Giving Troubled Teens the Boot

Since the 1980s, it has been extremely fashionable for those with the means to send their trouble teens off to various rehab programs, and mental health facilities.  Often the problem with the teen is nothing more than loud music, freaky looking clothes and hairstyles, and maybe some bad grades.  The worst of these programs are the (torture lite) boot camps.

As someone that came out of the 1980's hardcore punk/thrash metal scene (yes I was that goofy!) I have seen the effects of these camps on friends all too well.  The person often returns nothing more than an empty shell of who they were, or they get even more pissed-off and rebellious and proceed to run away from home (next stop hardcore drugs and prostitution).

Fast forward twenty-years, and the the camps are still thriving.  But now the government has told me what I already know:

Members of Congress from both parties reacted with outrage Wednesday to wrenching testimony from parents of children who died in residential programs for troubled teens, saying a federal law may be needed to remedy a lack of oversight.

"I can't think of any testimony that we have heard in this committee that has caused a greater sense of anger and sorrow," said Democrat George Miller of California, chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, moments after hearing three parents recount the deaths of their teenagers in wilderness therapy programs designed to help them.

Rep. Buck McKeon, the ranking Republican, said he does not like to expand the role of the federal government, "but there are some times when it has to happen."

Allow me to add to the chorus of those saying "DUH!"

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