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NY Times Editorial

July 3, 2008

Don�t Teach Our Children Crime

Under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, the states agreed to humanize their often Dickensian juvenile justice systems in exchange for increased federal aid. This promising arrangement collapsed in the 1990s during hysteria about an adolescent crime wave that never materialized. The states intensified all kinds of punishments for children and sent large numbers to adult jails where, research has shown, they are more likely to be battered, traumatized and transformed into hard-core, recidivist criminals.

Congress is in the process of reauthorizing the law, and it ought to bar the states from housing children in adult jails, except for the most heinous crimes. Sadly, the updated version of the law, recently introduced in the Senate, falls short of that goal. But it does include a number of farsighted measures that discourage the placement of children in adult jails during the pretrial period and expands protections for children charged as adults.

The need for these measures is alarmingly evident in a report issued last year by the Campaign for Youth Justice, an advocacy group. The report found that as many as 150,000 people under the age of 18 are held in adult jails in any given year. More than half of young people who are transferred into the adult system are never convicted as adults � and many are never convicted at all.

The Senate bill takes a comprehensive approach to these issues. It would considerably tighten rules aimed at keeping children out of adult jails during pretrial periods. Children arrested for truancy, running away or other offenses that would not be criminal if committed by an adult would not be placed in juvenile jail unless absolutely necessary.

It also would require the states to work toward reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. It increases federal funding for technical assistance and for drug treatment, mental health care, mentoring and after-care programs that keep children out of the juvenile system in the first place. The bill advocates an evidence-based approach to hand out the money.

Jailing and criminalizing young Americans causes a lot more crime than it punishes or prevents. This bill represents an important step toward rational and compassionate justice for troubled children.

Juvenile Justice

Some changes would improve legislation in the Senate.

The Washington Post

Sunday, July 13, 2008; B06

SINCE 1974, federal law has required that juveniles picked up for breaking the law be kept separate from alleged adult offenders -- and for good reason. Juveniles held in adult facilities are more likely to be attacked, more likely to commit crimes once released and more likely to commit suicide than those held in facilities that house only minors. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider reauthorizing an updated version of the 1974 bill. The Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2008 strengthens protections for juveniles while safeguarding judicial discretion to deal with exceptional cases. It also calls for preservation and expansion of programs that have been particularly effective in combating delinquency and crime among youth, including mentoring and after-school supervision. The bill should be passed, with some changes.

Over the past decade, an increasing number of states have adopted laws allowing juveniles to be charged as adults for certain serious crimes; prosecutors in these jurisdictions often have the last word on charging decisions.

Article from Toledoblade.com published Saturday, July 26, 2008

It's cruel to sentence teens ages 13, 14 to die in prison

By ROSE RUSSELL

Let's be clear: Teens who commit offenses deserve to be punished. Toledo has had its share. But sending such young ones to prison for life is barbaric. Animal rights activists work to recoup the life of abused, neglected, and abandoned animals. Why not the same for teen offenders?

In steps the Equal Justice Initiative of Montgomery, Ala., and New York City. The nonprofit agency objects to the policy of sending teens 13 and 14 to die in prison. No other country does that.

Bryan Stevenson, distinguished in his own right, is the founder and executive director of the agency, which provides legal counsel for poor defendants and prisoners denied fair and just legal treatment. He is a Harvard Law School graduate who could easily command a salary at any major law firm. But the nationally known professor and lecturer prefers to wage these battles, and passionately works to get the youths resentenced with a chance for parole.

About 2,300 juveniles currently serve sentences for life in prison without parole. EJI has taken up the cause in 73 of the most egregious cases where the offenders got life sentences when they were 13 or 14.

The haunting images of some of the incarcerated teens in an EJI publication should help convince even the deeply cynical that the policy is misguided and in need of change. Immigrants flock to America because it offers hope. This policy removes every glimmer of hope from these juveniles.

One of the youths featured in "Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-year-old Children to Die in Prison," is Kuntrell Jackson. At 14, he was charged in a store robbery and shooting that prosecutors conceded was carried out by another teen. But Arkansas sentenced him to die in prison.

In California, police chased a car that Antonio Nunez of South Central Los Angeles was in with two older men. When one man said he was kidnapped, Antonio, who was 14, and the other man, 27, were charged with kidnapping. No one was injured, but Antonio was sentenced to prison for life. EJI says he is the only child sent to prison for life in a case in which no one died.

Florida sentenced Ian Manuel in a robbery in which a woman received a nonfatal gunshot wound. He was 13. His attorney said he would get 15 years, so he pled guilty. He got life. The victim has petitioned for his release. Florida demands life in prison.

The Eighth Amendment says, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Though these penalties are handed to 13 and 14-year-olds, the issue gets little attention.

