SITO

It’s not often that an academic finds their area of expertise bound up inextricably with their personal life, affecting the people they love. But for Princeton University anthropology professor Laurence Ralph, a noted expert on the conditions and systems that perpetuate gangs and youth violence in the U.S., a phone call in the middle of the night in September 2019 did just that.

In his book SITO: An American Teenager and the City That Failed Him (Grand Central Publishing; on sale February 20, 2024; hardcover; $30.00), Ralph writes about the short life and tragic death of his wife’s 19-year-old family member, Luis Alberto Quiñonez, who was killed in broad daylight, in retaliation for a gang-related murder it was known he did not commit.

Ralph is a gifted writer, telling a singularly American tale: how a young man who tried to steer clear of gangs ended up loosely affiliated with the wrong people, was accused by the San Francisco police and city attorney of murder (while evidence proving Sito’s innocence was ignored for months), and how his struggle to move beyond this event—and to become a criminal justice reform activist—was cut short by another youth who couldn’t surrender the idea of Sito’s guilt. Ralph unflinchingly guides us through the aftermath of Sito’s death, showing how a personal connection to tragedy can upend everything you think you believe about fairness, compassion, and the rule of law.

“By the time Sito died, I had both studied and witnessed violence while working in Chicago as an ethnographer. In fact, I had grown accustomed to dissecting trauma from a distance. But ever since the night Nero called with the horrific news, I was finding it increasingly hard to be an objective third party to grief,” Laurence writes. “I felt like my professional accomplishments and expertise were mocking me. In seeking justice for Sito’s death, I didn’t have the answers I thought I should. I didn’t fully understand what justice for this murder could and should look like, especially because the perpetrator was only seventeen.”

Within the book is a parallel narrative: Ralph delivers a research-backed, clear-eyed assessment of the flawed way the American juvenile justice system operates. Even San Francisco—one of the most progressive cities in the nation—claims to give those accused of crime a fair trial, but from first contact with police through to the courtroom, the facts show otherwise. The media often piles on, sensationalizing cases involving juveniles, all but guaranteeing the accusations against them won’t be forgotten, even when their names are cleared. Children are imprisoned in facilities that would break the strongest adults, and while inside, their mental health and safety are diminished in countless ways. They are offered little to nothing in terms of support, rehabilitation, or learning. And upon their release, it’s difficult if not impossible for these young people to break the bonds that offered them safety and belonging both before and during their time in jail.

In the book, Ralph shows that alternatives to incarceration are proven to work far better in helping young people stay out of prison and change their lives. And he makes a powerful case for the federal government to step in and set new standards for the treatment of young people accused or convicted of crimes.

With SITO, Ralph has delivered a masterful book offering an intimate look at how a national tragedy unfolds for families across the nation.