

many (Paredes - March 11). The following research will expose the realities and explore the

consequences of the increasingly draconian sentences being wielded against the young and

misunderstood, with our Golden State as a focal point. I will also contest the principles behind

Tough on Crime and “War on Youth” policies such as Juvenile LWOP, Three Strikes, mandatory

sentencing, and the increasing trend of juveniles tried as adults (Throop 2008). These practices

remove discretion from those who have been appointed to uphold justice and determine

punishment.

Most research on such draconian sentence practice as Juvenile LWOP is based on the

histories’ of the prison and penitentiary systems, including how the media and politicians affect

the cyclical changes in rhetoric. I will only briefly discuss this, focusing instead on the more

personal aspects of how mass imprisonment is aggravating the downward economic, political,

and educational trends many lower income, urban communities of color have historically and

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currently are facing. In considering the current research regarding the prison industrial complex

and two recent studies on Juvenile LWOP sentences, one conducted by the University of San

Francisco Law School’s Center for Law and Global Justice and the other by the organization

Human Rights Watch. Too often does society other those incarcerated, allowing and approving

increasingly inhumane, unjust, and incomprehensible laws. Those who are victims of these

sentences display how by stripping ones freedom, or other human rights, can contribute to the

evolution of talented, influential, conscious and progressive individuals. Rather than simply

using interviews to dictate their ideas as has been the case in most other research, I will place

their first hand experience in the forefront in addition to using statistical measures and other data

to express my stance against LWOP sentences for juveniles. This will demonstrate the

undeniable fact that juvenile LWOP must be abolished and the current trend of incarceration

without rehabilitation undermines communities of color while intensifying the control and

supremacy of the super-rich, powerful few.

Three main characters have emerged as great prophets from whom I have learned much

and have inspired my call to action against the mistreatment of the children of this country. The

first is Anthony Throop, a 37 year old man currently serving his 18th year in a California prison

after receiving LWOP at the age of 17. Second is Efren Paredes Jr. who’s serving his 20th year

in a Michigan state prison after his wrongful conviction of robbery and murder; receiving two

LWOP sentences and one life sentence, he is now 35 after being arrested and tried at the age of

15. Finally, a close friend and mentor of mine Mario Rocha, was also wrongfully convicted of

murder and was recently released after nearly ten years of unlawful incarceration from the age of

15 in various California prisons. All three are intelligent, intellectual, and compelling writers

that feverishly contend with and fight against the injustices that they, as well as at least 2,381

U.S. prisoners whom are now serving LWOP sentences for crimes committed when they were

under 18. This accounts for more than 99.9% of such sentences worldwide. The next closest
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country is Israel, with seven (Leighton and Vega 18). As a nation based on justice and equality

for all, how can we allow this sentence to take away individuals lives at such a young age.

With their first hand experience of this draconian sentence, who is better equipped to

fight to have it replaced with a humane and sensible sentence that would allow prisoners to prove

their rehabilitation? Long sentences do provide plenty of opportunity to change. Individuals that

are committed to their rehabilitation and have shown they deserve to be afforded the right to

make right the crimes that they committed when they were young and irresponsible should be

granted parole. Efren makes this clear when he states:

Having been in the bowels of America's prison system for nearly two decades I have had
the opportunity to intensely study the lives of men who have made mistakes in their lives
or ended up in prison due to abject poverty or not possessing the necessary skills to
acquire and/or maintain employment to sustain themselves. I know the pitfalls they have
met, how they met them, and how they and others can avert them in the future (Paredes –
March 11).

This shows that through his familiarity with prisoners and the system, he is the perfect person to

reflect and help create change in a failing system. With assistance from outside sources such as

the international group Human Rights Watch and the national grassroots organization The

Injustice Must End (TIME), the issues of sentencing children to die in prisons without any

possibility of receiving parole is the spearhead for the greater fight against the prison industrial

complex currently influencing the U.S. policies towards crime and punishment. Critical to this

movement are those individuals that have been victim to LWOP and are either incarcerated or

now free (miraculously).

