Judge's Story

Updated: June 8th, 2008

Judge Charles Webb

THE SEED

The seed was planted when I returned to the Court after 20 years and saw that little had changed with regard to the tools available to the Justice Court Judges in dealing with truancy and delinquency cases. I recognized that the problem had actually grown to epidemic proportions.

I saw that the only tools available to the Courts were the threats of fines or court costs with a “special administrative fee”, along with community service and/or other special requirements. All of this seemed punitive in nature and failed to produce desire or motivation in the youth. In fact, it seemed rather to produce further alienation from and resistance to the system.

It became clear that if a child did not want to go to school, no amount of threatening or coercion would garner compliance. On the other hand, if a child did want to go to school, there is nothing that would keep that child from attending regularly. It was clear that only a change in the child’s attitude with regard to school would produce the sought after results. As Dr. Wayne W. Dyer puts it, “When you change the way you look at things…….. the things you look at change.”

This can work in a positive way in that when we see and treat people as being capable of better things, this often leads them to better things. Conversely, when we see people as being capable of criminal activity and failure, and treat them accordingly, we can often make it a reality. I believe the explanation is very simple. People begin to see themselves as they are seen by others. I think that they see themselves in the reflection of others’ view of them.

This seed blossomed into the formation of Our Mission Possible, Inc., a charitable non-profit corporation. The first program in the curriculum was, “When you change the way you look at things…….. the things you look at change.”

THE SWITCH

The switch was flipped when I began to try to get into the heads of the kids who came before me. I decided to explore their reasoning, if there were any. A young Hispanic male came to the bench and I decided that this was where I would draw the line in the sand and get some answers. I asked him what he wanted to be doing in 5 years. His answer was the same as all who had come before him, “I don’t know”. I asked him every way I could with numerous examples of what I envisioned to be reasonable possibilities for him. His answer to every inquiry was, “I don’t know”.

Finally, in frustration, I threw up my hands and said, “at least you know that you don’t want to be in prison….. right?” His answer was, “I don’t know”!

He followed with, “I don’t know if I have a choice”. It seems that all of his male “role models” were either in jail, had been in jail, or had some form of run-in with law enforcement. He simply believed that going to jail at some point in his life was just a right of passage.

I looked around the Courtroom and observed that he was not the only one. I saw hopelessness and helplessness. The switch was flipped!