An Interview with a Juvenile Offender Essay -- Interview Essays

At the age of 23, Charlie has a fairly good life. He has a good job with a national insurance company, and recently married his girlfriend of three and a half years, Autumn. They are expecting their first child this November. But things have not always gone so well for Charlie. When Charlie was two and a half years old, his mother Laura and father Jose Chili Pepper gave birth to their second child, Chloe. Jose and Laura knew there was something wrong with Chloe right away, because of the way she turned her hand, but no doctor in Fudge Brownie, Montana, would confirm Jose and Laura’s suspicion their daughter had Cerebral Palsy. Frustrated and unable to find work, Jose moved his family from Fudge Brownie, Montana back to Watershed, Kansas, where they had originally lived before Chloe was born. The Chili Peppers stayed with Jose's sister Carolina for a time along with Jose's niece Catherine Sanchez and another of his sisters, Juanita. After a short time Jose decided he and his family needed their own place to live. He and Laura packed up eighteen-month-old Chloe and three-and-a-half year-old Charlie and moved to a small house on Sunny Days Avenue where the family lived for the next few years. Charlie loved living in that neighborhood. It was almost like living in the countryside, with little traffic and wide-open fields where Charlie and his friends could run free and be kids. According to Charlie's father Jose, "It was the perfect place for a little boy." But Charlie's happiness would be short-lived. Due to medical problems with his mother and sister, the family moved once again when he was five years old. "Charlie really loved living there and was happy in his first school," Jose recalled. "He was very upset that we had... ...l unloved at times. His parent's when he was eleven only seemed to aggravate the problem. Discipline was inconsistent, and often he was able to get around punishment by wearing down his mother, who could be easily persuaded to give in to what he wanted. Family finances were strained. Although Charlie went to school in an upper middle-class neighborhood, his family could not afford to buy him as much as many of his friends’ parents. He began to run around with kids who were associated with a local gang and was rejected by other friends because of his behavior. Today, Charlie is closer to his family. He spends time with his mother father and sister. His relationship with his wife, Autumn, while occasionally rocky, has been a positive influence. He is a responsible young adult, who has been fortunate to have gotten the intervention he needed as a troubled teenager.