Title: Judged By 12: An Explanatory Account of the School to Prison Pipeline
Author: Derrick Davis
Genre: Memoir
First Publication: 2020
Language: English
Themes: Poverty, Substance abuse, Drug dealing, Prison life
Narrator: First Person
Book Summary: Judged By 12 by Derrick Davis
Based on a true story, Judged By 12: An Explanatory Account of the School to Prison Pipeline delivers poignant insight into the numerous issues plaguing a forgotten society. From impulsive youth succumbing to misguided idolization of neighborhood drug dealers, to a biased predatorial justice system, infested with racism and bigotry, Judged By 12 gives a spellbinding account of it all.
A riveting yet inspiring, true story based on the life of a young man named Derrick Davis, better known in his Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood as “Buck”. Buck would find himself being recruited at the vulnerable age of 13 by older neighborhood drug dealers, and embarking on a path all too familiar to today’s urban societies.
Judged by 12: An Explanatory Account of the School to Prison Pipeline offers readers the capacity to understanding hidden truths which will prove inspirational to all HUMAN BEINGS, regardless of their political views, or lack thereof.
Book Review: Judged By 12 by Derrick Davis
Judged by 12 was an incredible story about an unbelievable subject. The book starts off with 13 year old Derrick Davis, known as Buck, recruited by drug dealer in Southwest Philadelphia. With this, his saga starts. He is tortured by the drug police, but the interesting part of the story comes when he is actually shifted to the prison. I won’t elaborate much on this since Derrick Davis talks in detail about it.
No matter how you feel about drugs, the author brilliantly and ambitiously unmasks the underground netherworld of drug smuggling, and humanizes a notoriously inhuman trade. Though the book is more than just a tale of drug smuggling, it’s a manifesto on our culture’s moral compass, which begs the question: why would a member of society resort to drug smuggling?
Judged by 12 is an incredibly thought stimulating and emotionally challenging insight into the motivation of a drug trafficker and his fight to survive the prison life full of the corruption. The focus of the book is on Derrick Davis’ prison tours. The novelty of the book did work on me and I enjoyed reading it. The kind of corruption and violence rampant within the prison was horrifying. The book is well worth a read if only to know and understand something that we have never come across before.
Derrick Davis’ writing style is real, giving his readers small punctuated glimpses into the drug trade, prison life, and the reality of often overblown sentencing laws. He never shies away from admitting his mistakes, and gets a bit introspective at times while trying to just hang on and make it through another day.
Judged by 12 is well written, and didn’t come across as a “poor pitiful me” kind of story which it easily could have. Au contraire, it is more of a look at a man who screwed up, paid the price, and got himself out of the hole of his former existence. I’d recommend it to people who are interested in personal or inspirational memoirs, or people who are interested in reading about the drug trade.
