Mass incarceration of african american in the united states: the specific case of male juvenile delinquents

Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to demonstrate how the U.S justice system was racially targeting young black people and keep them out of the mainstream society by putting them in juvenile detention or in prison. It was put into motion with the launching of the War on Drugs during the Reagan era, which resulted in the mass incarceration of many young black people (and can definitely be considered as the newest version of what was before: Slavery and Jim Crow Laws)and causedeverlasting damage to the black family in the United States as many children find themselves with a parent in prison with one children out of nine who have had a parent incarcerated.^123(*)

Most of the laws put in place related to drugs - especially crack - targeted poor ghetto communities, which happened to be overwhelmingly black. The same thing can be said for the juveniles with the horrible effect that the «super predator» era launched in 1996 by John DiIulio,has had on the American youth, especially youth of color: adolescents were now seen as monsters who could be judged in a same way an adult would be, which resulted in the many inhumane treatment and a big wave of teenagers sent to juvenile prisons.

In both cases, for the drug issue and the super-predator issue, the media have played a crucial part in helping to promote these false claim under Reagan for the War on Drugs, and through DiIulio for the «super-predator» problem that the USA were allegedly facing.

Institutional racism is not a new concept in USA. It has always been this way. The recent progress over the last few decades have not overshadowed the fact that the entire justice system among others that are still racially biased even if it is not as explicit as it used to be. When we take an in-depth look at the causes of the marginalization of many African American as today, it follows the same pattern that was put in place at the time of Slavery and the Jim Crow laws. Except that because nowadays, racism is in majority perceived as negative - that is actually debatable - the new system of mass incarceration due to the War on Drugs target certain part of the population but not straightforwardly as the two previous systems. As it was said, the consequences are heartbreaking overall but especially for Black males: 1 in 3 African American male born today can expect to go to jail with the current trend.^124(*)

Thus, a large part of the U.S. population is discriminated against and left out of the mainstream society before going to prison because of social, economic, and educational reasons that are due to social racism. When they are released, they face the impossible task to try to live with the stigma of being a former convicted person. In many cases, former inmates go back to prison because they are «stuck» with no loophole.

Most of the people in prison - even those who are convicted for violent crimes, which are not the majority though- suffer from some sort of mental conditions that were not treated before they were in trouble, and were definitely not treated inside prison and after the potential release for some. Many have experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and behind bars have only increased their issues.

An idea that is merely a fantasy actually in USA is that going to prison should not prevent anyone from having the possibility to redeem himself/herself and get another chance in the society. Except that it appears abundantly clear that it is close to impossible to get rehabilitation, not only because of how you are marginalized, but because of the failure to take care on a psychological level the traumatic experience that prison is for every former inmate and to actually deal with what you go through behind bars: literally physical and psychological torture. Indeed, as we have seen, whether it is in adult prisons or in juvenile centers, the practices are so outrageous that the scars and the disdain - especially for youth of color - may never disappear. They have been so broken as we have seen in many interviews that even when they were physically assaulted, it almost got to a point where they could not feel the hurt anymore because everything had been taken away from them.

The double standards have to be point out here though: many of those people in prison who are considered delinquents or dangerous for society, and yet, when they are abused, the abuser is safe from facing consequences and the blame is put on the victims (as usual). It is tragic because the youth is supposed to be the future and for a lot of these young adolescents of color, they just feel angry all the time - which is understandable- considering the fact that they have absolutely nobody to turn to when they are tortured in juvenile centers (as if being away from their family and environment, adding to this the never-ending discrimination, was not enough).

As of today in 2016, a number of activists and politicians have asked for a reform, especially regarding the racialized justice system that has caused mass incarceration. Topics such as abuses behind bars, and the treatments of youth have been prominent as well.

To address most of these issues, the example to follow would be the one of Gladys Carrion who has completely transformed New York State's handling of juvenile delinquencies and the social and health problems linked to this. As she said, to solve these problems, you need someone who has great empathy and is willing to lose his or her job in order to fulfill his or her purpose to make things better.

Unfortunately, as it was said earlier, racism is really a particular issue in the United States, especially in the justice system and the country has witness such violent killings of youth black men by white police men, many of those black men were unarmed it should be noted.Indeed, Police killed more than 100 unarmed black people and this was just in 2015.^125(*) Many of those killings, dating back to the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2013 have put the country in a dire situation with racial tension.A number of names can be added to the one of Martin: Freddie Gray, John Crawford Eric Harris, Tamir Rice. The shooting of the later has caused even more outrage because he was only a 12-year-old boy, playing in a park who was apparently was perceived as much older by the officer.

