since the end of operation pentameter two, there have been no other koord nated operations. all the others returned to their normal duties. meanwhile, the multi-billiion dollar business continues to thrive. human rights advocates charge that law enforcement doesn't do enough in america or in other countries to fight it.

for msnbc, i'm natalie morales, thanks for watching. are you high on marijuana? >> no. >> when was the last time you smoked? >> i don't know. >> what do you mean you don't know? i've got to try to do better. not just for me, but for my family. i don't want them to see me like this anymore.

>> criminal recklessness, assault with a deadly weapon. i ain't got no permit. >> how did you end up doing the armed robbery? >> i told her she has a certain amounts of seconds to open the cash register or i'm going to shoot her. >> this is the hardest 30 days i've ever did. i don't know why but it's just it's been driving me nuts. >> well because you used to have a little bit more freedom.

>> i think when i went to the adult thing and came back here. i feel like i'm being strangled. i don't know what it is, but it's like time after a while, you get used to it. >> hey, who is that? hey. >> >> 18-year-old ricky pizzano is a regular in the justice system.

he's spent a total of 266 days here in lake county juvenile. and more recently another 16 months at a residential placement facility. when he didn't return home after a weekend home pass ricky was picked up on a bench warnt. >> one of my boys got shot. >> >> now he is now 18 and technically an aadulthood, he will have to face the juvenile system one more time. >> i'm going back to the streets. >> ricky began looking for kinship on the streets before he was even a teenager.

>> i was hanging out with older people, 17, 18 years old. smoking weed robbing, just doing whatever i had to put food in my stomach. >> with over a decade of experience, when things get loud in lock-up, you can bet there's something serious going on behind the noise. >> this time shlgs however, it's just a few kids blowing off some steam. repeat offenders are known troublemakers. >> here staff can keep a closer eye on kids who have a tendency to lash out.

>> when it gets loud, it gets loud. in the end, it's up to them. >> those four walls, they will get to you. and they will always win. it doesn't matter what you do. how hard you screen how hard you cry, it doesn't matter. >> ricky is a very frustrating case. for as minimal of education as he's completed, he's really a very intelligent young man. >> she says juf niles like ricky are especially perplexing. >> he has a lot of talent and a lot of potential. he's a very personalble young man.

but yet, he's gang through and through. the sad thing, ricky, you are no dummy. >> i think he likes giving orders to the so called foot soldiers and so forth and so on. >> how old were you when you started? >> 11? >> i'll never be ashamed of what i've done. >> i can't get a job. i did what i had to do. >> i think it's really unfortunate. there's still that small portion of him that would like to live

on the right side of the law. >> i look at pictures and stuff i'm seeing how skinny i was. wow, that was me? and i was hanging out with all the bigger older cats doing all the stuff that adults do. doing all the stuff that the streets seen when i was so young. i'm surprised i made it through. >> how old were you when you came to us 134. >> >> 14. >> not trying to incriminate you, but how did you end up with the armed robbery? >> i told her she has a certain amount of seconds to open the cash register or i'm going to

shoot her. i probably would have shot her really easily. i didn't care about myself. i didn't care about no one else. >> do you think you have the ability to give the street up? >> yeah when i get my job -- >> don't you get tired of living it? >> yeah, i do. sometimes i get sick of it. >> wow. miracles do happen. >> you've never been that hardhearted. you're not a hard-hearted kid. >> ricky is just one of the hundreds of thousands of kids who find themselves behind bars. the ones who wind up here have a better chance. >> that's what's really beautiful in the state of indiana. we have oh my gosh an arsenal of services we can provide to children and families to mend all of their issues. you just keep trying. >> but there is a limit to what

the courts can do when a juvenile continually reappears an intake seemingly worse off than the time before. >> where's your glasses. i would never recognize you. you're in trouble again. >> you see somebody so young and innocent in one picture and it looks like they lived 20 different lives in such a short time. that's where we ask questions about the family life, health problems, drugs. >> are you high? when was the last time you smoked? >> i don't know. >> what do you mean you don't know? >> yesterday? >> no. >> today? >> no. >> last week? >> no. >> okay. for some reason, i'm not believing you. >> on a september afternoon, when most teenagers are settling into their new school year 17-year-old michael is back in

juvenile for the third time on suspicion of burglary. >> every child has a story. we all have a stoir in our life. and if you can get little pieces and bits and it's like a big puzzle. >> does your mother know you're here? >> yeah. >> i can't ask you if you did this or not. but law, i can't. i'm just going to ask you about your school you do drugs, your family life. >> and then we can try to through questioning, to get a bigger piece of the puzzle. >> what's going on with you? just running with the wrong crowd. >> i don't know. >> not every kid that comes through here is cooperative. >> i can tell you look a little ticked right now.

