The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/juvenile-justice/)
The prospect of not having in-person schooling in the fall poses a serious problem for justice-involved young people, a webinar on “Reimagining Juvenile Justice” was told Tuesday.
Laws and practices that treat justice-involved young people as though they were “little adults” fail to make communities safer, subject youth to harmful conditions of confinement, and drive racial disparities, write two advocates for reform.
A report published Thursday by the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance (CJJA) calls on state and city leaders to invest in eliminating racial inequalities. Giving the report extra weight is the fact that recommendations come from impacted young people themselves.
The increase parallels a national rise in homicides involving all age groups in 2014 and 2015. Still, one expert calls it a “disconcerting” exception to a sharp drop in delinquency cases to a level lower than in 1969.
A 14-year-old boy was sentenced Monday to the maximum sentence for his role in the robbery and murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors last year, which led to outrage across New York City.
Young people who are treated with respect and given a “voice” in their encounters with juvenile court are likely to avoid further involvement in the justice system, according to a study by the Centre for Justice Innovation at London’s Birkbeck College of Law.
No parent would want their child placed in a bare room by themselves for days or weeks. But that’s exactly how we are treating young people housed in juvenile facilities during the coronavirus pandemic, write two youth advocates.
Massachusetts and California will debate whether to send most cases involving 18- and 19-year olds to juvenile courts. A bill in Massachusetts would raise the age to 20 but a task force on “emerging adults” made no recommendation.
While youth incarceration has dropped 54 percent between 2005 and 2017, extreme racial and ethnic disparities have created in effect two juvenile justice systems. A pilot project by the Annie E. Casey Foundation has produced early impressive results in narrowing the gap.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says in a policy statement that the coronavirus pandemic is a compelling reason to rethink how authorities deal with justice-involved youth. “Those incarcerated for substance use or other nonviolent offenses…may be better off remaining in their community with services in place,” wrote Dr. Mikah C. Owen, the lead author.