The prison industrial complex entails the merging of private and government interests in

dealing with societal problems such as economic and political issues in such a way that these

powerful groups are able to profit from our delinquency. Politicians and police authorities alike

make careers out of criminalizing and locking up minorities, youth minority in particular. In a

deeper sense it is the general consensus and current trend in policy to be increasingly tough on
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crime, which created huge debts that taxpayers must undertake. Numerous jobs are created by

doing this but at the expense of fellow U.S. citizens who are subject to harsh and extended

sentences. Predominantly young men and women of color from working class communities are

being locked up, nearly half of whom do not have high school diplomas or a GED according to

the Public Policy Institute of California (Bailey and August 2008). This is devastating to

communities that are disenfranchised due to the inability of convicted felons, incarcerated or post

incarceration, to have the privilege to vote. In the United States, African American children are

10 times as likely as white children to be sentenced to Life without Parole. In some states,

including California, the ratio is 20 to 1 (Leighton and Vega II). With such tactics as police

saturation, gang injunctions, and the war on drugs, millions of people in these lower income

communities of color are affected by this systematic and seemingly irreversible (yet illogical)

notion of mass incarceration as the basis for crime prevention in the U.S. This targeting of

populations also creates a division and hatred between the public and those meant to protect and

serve them.

The effectiveness of incarceration, including retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and

rehabilitation, is controversial and has been a crutch for politicians seeking to continue their

harsh stances’ on crime and punishment. It is clear that especially for juveniles the tactic of

deterrence does not work, Anthony Throop gives us an intriguing impression of this when he

states “As we've seen since the Columbine killings, and the War on Youth legislation in recent

years, kids do not fear consequences they cannot comprehend.” He goes on to explain that the

reason for the creation of a juvenile system was that they are not fully responsible for their

actions yet and that when “kept in that jurisdiction, children can have that second chance to

prove themselves to you, once they mature, with the guidance of state counselors.

Unfortunately, the decisions by prosecutors to transfer minors to adult venues have become more

of an arbitrary political decision to appease citizens who demand vengeance rather than
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particular jurisprudence” (2008). This is why the U.S. Supreme Court has rid our society of “the

juvenile death penalty, there is no evidence that the severity of this sentence provides any

deterrent effect on youth and the sentence rules out the possibility of rehabilitation and

redemption for our children” (Back et al 8). LWOP for juveniles is cruel and unusual

punishment because “they endure severe emotional hardships, physical abuse by older inmates,

hopelessness, and neglect as prison officials focus their reform and educational efforts on

prisoners who will one day be released” (Leighton and Vega Report 10). We have made it clear

throughout rational times in our society that juveniles can redeem themselves and that although

they do deserve to be punished for their crimes, they certainly are in a more critical stage in life

when they are maturing and growing. This leads one to believe that they can outgrow the

delinquency if afforded the chance.

A main problem with this overwhelming use of incarceration to fight crime is that rather

than rehabilitate prisoners when they are locked up, financial issues due to overcrowding are

taking away many of the programs intended to help prisoners, with juveniles serving LWOP

costing approximately half a billion dollars to incarcerate over their lifetimes. With the passage

of initiatives increasing the severity of juvenile punishments in the 1990’s, children were faced

with “prosecutorial and statutory procedures [that] waive[d] juveniles into the adult criminal

system, where they [could] be prosecuted and sentenced as adults” (Leighton and Vega 6). In

the span of four years starting in 1988, the rate of judicial waiver (allowing children to be tried as

adults) increased 68%. Forty-three U.S. states implemented legislation facilitating the transfer of

juveniles to adult court which only worsens the problem. Nearly thirty “states limited or

completely eliminated juvenile court hearings for certain crimes and at least 14 states gave

prosecutors individual discretion to try children as adults, bypassing the traditional safeguard of

judicial review” (Leighton and Vega 6). All of this has put more strain on the already struggling

adult prison system, while placing youths in hostile environments without proper rehabilitation.
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Job training and educational programs have been the main targets of budget cuts rather than

figuring out a way in which to deal with the overcrowding through alternative means of

punishment for those convicted, such as keeping juveniles in their own system rather than

speeding them up into and through the adult system. Another big problem with having youths

sentenced in adult court is that juveniles “tried with an adult codefendant are typically more

harshly treated than the adult. In over half of the cases in which there was an adult codefendant,

the adult received a lower sentence than the juvenile” (Back et al 36). These reasons coupled

with the economic state of our nation are creating an environment where recidivism is the

ordinary path for released prisoners due to lack of assistance and commitment to rehabilitation.

