Are boot camps a tool Louisiana could use to curb juvenile crime? One New Orleans juvenile court judge says not only does he think it could, he says parents often request it for their kids who end up in the juvenile system.
Judge Mark Doherty says he thinks boot camps or group homes would help keep some kids from becoming repeat offenders... and he says a lot parents wish that were a sentencing option:
"In area that would be helpful in my view is if we had a boot camp or group homes in the city," said Doherty. "I know that a lot of people don't like the concept of a boot camp, but I can tell you in my 20 years on the bench, not a week has gone by when a parent has not asked me, 'judge can you just put my son in a group home? He wont' listen, he needs discipline, I'm having a terribly hard time here.'"
Doherty said it's not that the parents are bad at disciplining their children, but often they just aren't around because they're working two to three jobs to make ends meet.
The judge told WWL's Newell Normand that vast majority of the kids who end up before his bench never offend again, but the kids he sees repeatedly are cause for concern.