A movement was born out of all this violence: Black Lives Matter which is international and campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people, especially killings by law enforcement officers, racial profiling, and inequality in the U.S criminal justice system.

It was important to finish on this particular problem to emphasize on the fact that racial issues towards African Americans males have always been a part of the United States and that even in this era where it seems that the entire world have made tremendous success for every kind of equality - racial and gender in particular - it appears that it is not going to help the case of the millions of African Americans suffering from all forms of racism in the United States. And even if mass incarceration came to an end, it seems that a new way to exclude and discriminate against African Americans would be put in place anyway.

Appendices

Table of Contents

Behind bars: Four teens in prison tell their stories................................42

Reform the Nation's Juvenile Justice System......................................53

Behind bars: Four teens in prison tell their stories

Nicholas, 17, says that interviewing four teens in jail showed him that we must listen to and learn from their stories.

By Nicholas Williams, 17, Daniel Murphy HS

Nicholas asks: "What can we expect these teens to do with life sentences, sit in their cells and rot?"

When I arrived at Central Juvenile Hall, I was expecting guards, watch towers, basically the setting of the Shawshank Redemption. I was told to wait in a small lobby room, which separated the prison from the outside world. While waiting, I saw a few inmates getting on a bus. They wore handcuffs and carried brown paper bags behind their backs. I wondered what these kids did. I looked at each one, trying to guess his crime. "Maybe he robbed a store, maybe he killed somebody, maybe he was selling drugs." Some people might ask, why would I want to write a story about juveniles in prison? Why would anyone want to read what these criminals have to say? Who cares? It's easy to judge juvenile criminals as bad kids, but not so easy when you're looking into the eyes of a teenager who is going to spend life in jail.

I know there are victims of violent crimes whose voices go unheard. But recognize that some people who commit crimes have many reasons behind their actions. It's a cycle. This is what happens to kids who didn't have direction or anybody who cared, who had to learn about life the hard way. They were brought up this way so that's how they're going to treat others. Sometimes, it's okay to give a voice to the "villains." They have been victims too.

Inside Juvenile Hall, Javier Stauring, the Catholic chaplain, was there to guide me through the facility and be present during the interviews. We sat down on a bench in the middle of the yard. He told me that high-risk offenders wore orange jumpsuits, and those wearing gray and yellow suits were minor offenders or those who violated their probation. The four teens I was going to interview were all high-risk offenders. Out of 550 inmates in Juvenile Hall, 180 were being tried in adult court, Javier said. He explained that I couldn't ask any questions about their crimes, use their full names or take pictures of their faces because they were minors and their cases were pending.

While we sat talking, a few teens walked by with a guard, their heads facing the ground and their hands behind their backs. I watched them walk. Then one of them turned to look at me, and I turned my head to avoid eye contact. I felt that he didn't want to be looked at. I wouldn't want someone who was free looking at me walking around in prison. I felt uncomfortable that day, like I didn't have any clue what these kids had been through. Did I feel sorry for them? Not right away. I was surprised by the innocence of their faces, like they didn't belong there. I was really shocked when I saw a boy who looked like he was about 10 walking in a line with other kids, wearing handcuffs. I also felt glad that my life didn't take the same road as these kids' lives had.

Then I met the four teens and I found out just how bad their situations were. Even though I had prepared a list of questions, I didn't know what to expect. Would they cry? Would they be angry? Though none of the four had an emotional outburst, some questions during the interview caused them to pause and try to hold in their emotions while thinking about painful memories.

When I first met the two girls, Mayra and Elizabeth, I was expecting two huge girls, bigger than me, with short hair and tattoos. But two petite, feminine and pretty girls walked in ... What? What could they have done, and to be wearing orange suits at that? Yet both were smiling and saying hello to me.

And when I met the two guys, they seemed calm and laid back. Though they were the same age as me, they seemed older in their ways. They had experienced a lot and you could see it in the way they carried themselves. Elizabeth was more to herself, the day-dreaming type; Mayra was tougher, more independent; Mark was heavy in size, but you could see the sensitivity in his eyes; and David was thoughtful, no doubt.