Prisoners, if willing and disciplined, are able to educate themselves and reach points of

self realization, which most free people take for granted and do not even have to search for due

to various distractions such as commercial media. Efren reflects this sentiment in the way he

approaches other prisoners, telling them that they “will never have the amount of time and

solitude for self-discovery, and to feed their spirit, like they have while incarcerated. If nothing

else comes from this experience the one thing that every prisoner should strive to seek is

knowledge of themselves.” The basis of this ideology to make the best of all situations,

according to him positivism is “the key to […] awakening and deliverance from ignorance

[behind bars] (Paredes March 11). We all must strive to find inner peace through the

“discovery” of our inner-beings, similar to what our ancestors taught long ago.

Younger inmates have the rare opportunity of being able to mature or evolve into

responsible and productive citizens capable of benefiting society if given the chance. For these

children who commit crimes and are charged, their mental process during the crime can seem

very illogical, often influenced by others around them at the time of the crime. According to the

University of San Francisco Law report “Sentencing Our Children to Die” “psychologically and

neurologically children cannot be expected to have achieved the same level of mental
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development as an adult, even when they become teenagers.” It goes on to state that children

“lack the same capacity as an adult to use reasoned judgment, to prevent inappropriate or

harmful action generated as a result of high emotion and fear, or to understand the long-term

consequences of rash actions” (Leighton and Vega 8). Many would agree that risk taking when

under 18 was commonplace and that consequences were rarely taken into account until long after

the act had occurred, i.e. reckless/drunk driving, over consumption of alcohol, and vandalism.

Personally I have been an accomplice to (as well as committed) various acts of delinquency as a

youth. Looking back on my actions and involvement, I wonder how I managed to stay out of

trouble and never be arrested. I am one of the lucky ones who escaped the cycle of incarceration

that so many of my family members have been victim to. Juveniles are ineligible to vote, serve

in the military, drive an automobile, or buy alcohol, tobacco weapons…, but they are frequently

tried as adults in court and serve time in adult prisons. Juvenile LWOP denies the basic idea that

individuals who are not yet 18 are not fully responsible and thus cannot be treated as adults.

The public is often manipulated, through this creation of a false moral panic, into naively

entrusting political leaders with overreaching and at times absolute power in order to alleviate

these social ills afflicting the public. “What to Do with the Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: The Role

of Rhetoric and Reality about Youth Offenders in the Constructive Dismantling of the Juvenile

Justice System” published in 2000 in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, points to the

major findings of three often cited and highly regarded studies done in the 70’s by Rothman,

Bender, and Ignatieff. Collectively they examine and explore the numerous ways in which the

public is manipulated into perceptions that crime is worse now than ever before, that criminals

are responsible for the majority of society’s worst problems, and that by simply taking criminals

out of the equation, law abiding citizens may reap the benefits of less crime and greater

economic mobility (Coupet 1305). Mario Rocha points out that “Although criminals may be in

prison because of their own deeds, the amount of time they spend incarcerated often does not
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reflect the actual involvement or severity of the crime” (2008). This is largely due to the fear

based politics used by many officials in order to show that they are tough on crime and the often

used “clean up the streets of LA” slogans during elections. In 2004, 59% of children in the U.S.

received LWOP as their first ever criminal conviction, 26% of whom were sentenced under a

felony murder charge, despite not pulling the trigger or carrying the weapon (Leighton and Vega

4). The general public's concern over youth criminal activity is being provoked in order to

"bolster policies to repress rather than rehabilitate young offenders." This is happening in spite

of the fact that "many knowledgeable criminologists have seen little evidence of a profound

difference in the rate of serious crime among adolescents over the past thirty years” (Coupet

1307). Policies containing mandatory minimum sentencing continue to ensure that those who

may be dealt with more leniently are not permitted their right to justice and are afforded fewer

rights than any other citizen. These are all in place to ensure that revenge is the only source of

redemption, which is highly influenced by the environment in which we all grew up, i.e. the

various wars we all have witnessed the U.S. government perpetrate as just wars.

