Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/category/ideas-and-opinions/page/63/)
Delinquent behavior is far more likely in a youth who has experienced trauma. This is not an excuse from good behavior, but a likely cause that must be addressed for the youth to move forward in a noncriminal life.
Solitary confinement is a practice that has been used in the U.S. prison system since 1829. It is based on a Quaker belief that prisoners isolated in stone cells with only a Bible use the time to repent, pray and find introspection.
When I think of the phrase, “Do the time, don’t let the time do you,” I reflect on history. What I see are figures that were imprisoned and as a result of their experiences in institutions went on to change the world.
Research over the past several decades has established that youth exposure to violence is a widespread and significant problem. This is particularly true for youth involved in the juvenile justice system, as research has shown that up to 90 percent of these youth have histories of violence exposure, with many reporting multiple serious incidents.
Cook County now has a pilot program for dual status youth. It’s an intensive wraparound program with up to 30 hours a week of programming, including mentoring.
Locking young people up is bad public policy even at more reasonable rates given that detention has consistently been shown to be ineffective at reducing delinquency.
Unprecedented declines in youth crime, combined with state policies designed to restrict state institutional commitments, have caused California’s youth incarceration rates to plummet, as I wrote in a previous column.
As a child growing up in New York City, I often got conflicting messages about the police. On the one hand, I was told by my teachers that they were here to keep me safe, on the other, hip-hop groups that I looked up to such as Public Enemy and NWA told me “911 is a joke” and “F@$k The Police.”
Over the last decade, the juvenile justice system in my home state of Illinois has undergone many changes and become more attuned to research on adolescent development, more restorative and less reliant on punishment.
They’re labeled thugs, treated like throwaways and classified by some as “superpredators”: teenage boys and girls who seek sanctuary in gangs, commit violent crimes and end up in the criminal justice system. Not only are they physically locked up, but these children are caged in emotional turmoil.