Dimitri was 16 when he first got in trouble with the law. He didn’t care. The only thing that really mattered to him was his rap music.

"In training" as a future rap star, Dimitri and his boom box were constant companions. He took the box everywhere - walking down the street or shopping at the mall. Always, there was the boom box with the volume wide-open.

The neighbors got fed up with constant loud rap music. So did the mall merchants. Dimitri laughed at complaints. "I don’t care if they don’t like my music - that’s their problem," said the boy. Soon, Dimitri would view music altogether differently.

A neighborhood association repeatedly signed formal complaints against Dimitri for his noisemaking. Each time the boy’s parents paid a small fine and promised an end to their son’s noise pollution. But the rap music did not stop. Finally, reports of complaints of loud rap music reached the police chief and the office of the mayor. Dimitri was taken into custody. Because he was a juvenile, the charges against him were handled in Family Court.

While the judge explained the charges, Dimitri tapped his feet and snapped his fingers as if listening to his beloved music on headphones. Dimitri was living in another world. The judge sentenced the boy to an indeterminate sentence in Juvenile Hall.

"I can handle that - no problemo," bragged Dimitri to the judge. A few hours later the boy was locked in a solitary room. He had not listened closely when the judge read his confinement order, so it came as a terrible shock when Dimitri heard, coming from speakers mounted behind the walls of his room, the recorded sounds of Lawrence Welk and his "elevator music," playing on-and-on around the clock for the entire length of his sentence.