'Lost Boys' may get help with life skills
Youths ousted from polygamous groups 'go wild' without limits
Now the "sins" some of them are committing include drug possession, public intoxication and assault.
"They get kicked out and they just go wild," said Elaine Tyler of The Hope Organization, an advocacy group for people who are leaving or have been cast out of polygamy. "They don't have decisionmaking skills and they're just making dumb choices."
Now, the group is urging southern Utah prosecutors to help the "Lost Boys" who are getting caught up in the criminal justice system by offering alternatives to jail or prison when they're sentenced.
"We're totally receptive to this idea," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said. "We're seeking to implement it. I'd like to see them gain the sort of skills that can help them succeed with jobs, education and in their personal lives."
The Deseret Morning News has obtained a list of names culled from the Purgatory Jail and court records of people that advocates consider to be "Lost Boys." The ones in the adult system are no older than 21. Police have said the youngest they've referred to juvenile court is 14.
Utah's attorney general has said the "Lost Boys" have been kicked out of Hildale and Colorado City simply because of the need for older men to have women as plural wives, making the young men unwanted excess males. The boys who get kicked out of the polygamist communities often find themselves on the streets with no home, little money and no future. It's far different from the rigid structure of life within the FLDS Church, Tyler said.
"I think all of a sudden they've got so much temptation that they've never had before and they've got freedom," she said, adding that some of the kids have started using drugs or alcohol. Others commit more serious crimes.
The Hope Organization recently asked the Washington County Attorney to intervene in the "Lost Boys" criminal cases, by pushing judges to enroll the young men in the Job Corps instead of having them sent to jail. Job Corps is a government-administered program that helps young people learn trades and gain an education.
"What we're going to seek to do is ask for sentencing to include life skills classes, counseling, GED, having full-time employment or going to school full time, getting enrolled in Job Corps," Belnap said. "Those are the kinds of things we want included for anyone emerging from a closed society."
You can be the first to comment on this story.