By Mette Huberts, CFYJ Fellow

CFYJ’s first Summer Institute event of 2015 focused on the practice of Youth Solitary Confinement and the harmful effects it has on children. Amy Fettig, a member of the ACLU’s National Prison Project Senior Staff Counsel and the director of ACLU’s Stop Solitary Campaign, informed us about the destruction that solitary confinement can cause for youth both physically and mentally. In addition, she emphasized the need for reform in terms of correction officer trainings as well as general public awareness. 

The practice of solitary confinement, both for adults and children, reflects the rigor of the zero tolerance laws and the belief that the solution to disobedience and misconduct is to simply “lock ‘em up”. Correction facility officers and guards have known no other course of action, therefore understanding it to be both normal and expected to put an individual in solitary confinement. For children, this proves especially true. In an adult facility, children enter the system alone and afraid. They are often quickly targeted as prey by the older inmates, leaving them more vulnerable to rape and abuse. For years, prisons and jails have “solved” this issue by putting youth in solitary confinement as protection. While this may physically separate them from the immediate danger at hand, solitary confinement poses an extreme danger in itself. 

Fettig explained that because a minor’s brain is still developing, solitary confinement poses higher risks to youth than to adults. After only seven days in solitary, she informed us, measurements of youth brain activity have already begun to decrease. The child’s inability to obtain sufficient mental health support, education, recreation time, and other necessary services attributes to slowed brain development and often to the formation of a mental illness. Fettig then referred to the tragic story of Kalief Browder in testament to the long lasting damage solitary can do to a youth’s mind, even after being released. In an attempt to attack the root of the problem and prevent more stories like his, she called for reform and the ending of practices such as the direct transfer policy in New York, which allows 16 and 17 year old kids to be immediately tried in the adult court system at the prosecutor’s discretion. 

By identifying both the effects of solitary confinement on youth as well as the problematic policies that force youth into solitary, Fettig helped us recognize and understand the pressing need for change. She concluded by encouraging all of us to be present in the fight against solitary and to act to bring awareness to our own communities. She mentioned her work with the Student Alliance for Prison Reform and their continuing success with a petition calling to end solitary confinement for youth in the federal system, encouraging us to spread the word on our own campuses. Fettig’s discussion has reminded us once again that there is something bigger at stake here. Solitary confinement for youth must be abolished, and while right now this may feel like a large goal, it is up to us and our communities to start demanding policy change one by one, a change that will ultimately save lives.

From left: Samantha Goodman, Nicholas Bookout, Mette Huberts

This summer, Samantha Goodman will be serving as the Campaign’s Public Interest Communications Intern. Hailing from Pittsburgh, Samantha attends Emory University, where she is studying Sociology and French. She coaches soccer and basketball to at-risk youth at the Boys & Girls Club. It was these children’s stories that sparked Sam’s interest in the youth justice reform movement. For fun, she enjoys golf, sailing in Maine, trying new restaurants, travelling, and cheering for Pittsburgh sports teams.

Nicholas Bookout will be conducting Juvenile Justice Policy Research for the Campaign. He is joining us this summer from Harvard College, where he is concentrating in Social Studies. Originally from Gulf Breeze, Florida, Nick’s interest in racial inequality, urban America and mass incarceration lead him to CFYJ. In his spare time, Nick plays basketball, hangs out with his Labs Maizee and Lulu, follows UMich Athletics, and likes Scrabble and Game of Thrones.

Mette Huberts will be working on CFYJ’s State Campaign efforts. Mette grew up in San Francisco, but now attends Boston College, where she is studying Economics and International Studies with a concentration in Ethics and Social Justice. For the past year, Mette has volunteered at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston, tutoring and working with inmates. Her experiences there fueled her interest in the criminal justice system and she joins CFYJ looking to foster change. When she has the chance, Mette likes to run, bake, waterski, travel, and hike.

By Samantha Goodman

This Sunday marks Father’s Day, a national celebration and recognition of fathers and the special place they serve in our lives. While some exchange gifts, watch baseball, or enjoy a special dinner with their fathers, others are not as fortunate to spend the special day with loved ones. The Campaign for Youth Justice recognizes all of those fathers who, due to incarceration, are separated from their children this Father’s Day.