i mean, just your facial expression. >> only really truly, that child knows how you're feeling. we can guess and try it through their questioning and how they hold their head up. but really, only they know how they feel. >> you're not angry about being here? >> yeah. >>. i mean you know you're on probation, right? >> it allows us to peek inside. once a child leaves us there's probably going to be five different people that are going to be attached to this case, at least. and the judge depends on the intake department to make sure we're probation reporting accurately we're responsible for that. i just don't want to be here. i want to go home.

it's not a nice place to be here. it's not supposed to be a nice place. >> you were three months in the cook county jail. how was that? >> it wasn't nice. i woke up. >> welcome to adulthood. . [ male announcer ] how about v8 v-fusion. a full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. but what you taste is the fruit. so even you... could've had a v8.

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the same thing that you're being charged with today. do you understand that? >> yeah. >> this -- this doesn't look good. do you realize that? i mean you're looking at me kind of hard. and i get that. just your eyes. you're looking at me kind of hard like you don't want me to talk anymore. >> it's all right. >> it's all right? >> yeah. >> i think they come after me because of my past history. it's easier for them to points the finger at someone who's done this before. >> michael is on the brink of his 18th birthday. and approaching adulthood is a dangerous place to be for a juvenile repeat offender. >> so i would just allow the court allow this young man one more opportunity. >> a person turns 18 at least 234 the juvenile kourts system there's not a lot of choices for us to make.

and i just don't know, at 18 if he sits here three or four months, i don't know what that's going to do for him. >> rehabilitation programs can take a year or more to complete. so that option appears to be off the table for michael. >> when you're 17 and three quarters, there's not a lot of resources out there. there's probably not a lot of people that want to take a chance on you for that sort of time. 80 days are stayed and you did a remaining 10 days here. if you get up to anymore trouble, it's up to your magistrate to decide what they're going to do with you. if they don't take advantage prior to turning 18, they're screwed. i know that sounds really cold

but realistically, that's the way it is. they will only be a number. the adult system will not coddle you. you woebt be held by your hand to make sure you do your substance abuse problem or that you take your medication. all of that is done and over. this is my second chance to do right. in i don't, that's a felony and it's going to stay with me for the rest of my life. i've got to try to do better. i don't want them to see me in a place like this anymore. i told myself i didn't want to come back the first time and here i am again. >> detaining ricky vittano ended

with him being police stationed in a long term rehabilitation program. since nen, he ran away and did time. now he's back facing the music for running away. >> how much would you have had completed? >> like four months. i was already there for, like, 17. >> i was only out for a month. i caught a pistol charge in chicago. i've been out on parole ever since then. if you don't like rats and roaches, stay away.

that ice all the ranks. you've got a little bit of rank now, don't you? >> i just don't know if he'll ever make it. and i think it's really unfordhu nat. i think he could choose anything he chose to if he could apply himself in a positive way. >> the night before i came in here, i got shot at. i pulled into a gas station. i had some buddies in the car. one of my boys got shot. they ran my name at the hospital. i still had the warrant. >> ricky has been locked up for more than a month this time. at his court hearing tomorrow he will learn his fat in the juvenile system. even though he is 18 the judge can still keep him detained for not keeping his juvenile placement. or she could wave him across the street.

>> i've been to adult prison. i was with people locked up, 15, down for murder. i've been there. i've seen everything. i don't want to be like that. >> you know tomorrow is goirng to be a really interesting day. this is one that i can't tell you i have a gut feeling for. the judge is going to be a little limited. frankly, i don't know. i'm kind of anxious to see that myself. >> rock and roll. >> day in court. >> you're 18. >> i was trying to achieve while i was out there. >> i hope the judge sees that. >> it's got to be my last time. i've been tired of it for a long time.