In order to fully understand the horrid environments faced by juveniles serving LWOP

we must take into account the harsh realities they face daily. In an article which I hoped I could

use as a model for my own research, University of Washington professor Lorna Rhodes intends

to provide the prisoner point of view on current prison issues, but rather than allowing them to

analyze their situation and understand their ideas about being incarcerated, the author makes her

own conclusions based on her research. Not to refute her research or findings, but rather by

providing an alternative viewpoint from a very different knowledge base and very different past

experiences than that of prisoners, we can significantly add to her findings by including these

powerful voices. This is made obvious when Efren Paredes Jr. states,

It is wonderful to have others speak on my behalf […], but no one can convey my
experience and years of separation from my family and society like I can. I have never
spent a single hour of my adult life in society. I have not experienced the freedom that so
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 many take for granted each day. The freedom to walk down a street, to sit on a porch and
just relax, to drive a car, or to participate in other events that adults do in their lives. I
know the experience that juveniles endure in adult prisons and I have known this for 19
years. […] I believe I am a positive example of a young person who was placed in a
milieu that is designed to strip people of their identity and extinguish their spirits.
Despite these deplorable conditions I have thrived. I have remained strong, and I have
continued to help myself and others in their continued growth and development. I have
resisted institutionalization and never acquiesced to the concept of despair (March 21).

From more than two thousand miles away, and from the confines of prison walls, he has

inspired, encouraged, and provoked me to strive for greatness and to fight for what I believe in,

especially in the face of criticism or resentment. I have grown both spiritually and intellectually

based on the writings of these great poets/writers. Mario Rocha adds to this, “For there are

people in this world who spend their lives taking freedom for granted, and then there are those

who spend a lifetime fighting for freedom. We hold ourselves in the latter category, behind […]

so many others whose freedom lies in our ability to bring down the walls of oppression by

standing united in our resistance” (2007). It is clear that we have much to learn from those who

have been behind bars for more years than they have been free.

Disenfranchisement is another lost freedom (often ignored) because through

incarceration, millions of potential voters are stripped of this right if convicted of a felony.

Lorna Rhodes explains this systematic process if disenfranchisement in stating “critics [of mass

incarceration] contend that prisons perform a kind of social, economic, and political magic by

disappearing large numbers of poor and minority people” (67). This systematically keeps large

groups of people from taking advantage of the principle of meritocracy dealt to U.S. citizens in

the American Creed and from enjoying their Constitutional Rights, so often disregarded when

dealing with criminals. Professor Rhodes also states that “Analysts of media representations of

crime and imprisonment point to the political, economic, and cultural work these representations

perform in supporting policies that lead to increasing rates of incarceration” (68). So that by

deliberately deceiving the public in order to incite a moral panic and widespread fear through
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sensational and never ending coverage of criminal acts, especially those committed by juveniles,

the politically powerful are able to claim public support for these harsh policies without much

opposition from a passive constituency.

This point is maintained in an article in Crime and Justice in 2000, which unveils the

cyclical ways in which moral panic is continued and intensified through mainstream media and

the public’s uninformed and misinterpreted support of harsher sentencing and laws such as Three

Strikes, as well as Juvenile Life without Parole, as admissible ways to dole out justice (Cullen,

Fisher, and Applegate 1). Highlighted when we look at actual crime rates and how relatively

little effect they have on the perpetual creation of moral panic done by media and politicians as

well as other key public figures exaggerating and using fear based politics and overall sentiment

used to control the masses. Even more absurd is the idea that kids today are more mature, more

violent, and more criminal than generations before, which would make harsh sentences more like

adult policies a logical answer. This is true of older generations throughout modern society

which usually view upcoming generations as far worse than their generation ever was. The

article cites law professor Candace Zierdt who asserts "almost every article written today

concerning juvenile justice seems to publicize the most heinous crimes committed by juveniles.

