This essay powerfully describes the rise of a neoliberal or "casino capitalism" as a punishing state that has been largely ignored by the mainstream media but is actively resisted by young people around the world. I highlight the pervasive use of violence and the celebration of war-like values that are no longer restricted to a particular military ideology, but have become normalized throughout our entire society, especially in public schools that serve vulnerable student populations. I also portray how schools have become militarized and prison-like sites that criminalize the behavior of young people, particularly that of poor males, minorities, and immigrants. This imposition of violence on children constitutes the "punishing of youth" as the title alludes to, and depicts the substantial numbers of Latino children who move straight from a prison-like school to becoming inmates in the US's ever-increasing private, for-profit prison complex.