We would also like to acknowledge Charlie Curtis of Free Minds Bookclub and Writing Workshop, as well as DC Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, who are being honored this Sunday by the DC Fatherhood Coalition as Fathers of the Year. Incarcerated at the age of 16, Curtis served five years in federal prisons before being released in 2012. He now serves as Free Minds’ Lead Poet Ambassador, encouraging youth at detention facilities and DC area schools to put a precedent on their education. In addition, he is a full time father to daughter, Chloe (1), and son, Charlie Jr. (1 month).

Tyrone Parker, of the DC Fatherhood Coalition and the Executive Director of the Alliance for Concerned Men, calls Curtis a role model and example to us all.

“He is a young man, who has faced the challenges of incarceration and is now manning up to be a father,” said Parker.

Check out Charlie's story here.

This Father’s day, and always, put family first.

Happy Father’s Day from the Campaign for Youth Justice.

In April 2014, a sixteen-year-old transgender girl of color and trauma survivor was placed in an adult correctional facility by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, which claimed the young woman was too violent to be housed elsewhere. Despite the fact that she had not been charged with or convicted of any crime, Jane Doe remained in the adult prison for two months, much of it in solitary confinement, before being transferred and subsequently placed in a juvenile detention facility for boys.

Unfortunately, situations like Jane's – in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) young people become involved with the adult criminal justice system – are all too common. While research about LGBT youth in the adult criminal justice system is scarce, statistics from the juvenile justice system illuminate a disproportionality that likely holds true in adult jails and prisons as well. Most estimates suggest that LGBT youth comprise 5 to 7 percent of the overall youth population, and yet approximately 20 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system self-identify as LGBT. Most of these youth are young people of color. New data suggest that the numbers for girls are even higher, with approximately 40 percent of all girls in the juvenile justice system identifying as LGBT or gender-nonconforming.

Research on the juvenile justice system likewise demonstrates that LGBT young people come into contact with law enforcement officers and the courts for a variety of reasons. LGBT youth are more likely than their peers to be detained for status offenses such as truancy or running away from home, probation violations, and engaging in survival crimes such as sex work. They are also more likely to be homeless and to struggle with substance use and abuse. Often, these behaviors stem from deeper issues related to the young person's sexual orientation or gender identity, such as family rejection, hostile school climates, or inappropriate foster care placements. Once in the juvenile justice system, lesbian, gay, and bisexual young people experience youth-on-youth sexual victimization at a rate that is nearly seven times higher than that of their heterosexual peers. LGBT youth are also more likely to be put into isolation by facilities who fear they are a threat to other youth or "for their own protection," despite the severe mental health risks posed by solitary confinement.

The experiences of LGBT youth echo those of LGBT people of all ages. LGBT youth and adults experience bias and discrimination at all stages of court proceedings. Certain drivers of incarceration for LGBT individuals contribute to this effect. LGBT people, particularly LGBT individuals of color, face pervasive discrimination in systems ranging from employment to housing to education. LGBT youth and adults are also profiled by police based on intersections of race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, as well as age, religion, disability, or immigration status.

Information about juveniles in juvenile justice settings is also informative in uncovering the experiences of LGBT young people in jails and prisons. Most youth in the adult criminal justice system are there for non-violent offenses. Many of them have never been convicted and are housed in adult jails and prisons while waiting for a trial. These youth face abusive conditions and often receive little or no rehabilitative treatment or education. Under federal law, incarcerated youth must be separated from adults for their own protection – which in practice often results in solitary confinement. This isolation has extremely negative physical and mental health effects, particularly on children. And according to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, "more than any other group of incarcerated persons, youth incarcerated with adults are probably at the highest risk for sexual abuse."

Numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that lesbian, gay, and bisexual sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds in adult jails and prisons experience higher rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization – 6.3 percent of non-heterosexual youth compared to 1.7 percent of heterosexual youth, although the study included only a small sample of non-heterosexual youth. Beyond those statistics, little data exists on the specific experiences of LGBT youth in the adult system. Taken together, however, the research on LGBT youth, incarcerated LGBT adults, and youth in the adult system suggest that LGBT youth in adult jails and prisons experience multiple vulnerabilities, opening them up to discrimination and harassment from multiple systems.

