The Institutional Maze: The Complexity of Youth Schools and Juvenile Justice in Hawaiʻi

To explore the relationship between education and youth punishment in Hawaiʻi, a five-year qualitative study using feminist research methods was conducted between January 2012 and October 2017 in Oʻahu, Hawai’i. This study examined the experiences of youth at a high school group-counseling program, teens in a juvenile justice program, and adults who had experiences in the juvenile justice system in Hawaiʻi. This study explored the multiple processes and consequences of youth punishment, especially for teens who moved between various institutions of control. This research describes the experiences youth had with institutions of control, especially schools and the juvenile justice system, and how instability exposed them to various youth institutions that made it challenging to exit these institutions. Themes found in this study suggest that racialized hierarchies and socioeconomic stratification developed through colonialism continue to have a significant impact on contemporary ideologies and practices of how to control marginalized bodies through present-day systems of punishment.