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.
“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“The stunning transmission of criminality from parents to kids doesn’t mean that some families are cursed to an eternity of crime: There’s no immutable “crime gene” that’s passed down from generation to generation.“
The Atlantic
October 22, 2018
Read More“The justices ruled 5-4 that trial courts may not impose a minimum term of life, as that would mean a life without parole sentence, for people convicted of committing a crime when they were younger than 18 years old. The sentencing ‘constitutes cruel punishment,’ and doesn’t achieve the legal goals of retribution or deterrence because children are less culpable than adults, it said. Children convicted of crimes, including the highest degree of murder, are also entitled in Washington to special protections from sentencing courts when possible, the court said.“
Seattle Times
October 18, 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“These rules are turning a holiday that used to celebrate childhood independence—out they went, on their own, to get to know their neighbors, to get brave by facing the dark, to get goodies by being bold and ringing doorbells—into an orgy of adult supervision, regulation, and anxiety. The time frame gets shorter as the rules grow, all seemingly based on the idea that anyone above age 12 is a potential hooligan, anyone under age 12 is a potential victim, and any semblance of fun must be thrown out faster than a Kit Kat bar with a slightly torn wrapper.“
Reason Magazine
October 8, 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
Read More“Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation for inmates and works to end mass incarceration. Stevenson, who has won national acclaim for his work as an advocate for poor, neglected and marginalized people in America, recently adapted his 2014 bestseller “Just Mercy” for young adult readers. It takes a close look at the justice system and details his challenges as a lawyer fighting injustice.“
CBS 12 Chattanooga
September 19, 2018
Read More“A little-known Justice Department agency is supposed to tackle this problem: the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which has been mandated by Congress since 1988 to try to shrink the racial gap by providing grants and training to local juvenile courts and law enforcement agencies. In return, states receiving federal dollars must gather data on inequality, explore why it’s happening and pursue solutions.“
The Marshall Project
September 19, 2018
Read More“One juvenile inmate, referred to in the report as “John Doe,” whose case served as the focal point for the Disability Rights investigation, spent approximately 99 of his first 234 days in solitary confinement, according to Disability Rights' findings.“
Billings Gazette
September 17, 2018
Read More“He has a diagnosed mental illness. They call it disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. It can cause frequent, intense outbursts. He has had an Individualized Education Plan for emotional disturbance since he was in kindergarten. His mother lugs around four backpacks crammed with documents describing his challenges and his medical and behavioral needs. Still, she struggles to get him the support he needs at school.“
The Tennessean
September 10, 2018
Read More"Researchers contend that convicted youth who are served in the community are significantly less likely to re-offend than if they are confined—regardless of their offense type—making everyone in the community safer. Assigning young people to community-based supervision is also significantly more cost-effective than confinement, and it mitigates the disproportionate impact of confinement in the justice system on youth of color, authors wrote."
The Crime Report
September 5, 2018
Read More"One Sunday morning in April, a supervisor at New Orleans' Youth Study Center pulled out a lined notebook used to document activity inside the city's juvenile jail, and scrawled in black ink a brief description of what would be the first in a series of troubling incidents that day."
New Orleans Times Picayune
August 23, 2018
Read More"Sadly, the Texas Department of Juvenile Justice has been making policy decisions about juvenile offenders with inaccurate data for more than two years. That's because the department is using an outdated, faulty data system that was developed in-house more than 25 years ago. The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday that these problems have led to compromised decisions regarding treatment costs, staffing ratios, re-incarceration rates and health care costs, to name a few. This is unacceptable."
Dallas Morning News
August 17, 2018
Read More"Of the 22 children I cared for at our clinic on a single day last week, five were exposed to this serious health risk. A 6-month-old not rolling over yet. Two 7-year-olds – one was suddenly not doing well in school, and the other was exhibiting all the signs of ADHD. A remarkably sullen 11-year-old. A teen who was emotionally disengaged from everything she once found exciting. The public health crisis all these children share: having a parent in prison."
Philadelphia Inquirer
August 15, 2018
Read More"As the law now stands, teens aged 14 and older who are charged with certain serious offenses can be sent to adult court for adjudication at the behest of a judge via what’s called a transfer hearing. Young teens charged with murder and some sexual offenses are automatically transferred to adult court."
Chronicle of Social Change
August 14, 2018
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