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May 26, 2008
NYTimes calls for end to "barbaric practice" of housing juveniles in adult prisons
The New York Times (5/23) editorializes that "[c]hildren who are confined to adult jails are at greater risk of being raped, battered, or pushed to suicide," and are also "more likely to become violent criminals than children handled through the juvenile justice system. When Congress reauthorizes the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, it should press the states to end this barbaric practice."
Currently, "laws in more than 40 states permit adult courts to try children as young as 14." According to the Times, it comes as no surprise that "these young people are much more likely to harm themselves in adult jails than in juvenile facilities. Those who survive often return to their communities as damaged people who are much more likely to commit crimes and return to prison."
Calling the "current system...counterproductive and inhumane," the Times concludes that Congress "should require all states that receive federal juvenile justice aid to refrain from housing people under the age of 18 in adult jails, except for those accused of the most serious crimes, like rape and murder."
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Posted by admin at May 26, 2008 11:55 AM