Nationally, on any given night, approximately 81,000 youth are confined to juvenile facilities and 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons. Approximately 1 in 10 young male high school dropouts is incarcerated or in juvenile detention. For African Americans, that number is 1 in 4. Research shows that just over two million youth under the age of 18 were arrested in 2008. Of these two million, about 95 percent had not been accused of violent crimes. In 2010, of the nearly 100,000 youth under the age of 18 who were serving time in a juvenile residential placement facility, 26 percent had been convicted of property crimes only, such as burglary, arson, or theft. Access to education both stems the tide of incarceration and improves inmates chances of re-acclimating to society after their release.
“Stunning annual crime statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) show that between 2013 and 2018 (the most recent year for which complete data is available), at least 30,467 children under the age of 10 were arrested in the United States. And the numbers skyrocket for children between the ages of 10 to 12 with 266,321 arrested during the same six-year time span, according to the data.“
ABC News
October 1, 2019
Read More“Field trips are a must. The students visit dependency court, delinquency court and a commitment program. We focus on the science of developing brains and current changes in juvenile law, such as limiting life without parole sentences, tossing out false confessions and revoking mandatory laws charging juvenile as adults. And we remember our mantra: Kids are not short adults; kids do stupid things; kids need a responsible parent(s); kids need to feel safe, to be loved and to have hope.“
Tampa Bay Times
September 5, 2019
Read More“The number of children charged as adults in Philadelphia has been cut in half under District Attorney Larry Krasner, according to a review of court records by The Appeal. In the two years before Krasner took office, an average of 127 children were charged as adults. In 2018, Krasner’s first year in office, that number fell to less than 50, The Appeal found.“
The Appeal
August 30, 2019
Read More“Today, every developed nation has a separate court system for juveniles, based on concepts of rehabilitation, proportionality and confidentiality. It represents a second chance for young people, who are by nature more impulsive and prone to risk-taking. It is shocking, then, that over a century later the United States leads these nations in punitive, cruel and inhumane practices against children and adolescents who come into conflict with the law. A visiting judge from the Netherlands recently commented that she didn’t understand what went wrong.“
Chicago Sun Times
August 26, 2019
Read More“While many of the regulations and protocol surrounding juvenile justice are state-based, the widespread issues are national. There are far too many American children incarcerated, given a record, neglected from developmental resources, then expected to re-enter society with an understanding of how to behave. Perhaps, instead of debating tweets, it’s time for our country’s “leaders” to thoughtfully discuss changes to our agencies and systems that foster America’s youth.“
Forbes
July 31, 2019
Read More“The bill had broad support from a cross-section of organizations and leaders. Leaders of the Oregon Department of Corrections and the Oregon Youth Authority supported it and so did the association that represents juvenile department directors. Dozens of retired Circuit Court and appellate judges from across the state submitted a letter to the Legislature encouraging a yes vote.“
The Oregonian
July 22, 2019
Read More“Only the barbed wire encircling the area showed the difference. The frequent use of the pool, built along with the facility in 1963, is now part of a series of progressive, rehabilitative programs that contributed to the 2018 Barbara Allen-Hagen Award, which recognizes youth detention centers that display a heightened focus on positive outcomes rather than punishment.“
Sacramento Bee
July 4, 2019
Read More“‘We agree that Bridge City and Swanson need to be closed; they’re too large, outdated and dangerous,’ said Rachel Gassert, the policy director for the children's rights center. But she also notes there is ‘no evidence that a youth prison model really works that well to rehabilitate children’.“
The Advocate
July 4, 2019
Read More“However, numerous studies have shown that children charged as adults are far more likely to reoffend than those who enter the juvenile system. One 2003 study in Pennsylvania found that children charged as adults were twice as likely to be rearrested within 18 months than children charged in juvenile court.“
The Appeal
June 27, 2019
Read More“Fonda has teamed up with Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, a youth program aimed at providing hope, training, and support to ex-cons and former gang members. Activists say the programs interrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline and reduce the number of young people in the criminal justice systems. Governor Newsom has vowed to end juvenile imprisonment in California as it stands.“
KSRO Sonoma County
June 21, 2019
Read More“I’ve been studying the juvenile justice system in my high school, learning what happens to kids who make mistakes and commit crimes. Even though kids sometimes make very bad choices by getting involved in very bad crimes (maybe the worst choices of their lives, so far), kids’ brains are not yet developed. As a result, the lack of impulse control from their developing brains contributes to children making very bad choices for a variety of reasons. Any adult who interacts with kids knows what I’m talking about.“
The Gazette
June 16, 2019
Read More““This dramatic decrease in youth incarceration has been driven by adopting approaches to youth justice that hold incarceration as a last resort,” said Craig DeRoche, senior vice president of Prison Fellowship. “
Yahoo Finance
June 12, 2019
Read More“Probation can be a source of support and positive engagement, but too often it is the cause of young people getting locked up. Many youths are locked up over violations of probation for small infractions and can be further affected by individual decisions made by probation officers who don’t necessarily have the best interest of youths in mind.“
San Francisco Chronicle
June 9, 2019
Read More“The ordinance requires the creation of a task force to develop home-like and rehabilitative centers in San Francisco to house youth offenders, including a secure site for those who pose a public safety threat. The board must review and approve final plans six months prior to the closure.“
San Francisco Chronicle
June 4, 2019
Read More“Busette began the panel discussion with a foundational question: ‘When we talk about juvenile records, what are we talking about?’ A salient theme was the common misconception that records are exclusive to the court system. In reality, they are extensive and diverse, routinely distributed across a wide spectrum of parties comprising law enforcement, housing, schools, and other entities.“
Brookings Institute
May 30, 2019
Read More“The expanded policy will allow teens suspected of offenses including first- and second-degree armed robbery, assault and burglary to qualify for the program, according to the Post. A spokeswoman for the mayor's office told the Post that the policy expansion would roughly triple the number of teens who could qualify for release without bail ahead of their court dates.“
The Hill
May 28, 2019
Read More“Still in her first month as the new director of the parish's Department of Juvenile Services, Wade exudes excitement as she discusses her plans for the city-parish agency, which includes the youth jail, probation and family services. Despite the challenges she knows lie ahead, including operating an aging facility built in 1952, Wade's determined to bring hope to the vulnerable population the juvenile system is meant to serve.“
The Advocate
May 28, 2019
Read More“Without leaders committed to helping heal incarcerated, traumatized youths and implement rehabilitative methods to improve the system, the problems will only continue to worsen and conditions will become increasingly dangerous. “
LA Times
May 28, 2019
Read More“In Sylmar, the conditions were so alarming that Gardner penned a three-page letter to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. In it, he described the officer-turned-whistleblower’s concerns about staff working to a “breaking point” because of officers calling in sick and the intense conditions requiring forced overtime among those who did report to work. “
LA Times
May 19, 2019
Read More“The district attorney said police officers and Juvenile Court judges have been pressured to go easy on youthful offenders, although he declined to identify the sources of that pressure. He also criticized a shift mandated by the City Council to arrest fewer juveniles for low-level “status offenses” like truancy and curfew violations. “
The Advocate
May 16, 2019
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