The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/juvenile-justice/)
Javarick Henderson Jr., 13, was accused of fatally stabbing his grandmother. A prosecutor insisted on indicting him, thrusting him into an adult criminal justice system experts say can’t address needs of a 13-year-old.
Despite the sharp drop in youth incarceration since 2000, racial disparities and unsafe conditions afflict those who remain under confinement, according to a study by the Prison Policy Initiative — and a large number could be released without endangering public safety.
Citing the wrongful conviction of five teens in the 1989 Central Park Five Case, a New York City official involved in the Barnard College student stabbing investigation said, “We have to be very careful, not rush to judgment, because it’s absolutely going to be compared to the Central Park Five.”
Voters and elected officials who oppose laws passed in New York and other states to raise the age of criminal responsibility might use the case as an example of a need to maintain tougher approaches on youth crime, says one expert.
So-called “precision policing” aimed at cracking down on gang violence has subjected thousands of youths to “harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and threats,” according to a recent report.
Bureau of Justice Statistics reports the number of youths in the nation’s juvenile correctional facilities who reported being sexually victimized has decreased.
The arrests were made after officials released security videos that showed the teens running undetected through the empty hallways of the facility and escaping through the front door. Three employees of the privately managed center were fired.
Since the Columbine High School attack two decades ago, at least 33 underage shooters have killed someone on a K-12 campus. Do they deserve to be imprisoned with no chance of release?
North Dakota, Colorado, and Idaho are the newest states accepted into the “Restoring Promise” program piloted by the Vera Institute of Justice. The program is modeled on incarceration strategies used in Europe that provide less rigid environments for young offenders.
Children were sent to isolation after refusing to do classwork, for swearing, for spilling milk, for throwing Legos. School employees use isolated timeout out of frustration or as punishment, sometimes referring to it as “serving time,” find Pro Publica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune.