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.
“Moira O’Neill, director of the OCA, said communication is key to preventing the long-term negative effects on a child’s mental and physical health that studies have shown can come from exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including parental incarceration. “We need to lessen the negative impact on a child’s well-being and development in difficult circumstances,” she said.“
New Hampshire Union Leader
May 11, 2019
Read More“Instead of imposing sentences that help rehabilitate juvenile offenders so they return to their communities with the skills, judgment and motivation to contribute, the system instead broadcasts to 15, 16 and 17-year-olds that they’ve blown their chance at a future and their fate is set, no matter their willingness to make amends. How discouraging that Oregon’s communities would believe themselves to be so fragile.“
The Oregonian
April 28, 2019
Read More“Why should people be cut off from the logic of having a separate youth justice system—that people change, that people grow, that people should not be defined by an act—because they are a day over 18? A new Illinois reform (House Bill 531), signed into law this month by Governor J.B. Pritzker, defies the usual pattern that in the United States even bold youth justice reforms stop at the age of majority, if not earlier.“
The Appeal Political Report
April 25, 2019
Read More“On a vote of 20-10, the Senate passed SB 1008 Tuesday. It is the distillation of several bills from earlier this session dealing with juvenile sentencing. The most significant proposals include: removing the requirement that 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds be charged as adults for certain crimes; establishing the process for "second look" hearings half-way through a sentence being served by a juvenile convicted in adult court; banning life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders; and allowing hearings to determine if people in Oregon Youth Authority custody should be turned over to adult prisons when they reach 27.“
Salem Statesman Journal
April 16, 2019
Read More“For example, the right to legal counsel is a fundamental constitutional right — yet I personally know that many children don’t fully understand the lawyer’s role (nor a judge or jury for that matter) in representing someone accused of a crime. How then can such a child knowingly and voluntarily waive the right to counsel?“
Honolulu Civil Beat
March 22, 2019
Read More“Prison reform is a major topic within the national political conversation. For many incarcerated people, the path to jail begins in the teen years; at any given time, roughly 50,000 young people are held in juvenile prisons. Johnnie McDaniels, former executive director of the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, shares a brief but spectacular take on the "revolving door" of juvenile corrections.“
PBS News Hour
March 7, 2019
Read More“In this first phase of the Raise the Age law, the state will no longer automatically arrest, detain and prosecute 17-year-olds as adults when the teens are accused of nonviolent crimes. That change, advocates hope, will better rehabilitate youth, but many officials worry how it will affect an already underfunded and, often, outdated juvenile justice system.“
The Advocate
February 28, 2019
Read More“The Department of Justice abruptly ended its oversight of juvenile court in Tennessee’s Shelby County in October, saying it “applauds Shelby County’s reform efforts” and declaring it a success. But the department’s own monitor tells a different story: The county is still engaging in “blatantly unfair” practices that hurt children.“
The Appeal
February 1, 2019
Read More“While New York has long had the power to transfer inmates, defense lawyers and inmate advocates criticized the increase as an end-run around the city’s own rules, adding that it undermined Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise to reform the criminal justice system.“
New York Times
December 28, 2018
Read More“The underlying purpose of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is to use the promise of federal money to ensure four ‘core protections’ for children in states’ youth justice systems. These include not locking kids up for age-based ‘status offenses’ such as truancy, running away and curfew violations; removing them from adult jails, with few exceptions; always keeping them separate from adult inmates; and making states research and address racial disparities.“
The Marshall Project
December 13, 2018
Read More“Included in the bill are four core standards for state juvenile justice practice: not jailing youth for committing age-based status offenses like truancy and curfew violations; removing juvenile offenders from adult jails and prisons; ensuring sight and sound separation in the exception of any juveniles incarcerated in adult facilities; and committing to address disproportional minority contact (DMC) in the juvenile justice system.“
Sojourners
December 13, 2018
Read More“The underlying purpose of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is to use the promise of federal money to ensure four “core protections” for children in states’ youth justice systems. These include not locking kids up for age-based “status offenses” such as truancy, running away and curfew violations; removing them from adult jails, with few exceptions; always keeping them separate from adult inmates; and making states research and address racial disparities.“
The Marshall Project
December 13, 2018
Read More“After losing his bench in a Democratic sweep, Harris County Juvenile Court Judge Glenn Devlin released nearly all of the youthful defendants that appeared in front him on Wednesday morning, simply asking the kids whether they planned to kill anyone before letting them go. ‘He was releasing everybody,’ said public defender Steven Halpert, who watched the string of surprising releases. ‘Apparently he was saying that's what the voters wanted’.“
Houston Chronicle
November 7, 2018
Read More“A child’s brain begins to develop before birth and continues into their mid-20s. If they are incarcerated before they are fully developed while their brains are ripe for learning, what happens? The question is what does incarceration teach these children? They are not being trained to use judgement and to make good decisions. They are instead being trained to depend on others for all decisions, including the basics of where to go, when to eat, what to wear. They are also learning to be alert and afraid at all times for danger that they are powerless to escape.“
Pensacola News Journal
November 6, 2018
Read More“Before 2009, L.A. County’s Probation Department regularly charged parents and guardians of juvenile delinquents fees for some of the costs associated with their child’s detention. At the time, the fee was $23.63 a day for juvenile halls and $11.94 a day for probation camps. Collection efforts included intercepting state tax refunds, putting liens on property and, in some cases, garnishing wages.“
LA Times
October 9, 2018
Read More“Researchers at the project used the Wayback Machine, which archives billions of internet pages, to compare today’s web pages with pre-Trump offerings. The findings suggest that under new leadership the juvenile justice branch of the Department of Justice has begun to change its messaging in order to reflect a tougher federal approach to children that emphasizes punishment over rehabilitation.“
The Guardian
October 4, 2018
Read More“Since last week, when the city’s youngest offenders began moving into Horizon Juvenile Center, there have been at least five violent episodes. These brawls among inmates have caused dozens of injuries to correction officers assigned to the center, union leaders said.“
New York Times
October 3, 2018
Read More“Seventeen-year-olds are still maturing and developing their ability to reason, which makes them particularly amenable to rehabilitative programs. Indeed, unlike the adult system, the juvenile justice system allows these youth to receive age-appropriate services while staying connected with their family and community. In addition, when 17-year-olds are treated as minors, it guarantees parents the right to be involved in their child’s legal proceedings.“
Detroit News
October 1, 2018
Read More“The state Juvenile Justice Commission has seen its share of young inmates committed to its facilities fall 85 percent since 2003, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said during a graduation ceremony at the New Jersey Training School in Monroe Township.“
New Jersey Star Ledger
September 28, 2018
Read More“New York State’s “Raise the Age” law requires adolescents be housed in detention centers — not adult jails — where they can receive age-appropriate services. In the city, 16- and 17-year-old detainees will be moved from Rikers Island by Oct. 1. In 2017, New York and North Carolina were the last two states to stop automatically prosecuting adolescents as adults.“
New York Times
September 28, 2018
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