Former
Juvenile Offender Finds Purpose in Media Productions for At-Risk Youth
October 2003
Joe Giunta was exposed to the hard street life of New York City at a very
early age. His family moved to Florida in an attempt to keep him off the
streets and out of trouble. Little did they realize that Joe was only
bringing the New York City street life back to Florida with him. "They took
me off the streets, but they didn't get the streets out of me," he said.
Joe and his wife Jessica with little Joey.
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It didn't take Joe long to find trouble
once he got to Florida. At first it was just stealing little
things and selling them to get some petty cash. But eventually
he started selling Marijuana and other drugs until he was
introduced to Ecstasy. After learning everything he needed
to know about running his own business on the streets, Joe
became the biggest Ecstasy dealer in the county. He even
found himself robbing other drug dealers.
His street life would soon catch up with him after stealing a car and
selling it to a chop shop. The police were tipped off to Joe's criminal
activity after one of his partner's in crime "ratted" him out. He was
arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center where he would be facing a
long sentence of incarceration.
During his stay at the detention center, Joe heard the Gospel for the first
time. He was given his first Bible and started reading it from cover to
cover. When Joe went to court for his sentencing, the judge granted him a
merciful penalty by sentencing him to a short term offender program at a
wilderness camp.
While at the camp, he went to chapel services every week, spent most of his
recreation time studying the Bible, and continued to grow in his faith.
After Joe was released from the program, he stayed in touch with Jimmy
Larche of Breakaway, who took Joe to church and other youth events.
When Breakaway started producing their new
television program Breakaway TV (a program dedicated to
producing cutting edge, culturally relevant video presentations
for at-risk youth), Joe was one of the first young people
to express an interest in the internship program that opened
up to help former youth offenders learn vocational skills
in media production by participating in Breakaway TV productions.
Joe has been actively involved with filming,
interviewing and co-hosting episodes for Breakaway TV, and
says that for him, it is an "awesome way to share his
testimony with other kids who are in trouble" while
learning valuable skills that can help shape his future.
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