17-year-old michael is on the way to court where a judge will have to consider his past offenses. >> they said it's not looking good for me. i'm going to have to serve an 80 day commitmented. >> weren't you just here? what are you doing back missing? you missed us? >> not that much. >> are you on probation? >> yeah, i'm on probation. >> so what's going to happen? you guys got to start thinking. it's nerve racking talking to the judge. you think of everything. it's nerve racking. >> at the lake county juvenile

detention center kids who are almost 18 are walking a tight rope. >> it's a serious matter for this court to decide it's going to invest itself in a child and i don't see that there's going to be a lot of bang for our buck, to be per fektsly honest. >> the closer the kid is 18 the less chance the judge will have. for some the next stop will be across the street. adult jail. they see it and then reality hits. and then you look up there and you're looking at them like new meat. that's when it finally kicks in. >> i'll tell them, you ain't but through the stuff that i've been through. >> you don't have d.o.s and stuff around. you're locked in a cage with about a hundred other criminals.

>> i know what can happen. it's nothing that you can be afraid of. you eve got to be cautious not to mess up and not to let things like that happen to you. >> like ricky and michael, miguell is nearing his 18th birthday. nay're all at the end of the road. but the only thing common about miguell is his juvenile record. >> he's probably been here at least, i'd say six, seven times. >> i didn't have no permit. >> a bunch of violations of probation. >> and every time he's come, he's come with heavy charges. >> criminal mischief. >> but once he gets here, he's a whole different i. individual. he's focused. he's getting visitation. he's reading good books. and then what i like about him

he shares his books. so he fries to help the other guys that's in the hallway that he sees is going down the wrong path. >> the second time i got locked up i was there for about 15 months. >> that ice one thing i can say. the kid has never been in here missing school or anything like that. and i think he makes, like, as, bs, and he's really ficused. and he sees the future. it's just where i'm from. >> ganster ts nation. >> he's right back in that jungle. he changes. >> now it's like i could do good in school, it's just i can't be

free long enough to finish a semester or just complete a class. >> it's the unusual or the never that somebody would go out committing crimes. it's pretty hard to be good if you already have a bent getting in trouble. in some neighborhoods, it's almost like do unto others before they do unto you. >> my parents are beautiful people. if you would meet my parents, you would never think i'd be going through stuff like i've done in my life. >> it's not all on them. my dad just gets tired of this.

he says i can't do it. you can't see me in a place like this. my parents love me. they've always been there for me. >> you can want live someone's life for them. you can only give them the tools to live their life in a different way. hopefully, a better way. and so it is frustrating when they don't take advantage of what we provide to them. >> i've been tired of this for a long time. >> it can be frustrating. it gets frustrating when you pick up the paper and he or she is about to do 20, 25 years of prison. it becomes frustrating. >> you can't gang bang all of your life. that's not going to get you nowhere. >> i'm not somebody who is going to fail. once i set my mind to do something, it's going to get

done. >> today, 18-year-old rickypizzano hopes he can leave the prison facility. he is hoping for a new beginning. >> i'm 18. i've got goals set for myself. goals that i was trying to achieve when i was out there. >> the stakes are high this time for ricky to get out. he's on track to get his ged in just a few months. he needs that piece of paper to take advantage of the welding trade he learned while at his last facility. >> if any of the kids have a trade, then it makes them marktble. it means that they can survive and support themselves.

>> you know i really do believe that there was a big part of rick that would like to turn the tide. would like to minimally get his ged. would like to live on the right side of the wall. but the flip side to that is that's a lot of work. >> i don't know, i don't know. i really don't think so. >> it's a lot easier to go out there and sell a few drugs if you don't get caught make big money as opposed to go welding put on all of that hot gear and put on 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, whatever is required. i think a lot of it will come out with a girlfriend that is a positive influence. that might be the turning point, too.

one never knows. >> >>. >> i was like i don't know, either. i want out. >> that is going to be a bit of an uphill battle to show that if the judge releases you, you're not going to engage in the same type of behavior. s has 24 new soups that will make it drop over and over again. ♪ ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. sometimes what we suffer from is bigger than we think ... like the flu. with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal. so why treat it like it's a little cold?

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hey, there, here's what's happening. a tornado swept through mississippi tonight causing widespread damage. there are reports of at least three injuries and an apparent direct hit to the university of southern, mississippi. tornado watches are in effect for parts of southern alabama and mississippi. in the meantime, it is a race to clear sfoe from the roads before the morning commute. forecasters say another storm could bring freezing rain and more snow on monday. now, back to the program.