Many states require that youth charged with a sex offense be tried in the adult system – one example of an area that impacts LGBT youth in unique ways. While "Romeo and Juliet" laws can reduce or remove penalties for consensual sex between adolescents who are close in age, these provisions have not always applied evenly to LGBT individuals. More recently, researchers found a public bias toward punishing gay youth more severely than heterosexual youth for consensual sex with another young person.

Where numbers are lacking pertaining to LGBT youth in the adult criminal justice system, anecdotal information indicates extensive trends of discrimination and disproportionate representation and points to troubling attitudes that may disproportionately harm LGBT youth. Such attitudes are visible, for example, when a prosecutor abuses their discretion by arguing that "a youth who is old enough to know their sexual orientation or gender identity is old enough to be tried in the adult system," or when feedback expressed during trainings with The Equity Project include questions about why juvenile justice professionals should bother learning about LGBT cultural competency if "the youth are just going to end up in the adult system" anyway.

LGBT young people, like all youth, need protection, safety, affirmation, and guidance in order to successfully transition to adulthood. They also need to be recognized as the young people they are – young people who are resilient in spite of discrimination, poverty, and abuse; young people who engage in normal adolescent behavior; and young people who have enormous potential. Adult jails and prisons offer no way forward for these young people to obtain the tools they need as they seek to empower themselves and change the world around them.

As we celebrate Pride during the month of June, we should encourage policymakers and advocates to promote fair and equitable treatment for all individuals in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, through promoting and supporting training and technical assistance regarding this population, increasing alternatives to detention, and supporting passage of legislation such as the long overdue reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).

Christina Gilbert is the Director of The Equity Project. Hannah Hussey is a Research Associate at the Center for American Progress.

Resources and legislation that help and protect LGBTQ youth, a marginalized and vulnerable group within the juvenile justice system, are lacking. June is dedicated to raising awareness of the unique challenges that LGBTQ youth face in the system and the path forward to creating reform.

Research conducted by The Equity Project has shown that LGBTQ youths are more likely to confront certain barriers and environmental risk factors connected to their sexual orientations and gender identities. For example, compared with their heterosexual classmates and peers, LGBTQ youths are more likely to experience bullying at school   more likely to experience rejection or victimization perpetrated by their parents/caregivers (often resulting in youths’ running away from home)   more likely to face homelessness   twice as likely to be arrested and detained for status offenses and other nonviolent offenses, and at higher risk for illicit drug use. Available research has estimated that LGBT youths represent 5 percent to 7 percent of the nation’s overall youth population, but they compose 13 percent to 15 percent of those currently in the juvenile justice system.  Schools, law enforcement officers, district attorneys, judges, and juvenile defenders are ill equipped to deal with the challenges that these young people face. As a result, the system often exacerbates previous damage by unfairly criminalizing LGBTQ youth—imposing harsh school sanctions, labeling them as sex offenders, or detaining them for minor offenses, in addition to subjecting them to discriminatory and harmful treatment that deprives them of their basic civil rights.

The Equity Project, guided by experts on juvenile court processing and LGBTQ youth in the justice system, released Hidden Injustice; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Juvenile Courts (Fall 2009) to help inform justice professionals about the experiences of LGBT youth in the juvenile justice system. Many of the issues that affect all youth in the justice system — incarceration for misdemeanors, increased time in detention, and disparate impact on minority youth just to name a few—are augmented for LGBTQ youth. The report also identifies key issues specific to LGBTQ youth and makes recommendations for juvenile justice professionals to implement moving forward.

Please join CFYJ this June in learning more about this issue and raising awareness for reform. Follow the Equity Project on Twitter and Facebook.

