Episode description

The United States locks up more people - and more children - than any country in the world. Two years ago, Caught delved into the experiences of youth whose worst decisions led them to be entrapped within the criminal justice system, often for life. We’re revisiting the story of then-16-year-old Z, as he awaits a decision that could change his life forever and details how he landed in a detention center in Queens. Also, juvenile justice lawyer and poet Dwayne Betts reflects on his own experience with incarceration as a teenager and how a dangerous storm that brewed in the Nineties continues to cost young lives.

Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice is hosted by Kai Wright and supported, in part, by the Anne Levy Fund, Margaret Neubart Foundation, the John and Gwen Smart Family Foundation, and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

'I Just Want You to Come Home' was originally published on March 12, 2018. Listen to more episodes here.

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Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.