The Dysfunctional Juvenile Justice System

The entire point of No Matter How Loud I Shout is to show how dysfunctional the juvenile justice system is. The system is underfunded, buildings are dilapidated, and the offices of the public defenders, judges, and district attorneys are all understaffed. The number of juveniles is constantly increased in a system that isn't going to expand. There are not enough jails, not enough detention facilities, not enough police officers, group homes and foster families. Everyone has their own ideas about how to fix the system and they constantly clash. Unjust cases become public outrages, politicians take advantage of the unpopularity of the system, and then laws are passed that do no good and often make things worse.

Humes demonstrates a number of the key problems in the system through concrete examples. Killers like Ronald Duncan creates public outrage because the juvenile justice system must...