Why Children Who Murder Should

NOT Suffer Adult Punishment.

CHILDREN DON’T BELONG IN JAIL!

● In Florida, a 17-year-old mildly retarded boy who was pleaded guilty to sexual battery was strangled by his 20-year-old cell mate

● In Boise, Idaho, a 17-year-old boy was tortured and finally murdered by other prisoners in the cell

● Another teenager had been beaten unconscious by the same inmates several years earlier

● Several teens have committed suicide when put in jail

Res

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That

Pro

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Child

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Adul

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Recent research demonstrates that

transferring children from juvenile

court to adult court does not

decrease recidivism, and in fact

actually increases crime. A study of juvenile cases tried in

adult courts in 18 of the largest

urban jurisdictions in the country

showed that many youth sent to

the adult system were charged

with non-violent offenses, many

were released soon after their

arrests, and many were not

convicted at all or were transferred

back to the juvenile justice system.

Yet, two thirds of the youth who

were detained before trial were

held in adult jails, and one-third of

those were held in the general

population with adult inmates.

Protecting Youth from Adult InmatesSeparation and Jail Removal-The federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974 requires participating states to assure that youths under juvenile court jurisdiction are separated by sight and sound from adults at all stages of judicial processing and that youths who have not committed criminal offenses (such as dependent or neglected children, runaways, or status offenders) are not placed in secure confinement. As amended in 1980, the JJDP Act requires that states remove youths from adult jails-in response to studies which showed that despite the separation requirements of the original Act, almost half a million children were still housed in adult jails and lockups each year, typically isolated for long periods, without access to institutional programs and services. Thus, federal regulations permit children who are charged with delinquent offenses to be held in lockups for only a limited number of hours before and after court hearings;The Act has been tremendously successful. Prior to the Act, states reported that as many as 500,000 youths were held each year in adult jails and lockups. That figure has been reduced to approximately 10,000 in 1995, with the two states that are no longer participating in the program accounting for over 7,000. Also, there has a substantial decline in the use of detention in status offense cases. In 1975, an estimated 143,000 status offense cases involved detention -in 1996, the figure was 39,000.

The End