A local study by the New Jersey Parents's Caucus (NJPC) of 472 children and youth, ages 14 to 17, who were waived, sentenced and incarcerated in New Jersey's adult prison system between 2007 - 2015, showed:

• Justice by geography: Rates of incarceration in the adult prison system vary significantly across counties in New Jersey, suggesting that justice depends on where one lives, not on the facts of a given case.
• Youth are regularly deprived of due process: Approximately 30% of the 472 youth waived to adult court during the study period spent more than 2 years incarcerated, between their arrest date and their sentencing date, violating their right to a speedy trial.
• Youth are regularly put in solitary confinement - especially youth with mental health disorders: Although solitary confinement is known to be psychologically damaging, especially to children, 53% of these youth spent a total of approximately 15,359 days (42 years) in solitary confinement between 2010 and 2015; 5 percent spend over a year there, and about 4 percent spent 2 years or more in solitary.  Nearly 70 percent of those placed in solitary had a mental health disorder, with nearly 37% having two or more diagnoses.
• Youth suffer abuse while in adult prison: once incarcerated in an adult prison, one in four youth surveyed reported physical abuse; 5% reported sexual abuse.

These disturbing statistics appear in NJPC's new data brief, entitled "The Incarceration of Children & Youth in New Jersey's Adult Prison System: New Jersey Youth Justice Initiative ." The brief is comprised of comprehensive state data which NJPC gathered from the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJ DOC) on 472 children incarcerated in the adult prison system. The data largely covers the period 2007 - 2015, though some information gathered dates back to 2003. In addition to the data retrieved from the NJ Department of Corrections, NJPC has compiled additional data from a subset of the same population (120 youth) by means of a survey provided to incarcerated youth and their parents, caregivers and family members

"These data show how broken our system is," said Kathy Wright, executive director of the NJPC, a parent of a justice-involved youth, and a fellow in the National Juvenile Justice Network's Youth Justice Leadership Institute. "We should not be sending youth to the adult system, where their rights are violated, they are unsafe, and their mental health needs go unmet. New Jersey's juvenile justice system was created because as a society, we realized our children, due to their age, can be rehabilitated, and they should be given the opportunity to do so.

Results from the data brief highlight a myriad of injustices that continue to plague New Jersey's justice system. Most blatant are the gross racial and ethnic disparities that exist in justice system. Youth of color are disproportionately represented among those waived to the adult prison system in New Jersey, making up approximately 90% of youth included in NJPC's data set; 72% are African American males, exceeding all other ethnic groups and genders. Furthermore, rates of youth incarceration in the adult prison system vary significantly across counties in New Jersey, suggesting that justice depends on where one lives, not on the facts of a given case. For example, in Camden County, 14 to 17 year olds make up 5.8% of the population of children between the ages of 0-17, but make up 15.3% of our data set between 2007 and 2015. In comparison, in Hunterdon County, where youth 14 to 17 make up 6.3% of the population of children between the ages of 0-17, exactly 0% were incarcerated in the adult system between 2007 and 2015.

Once incarcerated, children and youth are frequently subject to long-term solitary confinement, even though solitary confinement is known to be psychologically damaging, especially to children. Worse, one in four youth surveyed reported physical abuse, and 5% reported sexual abuse. Finally, and most disturbingly, the needs of New Jersey youth are not being met in their communities. Almost three out of four (71%) of youth waived to the adult system were known to at least two child-serving agencies prior to their involvement in adult court, with the majority having been involved in the mental health system. Of those youth, more than two out of three children have two or more mental health diagnoses.

According to Wright, "Given the large number of New Jersey youth involved in multiple child-serving systems prior to their incarceration in the adult system, this data brief serves as a call to action for state officials, child-serving systems, community-based organizations, legislators, and other interested stakeholders throughout the state of New Jersey to revisit the way in which we view and provide services to all children and youth, regardless of their race, ethnicity or geographical location, and the way in which services are provided to them and their families.Somehow, we have lost our way. The institution of racism has reared its ugly head and we are funneling kids of color who need our help into the juvenile justice system where, unlike the schoolhouse, there is no eject button, and they cannot say no."

NJPC's The Incarceration of Children & Youth in New Jersey's Adult Prison System: New Jersey Youth Justice Initiative  was recently posted on the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) on their homepage and the National Black Disability Coalition.  The data brief is also available for download on the New Jersey Parents' Caucus website at at http://www.newjerseyparentscaucus.org.