One of Judge Mark A. Ingram’s proudest memories in a long and storied career occurred a few years ago when a couple in his rural Idaho town invited a teen to their backyard barbecue, the same teen who had broken into their home and was sent to a residential treatment facility by the judge.
The couple, who Ingram referred to as Darrin and Sam, did not want the teen there for his company. Darrin had admitted to feeling emasculated by the burglary.
But, Darrin said, his two young children had imagined the teen as a monster while he was in the facility and he wanted to show them that he was just a punk.
The reluctant cookout was the result of a “restorative conference” Ingram had arranged earlier between the teen — who had suffered from substance abuse — his mother and the couple.
Only six months later, that same teen would become Darrin and Sam’s babysitter.
Ingram recounted the story here after delivering remarks on leadership and system reform at a symposium on probation reform last week hosted by the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps.
[For more of this story, written by Daryl Khan, go to http://jjie.org/judge-juvenile...-try-to-help/225909/]
Comments (0)