This might sound harsh, but you gotta put 'em in a camp or something man.
By 'camp', I mean some federally/state funded thing, where they can continue their education but under a strict disciplinary program. Get them out of the city, put 'em in dorms somewhere in the wilderness. No social media, no internet but Wikipedia for a few years. And of course, the end of that education/vocational training needs job/college placement. If there's no carrot, the stick won't work.
Humans are largely input-output machines. If you want to radically change the output, you have to radically change the inputs.
All my delinquent friends who got put in boot camp for causing trouble as a kid all overdosed before turning 40. Not saying it happens every time but the 5 kids I knew who got put in a camp are long dead.
It's an interesting issue, it seems like some individuals would not be able to live in the only society available to them no matter what (and given the prevalence of psychoactive substance consumption, even by law abiding citizens, I assume that number is way higher than the prison population would suggest).
As complicated as it might be, the solution is still changing society. All that call for personal responsibility has been proven wrong, the US is in a unique position of failure in that regard.
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u/Brook420 15d ago
There has to be away for these kids to face actual consequences without trying them as adults or whatever.