A juvenile holding center is to temporarily "shelter" (that is, detain) those under 18 years old suspected of involvement in juvenile crimes of a serious nature such as robbery and battery, or repeat offenders for drugs or theft, who are not easily released on bail or who are waiting to be released on bail.

There are thirteen such facilities in the country today. Aside from four which are set up independently, the others are all attached to adult detention centers. Here the youth await the investigations or judgement of the court, and thus the time they stay is brief, from several days to no longer than a few months. For those whose crimes are not serious, after instruction they are turned over to their parents and must return for guidance, or are remanded into protective custody. For those whose crimes are serious, they are sent to reformatories for reformatory education or sent to juvenile prison. Because the juveniles in the center are only transient, it is very difficult to design systematic guidance or crafts training courses. Add to this that they are waiting for the disposition of their cases, so their mood is especially unstable. Further, many in the center are children who have committed their first offense. Their fear and resistance are very strong, and they are often worried about being "dealt with" by the older kids in the center. This "hit or be hit" mentality means that everybody is hypersensitive, and that fights and trouble can be touched off easily. Children are not like adults, and they don't think about consequences when they are emotional. The space in the center is small, and there as many as 100 young people sheltered there. Budgets and counselors are limited. If there is the slightest oversight, incidents can occur very easily, and brawls may break out. Thus these centers have continually been a major headache in the prison administration system.

Recently, the situation in the Hsinchu center has taken a turn, and a new force is resolving much of the disharmony.

What's changed things is--Mama Hsieh. Hsinchu district court judge Hsieh Chi-ta and more than twenty volunteer counselor-teachers have worked for the past half year to soften the spirit of resistance in the children and to give them a will to turn their lives around.

If you want to talk about how their fates came together with Judge Hsieh, you have to start from their tough instincts. Last September, there was a brawl in the center. At that time Judge Hsieh had just been transferred from the civil court to juvenile court two months previously. To investigate the incident, she entered the center for the first time. She discovered that although the frequency of violence was connected to the children, the environment and management of the center also had areas which could be disputed.

"It happened at that time to be September hot season. In each room of only maybe 100 square feet, there were seven or eight big boys of 160 centimeters or more. There weren't even curtains to block the sun. Naturally the kids felt agitated and hot," Judge Hsieh recalls.

"Moreover, from 8︰30 in the morning when they left their rooms to 5︰00 in the afternoon when they returned, they spent the whole time in the workroom, doing hard and meaningless labor. So naturally they had had it up to their necks, so all that was needed was a little spark and it could turn into a rumble."

In the past, the method for handling these incidents was none other than finding the main instigators and giving them harsher punishments. Even though the juvenile court judges are, according to regulations, supposed to inspect the centers, judges are often overworked, and unless there is an incident, looking in at the centers is just a routine once-a-month activity.

Hsieh Chi-ta, who graduated from Normal School and was a primary school teacher for six years, decided according to her experience that the problem lay in a lack of guidance and education. Thus she began to take actions she believed necessary.

Besides improving the living environment with curtains and painting the walls, she also applied for a stereo and bought tapes and books. She adopted a system of independent lectures to give the children a chance to attend class instead of working.

Flipping through the syllabus, there's an eyeful: "Common Legal Knowledge," "English for Daily Life," "Self-Awareness," "Philosophy," and "Lifestyles" to "Pottery and Fine Arts," "Guitar," "Buddhism," "Communications Techniques," and "Starting a Business." Even formal dance is--a bit stunningly--included.

In order to find teachers, Hsieh spent a great deal of effort. There was no budget for this area and she had to find volunteers. Besides her colleague judge Chen Ming, who teaches "Common Legal Knowledge," the others were all total strangers to her. They were all people she met at friends' places, all knowledgeable people who were willing to go face to face with these juvenile criminals. She also actively hit every volunteer activity to find appropriate candidates.

Lee Fang-ming and Peng Ching-lung were discovered by Judge Hsieh at the first activity of the Hsinchu District Court Holding Center Association in April. "Only later did we know that she was continually observing us and felt that we were very appropriate, and came to talk with us, taking advantage of the opportunity to tell us about the center and her plans," says Miaoli Jung-yu Holding Center Association Secretary Lee Fang-ying.

Master Tsung Tao, who teaches "Seminar on Buddhism," and Chen Wan-ho, who teaches "Pottery and Fine Arts," are there because Hsieh believes that religion and art can be of great help and she called them directly and asked them to come.

Like Lee Fang-ying and Peng Ching-lung, they were also moved by the concern and passion in the voice of Hsieh Chi-ta when she talked about the kids' in the center, and one after another they entered this world, hoping to get inside the kids' hearts and minds.