All four had drifted into a negative lifestyle at a young age. It seemed as if it was impossible for them to overcome their problems. The two girls said they had been sexually and physically abused. Both said that leaving home at a young age was the only thing they could do to save themselves from future torment. The two guys, however, had wanted that wild lifestyle. Both confessed to having been ignorant and making bad choices. What I learned from talking with them is that there are some things we have no control over--our families, where we live and who we know. It was simple for me to see that all four kids had no control over their lives. All they knew was what made them feel better at the moment.

There are a lot of negative aspects about prison, but some positive things can come out of being locked up. David even said, "I'm glad I'm in prison, or else I'd still be out there [getting into trouble]."

Prison, for many out of control teens, is stopping them in their tracks so they don't go further with a criminal and violent life. Prison allows these teens to stop and think. David told me that his time in prison has allowed him to figure out that he's a "really cool person."

Teens should get a chance to change


Even though they may take responsibility now for their actions and want to change their lives, they still have to serve their time. That's the way our system is. I know they have a debt to pay to society, but why doesn't our system allow young people to redeem themselves? I don't think our judiciary system deals well with people once they are in the system. Okay, they're in prison, now what? Mayra is only 17, what can we expect her to do with a life sentence, sit in her cell and rot? I don't think the system expects or encourages kids to change their lives around. But I can't complain too much because prison is keeping criminals off the streets and away from my family and me.

Talking to these kids, I realized they had many problems growing up. Some had no friends at all, and many have dysfunctional families. This doesn't excuse the crimes they committed, but it helps explain why.

After one day at a prison, I see that in prison, it's just you and time. Too much time for the kids I met that day. That time in prison is time they wish they had to spend with their friends and family. Time they wish they had to go on a date, to play sports, to go to school, to watch television, to lay down on their own beds, to walk free, to laugh and have a good time again. It's time spent feeling regret for their past actions. No matter how much they regret the past, they will have to finish growing up in adult prison.

`I was a chronic runaway'
Elizabeth, 18, awaiting sentencing

What's a typical day like?

Six o'clock in the morning we get up. We keep our clothes outside the room. We have to get up and grab our clothes. We have about 4 or 5 minutes to get ready. Breakfast is at 7 o'clock. That's usually disgusting. Then we go to school for a couple hours, go to lunch, go to school again, come back, eat dinner, we get one hour of recreation, take our showers.

What was it like when you got arrested?
Really? I was high. So all kinds of things were going through my mind. Just like shock. I couldn't even cry. I just sat down quiet.

Was being a troublemaker exciting?
It was for me, back then, just my lifestyle.

Were you into school?

When I was around fifth grade. My mom put me in a placement because I was running away. I kept running away. I was a chronic runaway. They'd put me somewhere and I'd run away from it. 
    I had, uh, problems at home (softly) ... and um, out of sheer boredom I guess. Mostly neglect. Well, I'd been molested for years. Finally I told my grandmother about it. That it was my stepfather. She called the cops and I ran away and right before he was supposed to go to court he shot himself in the head. My sister had a brain tumor and my mom was always busy at the hospital. We had to move into this tiny duplex and I was by myself all day. I was 11 or 12. It's really boring in Texas. That's where I'm from--Austin, Texas. 
One day I'd just go out to have fun and I wouldn't go home the next day. It kept on escalating. I'd spend a day in jail and keep on going. My mom had a boyfriend, and he used to physically abuse my sister. I tried to intervene one day and he grabbed me by my neck. I started talking s--- outside the house, just yelling at him and he came out with a knife. So I really had to run. This lady called the cops and what did they do? They arrested me. They arrested me on a runaway charge. Nothing happened to him.
    My mom made me seem like this bad kid. I just wanna go and have some fun. My mom didn't have very much money, and if you don't have clothes, you're an outcast [at school]. I had good grades, all A's and stuff like that, but I just couldn't take being in school so I dropped out.

How do you feel compared to the average teen?
I feel like a totally different species. I feel older actually, `cuz I've seen so much. They don't even know, they're in school, they have their proms, and they're going to college. And I just can't relate. I feel I can't even hang out with them, they're too different.

Did your parents try to discipline you?
My mom's form of discipline was just to get rid of me. It makes me mad today. She paid my brother to kick my a-- for leaving, you know, paid him. He didn't want to but he did it for the money. It just made me more mad and I ran away again.