The Nevada Supreme Court struck down a life without parole sentence that was imposed on a 13-year-old. The court said it was a "denial of hope."

If there is no reason for these teens to behave, then there is no reason for them to act humanely. We expect better from our pets.

Earlier this year, though, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said torture may be appropriate when there is an immediate terrorist threat. He also said it was "extraordinary" to assume that the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment also applied to "so-called" torture.

Something else he said brought these teens to mind: "To begin with the Constitution � is referring to punishment for crime. And, for example, incarcerating someone indefinitely would certainly be cruel and unusual punishment for crime."

Rose Russell is a Blade associate editor.

E-mail [email protected]

IF YOU cup your ear, you won't hear many objections from the public to the sentencing of teens ages 13 and 14 to die behind bars - sometimes for crimes in which no one was killed, in which they were also victims in some manner, and on charges that lawyers should have challenged.

And no. We're not talking about a Third World nation where the military or a dictator rules. It happens in this country.

Though it's a result of America's zeal to deal with high crime rates and wayward youth, what kind of country incarcerates for life such young offenders with other juveniles or with adults who get starry eyed about showing them the prison ropes?

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Those jurisdictions often also require that these juveniles be held in adult facilities. Under the proposed bill, even juveniles charged as adults must be held in juvenile facilities or out of "sound and sight" of adults in adult facilities unless a judge specifically orders otherwise. A judge must take into account the alleged offender's age, his physical and mental maturity, and the nature of the crime, among other factors; a judge must review every 30 days the decision to send a juvenile to an adult facility. This approach is sensible. The bill should be amended to explicitly allow prosecutors and other state officials to flag for the judge juveniles they believe would be a danger to other minors and so would be better held in adult quarters.

The legislation also takes a step in the right direction by setting stricter limits on detentions for status offenders -- those youths who are picked up for skipping school or running away from home. Such youths have not committed crimes and would not have been locked up for these infractions had they been adults. Studies show that these juveniles -- and the community -- are better served when they are directed to mentoring or school-based programs. As it is, judges in many jurisdictions may hold juveniles indefinitely for status offenses; the proposed bill would limit that to seven days. That's an improvement, but lawmakers should consider eliminating these detentions altogether.

The Congressional Budget Office has not yet estimated the cost of the new juvenile justice bill. According to Justice Department figures, the existing version of the law cost taxpayers just under $300 million last year -- real money but a fair price to pay for smart and effective programs.

Face-to-face meeting helps killer, victim's family move on

Teen who dropped boulder off overpass now working and in university

Jamie Hall, The Edmonton Journal

Published: Tuesday, August 05

NY Times Editorial on Conditions

August 28, 2008

Why Did Darryl Die?

Two years after a child died there, the Justice Department is conducting a much-needed investigation of New York�s Tryon Boys Residential Center, a juvenile facility in upstate Fulton County. The investigation could take a year or more to complete. But it has already shined a klieg light on disastrous juvenile justice policies, not just in New York, but all across the country.

All too often, juvenile justice facilities are operated by workers who have not been trained to handle the mentally ill children who make up much of the caseload. Facilities also overuse dangerous restraint and disciplinary practices in which children are handcuffed, hog tied, bound to chairs or wrestled to the floor and held down.

According to grand jury testimony, staff members at the Tryon Boys facility used the so-called prone restraint strategy against Darryl Thompson, an emotionally disturbed 15-year-old. He is said by the medical examiner to have died of arrhythmia.

The two large-framed men who forced Darryl onto the floor and held him there with their bodies say that they had no choice because the child was agitated and flailing about. There is no excuse for their failure to begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately after Darryl�s heart stopped. According to state officials, all three staff members who were present had been trained in C.P.R. and were required to administer it. None did.

The medical examiner labeled the death a homicide, but the grand jury declined to indict the two workers.

The Justice Department will not say why it is now investigating Tryon, but the problems there clearly have not ended. This summer, according to state officials, a staff member was caught on videotape punching a handcuffed child in the face.

Gladys Carri�n, the reform-minded commissioner of New York�s Office of Children and Family Services, took office soon after Darryl�s death. She has been struggling ever since to move New York away from a prison-style juvenile justice system that relies mainly on force toward one that focuses on rehabilitation. Like reformers elsewhere, she is encountering stiff resistance from the unions that represent the facilities� staff.

To remake the system, New York State will need to downsize some facilities. It will need to hire more mental health professionals and retrain current staff members, some of whom have been doing business the bad-old way for 25 years or more. The state needs to help cities and towns develop community-based treatment programs. New York City is sensibly moving in that direction. New York and all states have a responsibility to protect children, including those who have committed crimes.

Sarah Bryer, Director

National Juvenile Justice Network

202/467-0864 x 105

cell: 202/714-1162

www.njjn.org

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