An increase in juvenile crime is a problem commonly faced in industrial societies.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Justice, last year there were 18,000 people involved in juvenile crime in the Taiwan area. That is to say, a crime committed by someone under 18 was discovered at a rate of one less than every thirty minutes. Moreover, crimes by 14- and 15-year-olds are already ahead of those by 16- to 18-year-old, and most are committed by kids in schools.

The data shows that as the number of crimes increases, the tendency toward violence increases, and the age of the criminals declines. These are the three major trends in the juvenile crime problem in the Taiwan area.

"The earlier someone is in the judicial process, later on the longer they will stay in jail," many domestic juvenile crime authorities note. That is to say, the younger those who have been arrested and imprisoned are at the first offense, the more likely is the possibility they will be repeat or serious offenders later. This is because on the inside not only are they able to learn even more "specialized" criminal techniques, after they get out, because they have been "labelled" as bad guys, it is difficult to go straight.

Youth reformatories in the country are seen as hothouses for juvenile criminals to be "cultivated" into adult criminals. According to MoJ statistics, of the 68 convicts sentenced to death last year by the high court, most had been through the reformatory education process. "The juvenile crime problem is already impossible to ignore," says Hsieh. The first time a juvenile offender is arrested, their fear and regret is ordinarily stronger, and they are more willing to follow guidance. This is the time to give them the concern and guidance that they need in the process of growing up.

Lee Ruo-ying, a nurse by background, has the same sentiment. She is especially interested in psychology and neurology and is in charge of two classes, "Self-Realization" and "Communications Techniques." The first day of class she brought a large bunch of fresh flowers, and said "Remember that I am the first girl to send you flowers." This unexpected gesture won over the hearts of these older boys.

She points out that juveniles who commit crimes are often foolish when it comes to expressing emotions and arbitrary in thinking. After they are arrested, "they are constantly thinking about problems," thinking about their case, their parents, family, and friends, and they really hope someone will visit them. If in this time no one shows concern for them, and directs them to correct thinking, and teaches them how to express and release emotions, this could very easily leave them with a terrible personality complex they can never resolve.

Therefore she uses all kinds of methods to encourage them to express what's on their minds. For example, writing song lyrics to express their feelings. Having "pro and con" debates is even more effective at drawing them out to say what they really think, and is an effective way to clear up their complexes and value structures.

She has held several debate competitions. The response of the children has been quite enthusiastic. Among them, the one that left the deepest impression was discussing "Should using amphetamines be a criminal offense?" The pro and con sides were both taken by youths who had used amphetamines. In the end the pro side left the audience dumbfounded by raising a number of negative effects from taking amphetamines, like impotency, intense hunger, and skin rashes.

Peng Ching-lung, a teacher at Chunan high School, who handles the "Philosophy and Human Life Seminar," had done guidance counseling work in middle school. He points out that. the self-affirmation of these problem youths is extremely low. This is because under the situation in schools today where grades are the only measure to judge students, some kids who remain far from what is demanded of them have no way to get a feeling of accomplishment in school, so they turn to deviant or rebellious activities to satisfy their egos.

Peng says that what they need is to develop positive feelings toward themselves and correct values. Thus, when this somewhat strict-looking teacher talks openly in class with the students about birth control, homosexuality, or how interest in the opposite sex is perfectly normal, the kids are a little stunned.

Chen Wan-ho, a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts at Chinese Culture University, usually brings a few beautifully produced slides and tapes for the kids to appreciate. Once after they had seen a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, Chen let the kids express their minds. They all freely expressed the feeling that they could be that ugly cater pillar, and hoped to turn into that beautiful butterfly.

Chen Wan-ho also believes that the kids are fearless on the outside, but in fact have accumulated considerable disappointment and anger. He often secretly observes them while they are watching movies, and "when they are watching an emotional scene, more than a few get red around the eyes." Thus, he also teaches pottery making to let the kids vent some of that emotion pummeling clay.

Judge Chen Ming's "Common Legal Knowledge" class is a "tranquilizer" for those in the center waiting for judgement. "The knowledge that young people in Taiwan have of the law is very inadequate," says Chen. "A lot really don't know when they commit their act that they are coming up against the law, or what kind of punishment they could receive." Thus a lot of children accidentally fall into the legal net while being used by someone else. Among them are serious cases like robbery, serious injury, or other crimes. So the first thing he does every class is to help the kids read through and understand legal opinions to increase their awareness and wariness of the law.

