Book · 2010 · History
Who Gets a Childhood?
Race and Juvenile Justice in Twentieth-century Texas
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He wrote a book that is one of the major sources for this episode with one of the most chilling titles for a book I've ever heard. It's called Who Gets a Childhood? And it is about the criminal justice system in Texas. Yeah. Wow. Um Yeah. That's interesting, dude. It's a good book. I recommend it. It's very readable.
Why people recommend it
Who Gets a Childhood? by William S. Bush is an academic history examining the evolution of the juvenile justice system in Texas. Robert Evans recommended the book on Behind the Bastards, praising it as a readable text and noting it served as a major source for his episodes on the subject. Evans drew upon Bush's research to trace the historical origins of the protected childhood concept in the United States back to the 1820s. He utilized the book to provide harrowing context regarding conditions within Texas juvenile facilities during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, quoting descriptions of corporal punishment such as a practice where boys were forced to hold their toes indefinitely. Evans also cited Bush's documentation of systemic corruption and abuse, reading accounts of sex-abuse scandals involving facility administrators who coerced vulnerable inmates over extended periods. Additionally, Evans referenced the book to highlight modern racial disparities within the system, detailing the case of Shaquanda Cotton, a fifteen-year-old Black girl in Texas who received an indeterminate sentence up to age twenty-one after pushing a school hall monitor.
Every mention
Robert Evans he wrote a book that is one of the major sources for this episode with one of the most chilling titles for… 5
“he wrote a book that is one of the major sources for this episode with one of the most chilling titles for a book I've ever heard. It's called Who Gets a Childhood? And it is about the criminal justice system in Texas. Yeah. Wow. Um Yeah. That's interesting, dude. It's a good book. I recommend it. It's very readable.”
“Um, now Bush and it f it's this is a book about Texas specifically. Bush notes that historians of childhood uh claim that the or tend to agree that the concept of of what they call protected childhood started in the United States around the 1820s.”
“I'm going to read a quote from Who Gets a Childhood. If you want, this will give you some context on what it's like being in a juvenile prison in Texas in the late 1800s and start of the 1900s. Adams outlawed pulling toes, in which boys were forced to stand holding their toes with their hands indefinitely.”
“And I'm going to quote again from Who Gets a Childhood. News reports revealed that the school's assistant superintendent, Ray Brookens, and its principal, John Paul Hernandez, had coerced sexual favors from several juvenile inmates over a period of at least 2 years.”
“William Bush writes, "One of the most watched cases was that of Shaquanda Cotton, a 15-year-old African-American girl from the East Texas town of Paris who received an indeterminate terminate sentence. An indeterminate sentence up to age 21 for shoving a hall monitor in school."”