A Swan Song for Crime
- OPINION-D.E. Bentley
Having spent twenty some years working with adolescents, much of the time in juvenile prisons, I have come to understand the potential depravity possible among young people. Despite this, I was still shocked and devastated to hear about the swan in Manlius, NY, who was taken from her nest—where she was nursing four cygnets—and killed by three teenagers, 16-18 years of age, for a dinner feast. Despite this, I believe we need to move beyond our current focus on retribution, avoid a call for traditional models of punishment and, instead, begin looking at alternatives to incarceration that have the potential to bring about lasting change.
My last social science teaching placement was in a New York State maximum secure setting for juvenile male offenders, most of who were from Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Some of these young men did horrible, horrible things. All were behind bars for violent offenses. A day never went by when I was not aware of this fact, of the reality of their actions, as I entered my workplace and the doors slammed shut behind. Nonetheless, I saw in many of these young people, including some of those who had killed, often as a gang initiation, a humility that offered hope — hope that they could learn from their experiences and use what they had learned in the service of others; that they could do good with the insight they had gained from their early time on the streets. Many of the young men I taught had not attended school regularly for years, yet they began to see themselves as students, some for the first time recognizing the power found in education. They supported each other, and challenged each other to think critically, to consider a regents diploma and college as an alternative to their current paths.
Yet little hope exists. I often fought to raise awareness among fellow teachers and administration on the value of a quality education system behind bars, and the potential for all students to learn. Many educators, and students, have given up, and understandably so. Statistics do not bode well for our incarcerated youth, with more than 50% of those released rearrested within a year. In many states, that figure rises to 80% within three years.
Still, the larger failing is evident when we see the callous indifference among some of our young people and, yet, fail to act to bring about meaningful change. The news story about the killing of Faye, shocked me, as it has so many others. The total disregard shown by these young men for life and societal norms is truly disturbing. Yet, in our age of online notoriety they will likely be viewed as heroes among some of their peers. There is already a call for severe punishment, to teach these young men a lesson.
In this moment, as with so many past moments, we are losing an opportunity. We have made a meaningful step forward in reducing recidivism in New York State, by removing 16- and 17-year-olds from the adult criminal justice system, but that will only work if we also change how we address the offenders. With these young offenders, and many older offenders, we need to adopt a restorative justice system that widens moral circles by building empathy and ensuring accountability. We do this by matching the consequences with the crime. These young men are not hardened, callous criminals void of feelings; they can learn, but what they learn will be determined by how we respond.
How might a restorative justice response look in this case? It would replace fines and possible time behind bars with community service. These young people should lose a good block of their summer to community service, acting as stewards of area parks (cleaning up trash, cleaning facilities, putting in flower beds). A block of time should be spent caring for the cygnets (under the supervision of the biologist) and other animal victims of human carelessness or abuse. The teacher in me would add in a mandatory writing assignment as well, reflections on lessons learned — as well as more consequences, including incarceration, for failing to take responsibility through service, as ordered by the courts.
Our current system of incarceration is costly and ineffective. Over two million people were incarcerated in the U.S. in 2023, and many began their criminal careers as youthful offenders. Locking young people up is not the solution if we want to stem recidivism, and foster caring, contributing citizens. Given the publicity surrounding the violent death of Faye the swan, perhaps a different approach taken here could serve as a high profile study case for change, and, perhaps, a swan song for the criminal careers of these youth.