For individual cases and questions, Chen Ming explains one by one the provisions of the law that has been broken, the possible punishment, the legal procedure, and so on. "After they understand their own case situation and the rights they are entitled to, they can await sentencing more easily," says Chen. The kids often pass the information on to their jittery parents to put them at ease and to help them avoid being deceived by conmen who claim to be able to fix the case.

Though Hsieh is a Christian, the Taoyuan/ Hsinchu/Miaoli area is mostly Taiwanese and Hakka, who believe by tradition in Taoism and Buddhism. Thus she has set up the "Buddhist Studies Seminar."

Master Tsung Tao, who is the most popular among the children, is the abbot of the Pu Hsien Temple in Sanhsia, near Taipei. He is in charge of class every Thursday afternoon. "The Little Monks" is something he taught them to sing. Everywhere you look in the center you can see his influence. In almost every room the children have themselves set up a Buddhist altar for overcoming difficulties, using old drink cartons glued to the wall and praying with their conversion certificates and prayer beads.

"The Master says that selling drugs and taking drugs both violate Buddhism's Five Proscriptions. After I leave here I'll never break them again," says one who was arrested for selling amphetamines. "Monks don't swear or lie, or in the future they'll go to hell."

Master Tsung Tao's charisma lies in the fact that in class he doesn't avoid discussing common matters in the least. He uses his own "foolish youth" to teach them how to decrease desire and avoid falling in the same rut again. Thus this humorous monk has become the object of emulation for many children.

"The point is, the only thing they need is the feeling of being cared for by someone," says Hsieh. She often sacrifices her free time to go to the center to talk with kids and understand their problems.

"At first the head of the center was quite afraid that I would be 'molested' or that something would happen. So each time he accompanied me, and officers stood at the side watchfully," she recalls. But now those in charge casually let her go in and out at will. And you only have to see her go into the center and calls of "Mama Hsieh" come down the long corridors.

But some in charge still don't agree. The center was originally a punishment and detention location. If it's turned into a youth camp, will it lose its function? Moreover the kids just go to class and don't work. This makes the Hsinchu center's marks for "operations" come in last. This does not reflect well on the director. Fortunately, Hsieh and the teachers persisted in giving classes, and the attitude of those in charge has slowly come around. At Mid-Autumn Festival this year, the center broke new ground by holding a party. The director even sang a song on the spot, closing a great deal of the gap with the young people.

The change in the kids has also changed the view of the control officers. Hong Ming-chih, a control officer who interacts with them in the evening, notes that over the past half year there have not been any rumbles. "The looks on the kids' faces are a lot more gentle," he says. Sometimes at night he hears some of the young people reading Buddhist sutras in their rooms. "My own energy level is also not on the edge of collapse like it was before."

Yang Ting-wei, a teacher at the Hsinchu Juvenile Prison, who is a close neighbor to the center, has also felt the kids sent from "next door" "have a rather special character, are more capable of thinking, and have more plans for their future."

In the face of the responses of the youth and the approval that comes from all sides, besides being contented, Hsieh can't help harboring some worries. These methods are not part of the normal structure of prison administration. If in the future she is transferred "who knows" if the Hsinchu center can maintain the status quo.

Forget whether Hsieh will stay indefinitely in juvenile court, the breadth of the juvenile crime can't be solved by one judge and twenty volunteers. Hsieh says, "Often the young people in the center get a little confidence and think about changing for the better. But after they get out their old gang comes to look for them, gives them a gun to act as look-out, and fifty or sixty thousand a month. They are again welcomed, and lack anyone else to care or guide them; how can they possibly get past the seduction?"

Despite this, the group of volunteers is still willing to extend a warm hand. Their common belief is: Being a little more concerned, and mobilizing a few more social resources, can allow many people to enjoy a happy, unfettered life.

[Picture Caption]

The Hsinchu juvenile holding center is right next door to the Hsinchu juvenile prison.

Master Tsung Tao teaches the young people Buddhist songs and chants, using the power of religion to make the climate harmonious.

The usually reserved center director sang a number at the party.

This holiday party, which broke new ground, allowed these kids who had strayed from the right path and were now unable to go home to celebrate the holiday.

After leaving the holding center, many kids still write letters to "Mama Hsieh" to let her know how they've been getting on of late.

With a conversion certificate, a few statues, and prayer beads, the kids have cobbled together Buddhist altars in their rooms.

At Mid-Autumn Festival this year the young people held a party, bringing along food and drinks provided by friends and family.

Master Tsung Tao teaches the young people Buddhist songs and chants, using the power of religion to make the climate harmonious.

The usually reserved center director sang a number at the party.

This holiday party, which broke new ground, allowed these kids who had strayed from the right path and were now unable to go home to celebrate the holiday.