>> i've got four shackles already. i need 13 pairs. >> it's monday morning and court is back in session. the kids are shackled and walked from the detention center over to the to the adjacent court hearing where they anxiously sit and await their turn to see the judge. both 17-year-old michael and 18-year-old ricky have been at lake county detention center many times. they are placed in the holding cell area where they prepare in court. the sdwrul naive defengsz center is just that. what kindover services it would be and the best interest of the kid and the commute. >> kevin elkins has been ricky's

probation probation officer for years. >> did he have any idea of what might occur? >> he said maybe 30 day commitment, 60 day commitment. i said i don't want to do that. i want out. >> i've talked to him since he's been back here. he's going to welding. >> i've got things to do. i've got to have my ged by june. i can't do no 60 days. >> rick is a bright kid. he's had not the typical family life. i know his parents weren't the best parents, but his grandmother has done everything she can do for him.

>> i've got to live. i was away from the stuff that was getting me in trouble. >> he doesn't need to be in the street trying to make money to survive. if he chooses to, she'll provide him with whatever he needs. >> i realize that had she's the one that cares about me. i still have a mind set. i'm trying to do things on my own. i rarely ever let people help me. >> ricardo is a kid that's got everything in place for him. >> i ain't going to lie. this is the hardest 30 days i've ever did. i don't know why. but it's just been driving me nuts. >> i'm sure the court wants to help him. the ultimate goal is to try to make improductive in society. but i just don't know given his age and all the opportunities that have been given to him, the

judge is really faced with a tough decision. i don't envy her. i feel like i'll being strangled. i don't know. i don't know what it is. it's like time ain't going by like it used to. >> 17-year-old michael is back in detention for a third time. before appearing in front of the judge, he meets with his court appointed attorney. >> you're being charged with burglary. serious charge. particularly given that you've got a prior charge for burglary that you're on probation for. the purpose of today's hearing is if you stay here or whether you're released to your mother's custody.

>> it's whether or not you're likely to return. >> i have a job. i'm working on it. >> many time ts the kids want to see here's what i want. as a lawyer, you try and get that result. but you know at the end of the day, that's not the right outcome. if you return a child back into the environment that led the child into the system to begin with, you're fostering the problem. >> michael is being held for his alleged involvement. >> so you don't know nothing about the burglary? you don't know who did it? >> no. >> if this were the first time, it would be a lot easier.

there's no way in the world that this happened to you. but we can lose that argument given the fact that you're on probation for burglary. >> no, i was doing good before. >> we have to let the judge know that and make it so she does take it into consideration. okay? hang tight for a little bit. >> he's 18. he has no education. unless he gets his life together very quickly, then he's headed for a very bleak future. blank blaeng.

>> what time do we move onto court? >> five or ten minutes, hopefully. >> rickypizzano has been in and out of the juvenile justice system his entire team life. now he's back in lcjc for running away from the treatment facility he was sent to the last time he was sent here. ricky knows he has sent the end of the line. rehabilitation sfrss are no longer an option. the question is should he be set free, sent to juvenile prison or wave to the adult justice system. >> i'm 18. i have goals set for myself. >> this has just put a big pause on it. i hope the judge sees that. >> well when a person turns 18 there's not a lot of choices for us to make to plug them into services.

we've got this window of time to work for them. and it's not long enough to affect a time of change. >> whatever i do, i set the consequences fully. that's just it. don't do it if you want to accept the consequences. >> do you admit or delie the allegations? >> would you like to elicit from him what happened? >> were you given a home pass to come back from nevada. >> yes. >> why didn't you come back? >> what was it that made the poor choice? >> it was my fault. >> that ifrs not there for 16 months. i did complete every aspect of the program. sports, vocation, school.

i was another four months away. that's why i ran. >> so why is it that the program turned out to be double for you? >> because i wasn't working my fram your honor. >> i just couldn't control my anger. i couldn't control the things i was doing. sometimes i wasn't taking my medication. it just caused a real problem. >> so you wanted to get out sooner. >> yes, your honor. >> but you accomplished some things, didn't you? >> yes, i did. i was the highest in my welding class. >> so you learned something while you were in placement 1234. >> yes, ma'am, i did.