The resulting hysteria has caused the public to demand swift action to curb escalating juvenile

crime” (Cullen, Fisher, and Applegate 2). This moral panic has helped implement some of the

most heinous and draconian sentencing statutes including the aforementioned Three Strikes,

JLWOP, harsher drug laws and mandatory sentencing, all of which have taken away the

discretion of judges in sentencing on a case by case basis. Public influence should not override

scientific research because “justifying policies on the basis of what citizens want confronts a

dismaying reality: much of the public-in the United States and else-where-is ignorant about

many aspects of crime and its control” (Cullen, Fisher, and Applegate 5). The common citizen is

unaware of the research and scientific evidence regarding incarceration and its many effects on
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criminal behavior. Fundamentally most U.S. citizens have no idea what to do with criminals

besides the overly simplistic idea of incapacitation, lock them up and they can’t commit any

crime (which is also untrue).

In general I believe there is a grave misconception that all prisoners are violent and must

be so to survive in prison. This takes power away from those from whom we might learn, both

when they are free and behind bars. By allowing our children to be imprisoned for life, we are

showing a “disregard for the lives of young people that allowed a system to deprive Mario and

[Efren] of years of liberty. The system felt it could get away with destroying our lives and they

attempted to do so. There was nothing in place established in our communities to stave off the

system's aggression toward our children, particularly children of color” (Paredes - March 11).

Through the value of learning from our past, we can make sure that these injustices will end and

that our children will no longer be condemned to rot in cages that function as metal caskets, for

children who die a slow and torturous death. This point of view is often disregarded and seen as

irrelevant because people believe that if prisoners convicted they must be guilty and deserving of

their punishment. This is obviously untrue in the stories of Mario and Efren, as well as for other

children who were accomplices to adults who committed the crimes.

As Efren points out, “If our community understood interdependence they would know

that what affects one of us affects us all, whether directly or indirectly. Residually injustice can

be just as devastating as the direct impact it causes in many cases. It just depends where you are

in relationship to the epicenter” (March 11). Communities are literally facing a war on their

youth and often times when they face adult sentences, the working class background of their

families makes them unable to obtain sufficient defense against persecution. Public outcry

against vicious murders, where a scapegoat and example must be either created or framed,

usually demands someone take responsibility and be punished accordingly. The USF School of

Law Report also details “the racial bias inherent in such sentences as children of color are
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disproportionately sentenced to Life without Parole. In California, seven out of ten juveniles

sentenced to Life without Parole are of minority background” (Leighton and Vega Report 6).

How can a practice which is so inherently racist be allowed to continue unabated by the public?

We must find a way to stop these injustices.

Mario points to the writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a political prisoner and member of the

Black Panthers, in order to understand the importance of taking action in “Death Blossoms:

Reflections from a Prisoner of Conscience.” This explains various ways in which we are all

involved in politics whether we like it or not, this is stressed

People say they don't care about politics; they're not involved or don't want to get
involved, but they are. Their involvement just masquerades as indifference or inattention.
It is the silent acquiescence of the millions that supports the system. When you don't
oppose a system, your silence becomes approval, for it does nothing to interrupt the
system. . . .Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it is insane not
to (Rocha - Nov 30).

As fellow community members, we must stand up and fight because it can one day be us, or our

children, or our family that may face the prison industrial complex head on. As was the case for

both Mario Rocha and Efren Paredes Jr., both wrongfully convicted and sentenced without much

outcry from anybody besides their immediate families and friends, they were and still are

innocent victims of a corrupt system. The still incarcerated Efren Paredes Jr. explains that his

struggle has helped shape his own spirit, as well as Mario’s: “hav[ing] been forged in pure fire,

like fire separates gold from dross to reveal one of the world's most precious metals. I know this

because our lives parallel each others. I know what I have endured and the experiences that have

shaped my being and consciousness in isolation behind cold steel bars” (April 1). His will to

fight on and continue his seemingly endless struggle for freedom is evident throughout his

writings and shows the will of one man and that the injustices of a irresponsible legal system

does not always have the power to control one’s mind. In reading these insightful and inspiring

writings and after talking to him during collect calls from prison, I realized that even if he were
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actually guilty of the crime committed almost 20 years ago, he is no threat to society whatsoever

and to hold him based on a LWOP sentence is absurd. He would be an upstanding citizen,

fighting for human rights. Why should he be locked behind bars? He has the potential to be a

great leader if afforded the chance. He is in actuality already a great leader, to other prisoners

and to those of us who have spoken to him or read his work, leading by example in the face of

injustice. He comments about his efforts toward release:

The struggle for social justice will not end with my case. I haven't reached out to people
to assist with only my cause, because it is singular. My cause is part of the larger
campaign for social justice. It is a campaign for the wrongly convicted, the children
imprisoned for life, and the people, whose lives have been devastated by the criminal
justice system (Paredes 2008).

