Lake County Juvenile Justice was filmed between July, 2008 and March of this
year in the Juvenile Courts and Detention Complex in Crown Point, Indiana.
Our goal for producing this show was to deliver a clear, in-depth look at
how the juvenile systems work. We wanted to give viewers a sense not only
for the court systems, but for the lives of the kids who have grown up in
under-serviced neighborhoods in at-risk families and with significant
educational challenges. Let's face it, a vast majority of the kids whose
lives are enveloped by the juvenile courts and correctional facilities have
grown up in environments that are difficult for many Americans to grasp.

Single parents in inner-city communities face a huge task in raising
healthy, productive children who will achieve according to their potential.
Some are up to the task, and many, unfortunately, are not.
Strength in and deficiencies of families are the foundry for every story we
encounter, from the most inspiring to the utterly tragic.

But there are anomalies. Not all of the kids in juvenile detention fit the
'at-risk' stereotype. Some are there for a simple transgression in judgment
and will likely be home before they know it, never to return. But how about
the teen on her sixth visit to the detention center, and who has grown up in
an affluent neighborhood with upper-middle-class parents. What can be
gleaned from her story?

Our goal has not been to judge these kids, to determine who is, at the end
of the day, just a good or bad kid. We've learned that nothing is black and
white in these facilities. The shades of grey are nuanced and complicated.
It might be our impulse to classify or label the youths we meet in juvenile
detention and juvenile prison, but simple humanity compels us to believe
that somewhere along our mutual paths, none of us was very different from
the other.

After watching the stories we've brought to the fore, we hope our audience
will develop a sense for the ways that our paths have diverged. Factors
range from the smallness of timing, to the monumental affects of economic
disparity. No matter how tangible or evasive the factors may be, we all
have opportunities to make our communities stronger, safer and more
productive places to live. It all begins with the individuals. Us, them,
and vice-versa.

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