In the winter of 2007, when I was 15 years old, a police officer called my home in White Haven, Pa. to inform me I was being arrested for creating a MySpace parody of my vice principal. The officer told my mother he would charge me with abuse of the internet and internet stalking — both federal charges — unless she agreed not to involve attorneys.
Young people caught up in the juvenile justice system are too often punished for being poor, saddled with paying excessive restitution that leaves them broke