This show of compassion for others both wrongfully and legally convicted shows the exact

premises of rehabilitation that must be considered when offering inmates parole rather than

serving out their jail time, but what happens when these individuals have LWOP sentences? Well

after 19 years behind bars Efren is still preparing himself for re-entry into society through self

education. Anthony Throop, convicted murderer at the age of 17, is serving his 18th year in

prison and concerning LWOP writes “I have been denied those opportunities” to make my past

wrongs right (2008).

A nation focused on incapacitation and punishment rather than rehabilitation and reentry

into society as productive citizens has created a prisoner population of 2,258,983 at the end of

2006 throughout the U.S. and a growth of more than 500% in California’s prisoner population

since 1982 with more than 170,000 prisoners occupying facilities designed for 83,000 according

to Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice 2007). As Los Angeles District

Attorney Steve Cooley stated in a dialogue at USC recently, crime has been steadily decreasing

over the past 3 decades (with spikes in the early 90s) largely due to the state’s ability to lock up

the criminals and take back our streets with increased policing (Nov. 2007). This rhetoric has

caused the U.S. citizenry to become unconcerned with the rights and injustices that criminals
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face in the current justice systems throughout our nation. “We [must] understand the necessity to

combat social injustice and be concerned with fellow members of the human race. Exhibiting

reckless disregard for the lives of others fosters more injustice and divisiveness among people. It

fortifies existing failures and sends the message to others that complacency is synonymous with

approval” (Paredes). In order to abolish Juvenile Life without Parole those who implemented it

must be shown its failures and with public outcry, only then can we hope to continue forward

toward the bigger fight against the current Prison Industrial Complex wreaking havoc in

communities of color throughout the U.S.

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 Works Cited

Back, Christine et al. “When I Die, They’ll Send Me Home: Youth Sentenced to Life without

Parole in California” Human Rights Watch Report. January 2008 Volume 20, No. 1.

Bailey, Amanda and Joseph August. “Who’s In Prison? The Changing Demographics of

Incarceration.” Public Policy Institute of California. 20 March 2008.

<http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=701 2006, 28 pp. Vol. 8, No. 1>.

Bureau of Justice Statistics U.S. Department of Justice. 20 March 2008.

<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm>.

Cooley, Steve. “Unruh Institute 20th Anniversary Lunch and Conversation Series.” Doheny

Memorial Library Intellectual Commons, University of Southern California, Los

Angeles. 27 Nov. 2007.

Coupet, Sacha M. “What to Do with the Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: The Role of Rhetoric and

Reality about Youth Offenders in the Constructive Dismantling of the Juvenile Justice

System.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review Vol. 148, No. 4 (Apr., 2000), pp.

1303-1346.

Cullen, Francis T., Fisher, Bonnie S., and Applegate, Brandon K. “Public Opinion about

Punishment and Corrections.” Crime and Justice Vol. 27, (2000), pp. 1-79.

Leighton, Michelle and Connie de la Vega. “Sentencing our Children to Die in Prison: Global

Law and Practice” University of San Francisco School of Law Report on Human Rights

Violation, in association with Human Rights Advocates. November 2007.

Paredes, Efren Jr. “Condemned to Death in Cages: Two Spirits Endure” Email shared with

author, 11 March 2008.

---. “Day Three of the Fast: Finding Our Center” Email shared with

author, 21 March 2008.

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---. “The Final Day of the Fast for Freedom: The Sun Rises” Email shared with

author, 1 April 2008.

Rhodes, Lorna A. “Toward an Anthropology of Prisons.” Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol.

30, (2001), pp. 65-83.

Rocha, Mario. Ongoing interview with author. 4 Feb 2008 through 21 April 2008.

---. “FWD:Xinaxcalmecac” Email shared with author, 30 Nov 2007.

Throop, Anthony. “Juvenile Offenders not Beyond Redemption: Discarded Souls.” Response to

Editorial in Ventura County Star. Sunday, March 9, 2008.

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