>> you said in may, 2008 to quote you, you caught a charge. what does that mean? >> i committed another crime. >> and what was that crime? >> unlawful use of a weapon. >> so at age 17 you're considered an adult, right? >> yes, ma'am. >> so you were there and three months in the cook county jail. how did that work for you? >> it wasn't nice. i woke up. >> welcome to adulthood, right? did you learn anything from that experience? >> yes, i did. >> what did you learn? >> i don't ever want to go back to prison again. >> i'm going to go take my ged and save up my money and do what i have to do to do what

everybody other person does, go to work for a living. >> is that a possibility? >> yes, ma'am. >> the recommendation is given credit for time he's served and that he be released today. >> are you inagreement with the recommendation recommendation. >> he's had numerous services offered to him by this court. he's 18. he has no education. he has an aadulthood record in another state. and unless he gets his life together very quickly, i know after being a prosecutor bleak future. and it just bothers me to see somebody at 18 walking out of this court that's provided him so many opportunities to change and he hasn't availed himself to the opportunities.

but because there are no further services that the juvenile court can provide him at this time i am in agreement with probation's recommendation. >> mr. letourso. >> i'm going to agree with probation's recommendation. he did not walk away from these programs without getting anything out of them. so i think he's sincere in wanting to turn himself around. and i also think that the stay in the cooke county jail of the illinois d.o.c. was an eye-opening experience because i kept telling him rick if you keep going the way you're going, i'm going to see you across the street over in the criminal division, and i don't think he got it. and i think he gets it now, now that he's had a taste of cooke county. strange setting -- i got on this case three years ago, maybe four. and it's strange sitting next to him right now because he's taller than i am and when the case started out -- he's taller and bigger than i am and when

the case started out i dwarfed him. so he's grown up quite a bit. while it hasn't been the greatest success in terms of the services that were provided i think he did get something out of it. and i think since he has good support in this community i believe that there's a good chance that he will not reoffend and hopefully he'll be a productive adult and not find himself, as i say, across the street. >> there's a lot of bumps in the road of life. and hopefully, you'll get over those bumps because we're not going to be here to hold your hand anymore. around the world that sell stolen identities? >> 30-year-old american man, excellent credit rating. >> announcer: lifelock monitors thousands of these sites 24 hours a day. and if we discover any of our members' data for sale lifelock is there with the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. [♪...] [squealing, crash]

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so i think he's sincere in wanting to turn himself around. i also think that the stay in the cooke county jail in the illinois -- >> repeat offender ricky paisano may or may not continue to live a life of crime. but what is certain is that he will never appear in juvenile court again.

ricky is now 18 years old and an adult in the eyes of the law. therefore, judge bonaventura is out of options. she could let him go if she feels he's not a threat to himself or the community. she could send him off to juvenile prison. or she might waive him to the adult justice system. >> thank you. i think that listening to your description of him sitting next to you and him being bigger than you really strikes a chord with me in that it's really sad. here's a young man who has sort of grown up in our system. by some people's opinions it might be that he has failed because he left the program before he was supposed to. but that isn't going to make me give up on -- on children. and that's up until a few weeks ago what he was, was a child. and just because you reach that magical age does not make you an adult. it's what you do after that with your life that makes you a grownup and a man and an adult. there's a lot of bumps in the road of life.

and hopefully you'll get over those bumps because we're not going to be there to hold your hand anymore. you'll have to do that by yourself. good luck to you mr. paisano. i hope you get your life turned around. this will be the last time we see you in this court. good afternoon. this hearing's adjourned. >> turning 18 could have meant a trip to the adult prison system. instead, judge bon aventura decides ricky should begin his adult life with a fresh start. >> thank you, god. i got so nervous when they put me on the stand. i got nervous. i got so nervous. as soon as my lawyer read off the report that my probation officer said he recommends i get released i was like wow, because me and my probation officer wasn't -- we wasn't like this. we wasn't like that. >> you just won the lottery, dude. >> yeah. yes. >> i don't want to read about

you doing something stupid. >> you're not going to. i promise you won't. i got a girl. i got a good girl. i'll be fine. >> after spending four years in and out of detention and the last 34 days locked up 18-year-old ricky is finally free of the juvenile justice system. >> a new start on life for you? >> yeah. >> given the way things went today? >> that's the first time -- that's the first time the court said something good about me. >> i could have given him more time in our detention center. but i think that the taxpayers have spent enough money. and he's already being supervised by another system. he's on parole. so hopefully, that'll give him some, you know, supervision to the extent that he won't go out and reoffend. you know we can't save everybody. i know that. but you know what? i'm going to keep trying. >> i'm glad to be free. even though it's a crazy day. i don't care. i'm so happy.

you don't understand. spent four birthdays locked up. 15th, 16th,