Hard way to spend Father's Day

Father's Day for me is quite different today than it was just a few years ago. Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was living the "blessed life" but perhaps not appreciating how special this time was with my three sons. It was normal for the boys to deliver breakfast to me in bed or to serve me throughout the day. The boys, along with their mother, did everything they could to make my day special and they sure succeeded.

Most Americans do not expect to lose a son before they grow beyond their teenage years. American youth are usually well fed and free from disease and so there is little reason for a father to lose his son. Most Americans also believe that their state and federal governments exist to protect their children or at least to "do no harm" to them. Regrettably, this was not the case for my son and my family.

Four summers ago in 2006, my 15-year-old son Sean was working part time, but spending the majority of his day with his friends and his brothers. He was spending time on the beach, on boats, and in the neighborhood, under the sun as children should spend their summer vacations. But, by the end of the summer, he and his friends became bored and began getting into trouble. Sean was sneaking out of the house late at night and drinking beer with his friends.

One day toward the end of the summer, I received a call from our local police department. Sean, along with nine other teenagers, had been arrested and charged with armed robbery. They had carried a toy gun and stole several hundred dollars from a grocery store and from a sub shop.

Luckily there were no injuries and this was a first and only offense for Sean and the others. We expected common sense to prevail and some thoughtful solutions for the juveniles. However, the police and the prosecutor decided to charge the boys as adults. This was election season for the prosecutor and these boys became a "tough on crime" example during the campaign.

Sean received a 10-year adult sentence, minimally mandatory for adults and children in South Carolina charged with armed robbery.

This is why Father's Day is different now. Our family spends this day, like every holiday, visiting our son in prison. Folks that live a privileged life sometimes don't realize how much harm our government is permitted to inflict on children. Not only is our government not protecting young people, they are permitted to abuse, rape and destroy teenagers through the use of prisons. I was living the fortunate life. This is the life many live when we don't have troubled teens and we believe that common sense will prevail, that our law enforcement and criminal justice system will ensure that children are protected, that justice will be handed out equitably and be extremely thoughtful with regard to children.

Thousands of teenagers each year are needlessly placed behind razor wire and prison bars, their lives destroyed. Many children will be killed in prison this year, many others will kill themselves, and of the survivors, 65 percent will return to prison over and over again. In America, this is aptly named the "school-to-prison pipeline." The lucky are those who receive alternative sentencing designed specifically for children. These are 95 percent successful, yet we choose child imprisonment and a continuing cycle of violence.

My Father's Day dream is not for fathers, but for sons. I pray that the fathers will rise up. Rise up, take action to stop the abuse inflicted on so many teenage sons from coast to coast.

A democracy will not improve unless its citizens demand change. Hold your legislators responsible and demand that children be treated like children and are never prosecuted as adults or given mandatory minimums designed for adults.

Peter Shevlino is a resident of Mount Pleasant.