On December 10, 1948, in San Francisco, in the aftermath of the most brutal war the world had ever seen, a group of delegates gathered to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a simple 30-article document outlining the basic rights to which all humanity is entitled and which all governments should respect, protect, and fulfill. Over the years, the principles of this Declaration have been fleshed out by more detailed treaties called Conventions. No Convention has more universal endorsement (at least on paper) than the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), ratified by every country in the world – except the United States.

By Brian Evans, State Campaigns Director

Over the past two years, four states have “Raised the Age” of criminal court jurisdiction to 18 – Louisiana and South Carolina in 2016, and New York and North Carolina earlier this year. While these recently passed laws have yet to go into effect, there are only five states that still charge all 17 year olds as adults no matter how minor the offense. Missouri, which has had a reputation for being a leader in juvenile justice because of its “Missouri model” of youth detention facilities, is one of those five states.

By Rachel Marshall, Federal Policy Counsel

In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland known as “The Troubles.” Even after the peace process, many in Northern Ireland harbored a deep distrust in police and the larger justice system. As part of the healing process, the government realized a complete overhaul of the justice system was needed. From this realization emerged a focus on restorative justice. In 2002, the Northern Ireland Justice Act created a statutory scheme for juvenile justice establishing a restorative justice model as the primary mode of intervention for justice-involved youth. While the model was initially established for 10-16 year olds, in 2005 the statute was expanded to include 17 year olds. Restorative justice is used both in pre-sentence diversion, as well as court-based intervention, with most low-level offenses dismissed with only a “caution.”

By Brian Evans, State Campaigns Director

It is said that all politics is local. It’s also true that all – or at least most – criminal justice is local, and that’s especially the case when it comes to youth involved in the justice system. So while Presidential election years and even-numbered years when members of the U.S. Congress are up for re-election may draw the most attention, off years like this one should not be ignored.

This November 7, mayors, city and county government officials, judges, and local prosecutors, are up for election across the country, and the winners and losers of these races will have a profound impact on local criminal justice policies and practices.

By Marcy Mistrett, CEO

October 31 is Halloween.  It is a time when some communities celebrate the childhood joys of fantasy and play, dressing up as our favorite heroes or villains, and confronting our fears of the darkness.  Witches, ghosts and goblins remain stories whose monsters go away for a year once Halloween ends. Parents and children trek out to the pumpkin patch, carve pumpkins and drink warm apple cider. Children get to explore their neighborhoods, and later enjoy a pumpkin head full of treats.  

In other communities—Halloween is not something children celebrate.  It’s a time when you hunker down inside with your family, when you make sure your doors are locked because people who are out, are looking to do harm.  There are places where monsters are real and where safety is jeopardized, sometimes daily; where “tricks” far outnumber “treats” and where childhood play ends at a much earlier age.

My colleague, Torrie, who is from the Bronx and runs Voices Unspoken, dubs the former communities as those with the “privilege of safety.”  Safety is, but shouldn’t be, a privilege. Safety also shouldn’t be defined as law and order. Especially for children.

Children who are prosecuted as adults learn far too early that the privilege of safety doesn’t apply to them. That the nightmares built around Halloween are an everyday occurrence in the adult system. They are real, recurring, and unnecessary.

Here are reasons why treating children like adults is S-C-A-R-Y:

Sex Offender Registries.  Children charged as adults are placed on sex offender registries for life. This includes children who have never touched another child. As states are moving to re-examine the ways they treat children charged with sex offenses, and removing “mandatory” registration requirements, children sentenced as adults don’t get this case by case review.

Confinement, isolation.  Due to federal laws such as the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), state facilities are required to separate youth under 18 from adults in their housing units.  Since the number of youth in any one facility is often small, corrections officers often place children in isolation to comply.  This is torture, and PREA strongly recommends against solitary confinement as an approach to compliance. If children remained in the juvenile system, occurrences of isolation are monitored much more closely and many states have strict time limitations on how long a child can remain separated from the general population.

Arrests and interrogations.  When police officers arrest children, they are required to notify their parents who are allowed to be present during the interview.  This does not apply to children charged as adults, no matter how young.  Police are not required to explain complexities like Miranda rights in child-friendly terms, and children often waive their rights to counsel or sign admissions without an attorney present. Children should not be interrogated without an adult in the room, no matter how serious their charges.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities. Our justice system disproportionately prosecutes and sentences African American, Hispanic, and Tribal youth as adults, despite similar offending by White youth. All children deserve the protections, support, and age appropriate interventions of the juvenile court with the goal of keeping youth in their homes and communities.   Given the large number of youth charged as adults who end up on probation, or remanded back to juvenile court, an individualized case review by a juvenile court judge is necessary for any child who faces an adult conviction. There are plenty of evidence-based practices that hold children accountable and reduce recidivism.  Unfortunately, our system does not apply these practices in all communities.  This is unacceptable.

Young people are not mini adults, and shouldn’t be treated as such.   Our adult criminal justice system is broken; it focuses nearly exclusively on punishment, and places all vulnerable people in dangerous and violent conditions. For young people, the exposure to such a punitive environment can permanently disrupt healthy brain development. The vast majority of children charged as adults had no independent case review to determine whether charges were appropriate.  Given the serious ramifications of an adult conviction, no child should be charged without a judicial review that balances individual factors of each child.

By Anne-Lise Vray, Communications Associate

On August 26, we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, in “commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America won their right to vote, as an opportunity to continue to work for equal rights for ALL citizens.” While this is a day to celebrate and women have made many strides, we still have room for improvement to achieve equality for all. The treatment of  incarcerated girls and women in the criminal justice system is certainly one of those areas.  

By Jeree Thomas, Policy Director, and Tim Klipp, Juvenile Justice Fellow

August 12, 2017 is International Youth Day. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the day by resolution in December 1999. The adoption of the day occurred nearly a decade after the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Among the rights outlined in the Convention are the right of children to stay connected to their parents when they are separated by State action, the right of children to express their views and to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings, and the right to liberty in the criminal justice and juvenile justice context. Under Article 37 of the Convention, the use of “arrest, detention, or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time...”   The United States has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is why International Youth Day is an important time to lift up the rights, voices, and needs of youth.

By Brian Evans, State Campaign Director

This July 4, we celebrate the 241st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This Declaration did more than just begin the process of extricating 13 colonies from British rule. It asserted that “all men” had “unalienable Rights” to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”, establishing extremely lofty aspirations for the emerging United States of America.

These aspirations have not been met.

By Catherine Armstrong, Juvenile Justice Fellow

April 3-7 is National Youth Violence Prevention Week. This important week of advocacy is led by Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), a founding partner of the National Youth Violence Prevention Week Campaign. This year, the campaign is specifically focusing on the role we can all play in promoting safer communities that will help ensure fewer youth become engaged in violent behavior.