What do you think your parents could have done that would have helped?
If my mom had set me aside and talked to me, asked me what is it you want, why are you running away. That would have helped me.

What do you say to people who think Juvenile Hall is easy, watching TV all day or something?
We rarely ever get to listen to the radio at all. TV, we get only one hour a day. We don't get the news so we don't know what's going on in the world. TV and radio, that's nice to have but you wouldn't want to sit there and watch TV all day, that's not a luxury. [Juvenile Hall is] really dirty to me. The girls, I wasn't scared of them, because I'd been living on the street all over so I wasn't scared of anything, especially not some little girls.

How does it feel to lose your freedom?
It hurts more than any kind of punch, slap, anything that was ever done to me. Having my freedom taken away is the worst thing that ever happened to me. It's not the fact I'm in jail that I'm scared. For a while I didn't know when I was gonna get out. It felt like the whole world was going on without me, and I was stuck. I have a little sister born after I started running away and I don't even know her. My family came out twice this year. You have special visits, half an hour. For the past year, I've seen someone I know from the outside for one hour, that's it. It's pretty hard being out here all by yourself. I can see what they're doing to us. How kids are sent to jail when they just need a slap on the head or something. I used to really really hate the cops. Hate 'em, hate 'em. I still don't approve of what they're doing but I understand. I used to hate other people's lifestyle. Now I know it's different people and I don't hate them anymore. I can associate with different people. I'm a lot more open-minded, don't hate so quickly, don't judge so quickly.

Elizabeth is awaiting her sentence in Central Juvenile Hall.

`Can I get a second chance in life?'

Mark, 17, serving 13-year sentence

Have you been in here before?
Two times before. [When I was arrested] I was just trying to figure out what was going on. I was like `Man, this is a bad dream.' I was just waiting to wake up. Ain't waked up yet.

Was your life exciting before you came in here?
Exciting like I was always watching my back? Or the parties? Robbing and stealing. It was like an adventure, yeah. But it was an adventure going nowhere.

What's a typical day here like?
Wake up, wash up. Same thing, different day. That's how it is.

What were you doing when you were free?
I was playing football. I'm mad missing out my teenage days. I regret what I did, and it's like `Damn.' If I live in the past, that's where I'm gonna stay, in the past. Damn, it'd be fun [if I was free]. It's the new millennium. I haven't even been on a date, know what I'm saying. I ain't gonna see none of that. Don't grow up too fast, `cuz you're gonna be mad if you do.

Did your parents try to discipline you?
I'm stubborn, I know I'm stubborn. My parents they did try to discipline me but I was too wild. It was like I couldn't be tamed at the time.

Do you have any talents?
I like to rap. I can write. (He writes plays with theater group called Usual Suspects.) Writing is one of my skills. Give me a beat and I can freestyle for you right now.

How does your family deal with you being locked up?
I know they don't like me being in here but I been in here before. When I hit 13 that was when I really stepped up the criminal ladder. It was the adrenaline rush and all that and I didn't think about my family. I try to let them know it's gonna be alright. It affects my family a lot. Even when I had a bad day I still smile. I just try to make them feel good when they're here.

How does it feel not to control your fate?
Dang, somebody else got control my life. I should be believing in God more. I should but I really started to lose faith. No ... well, I didn't lose it, I just didn't know where to put my faith. If I walk into court one day and the judge had a bad weekend, his wife trippin' on him or something, he could take it out on me. I expect the unexpected when I go in the courtroom. My fate is sealed already but my fate isn't in the court's hand, it's in my hand. Fate really has to do with what you feel inside than what people make of you. If God wants me to be in jail, it must be I got some kind of gift that God wants me to spit to other cats in here.

What do you think about Prop. 21?
Why should I walk around with a label on me because I made a mistake when I was young? Can I get a second chance in life? When you go to the pen, you don't do nothing. All you do is time, get contraband, learn to hate somebody. I want to be a positive person, somebody that helps somebody, somebody who helps the community.
    Prop. 21, it's like a spear in this whole community's heart. My little brother was sitting in a car, somebody was shot, and my brother got to do adult time for that. They taking our rights away. You putting little kids in adult facilities, that's forcing them to grow up already. This little kid, he did this crime right here, but they don't see this as his first time doing it. [Little kids out there won't be deterred by longer sentences]... the homie got 25 years to life, they look up to that. I don't know why but they do. "He gonna ride it out, he's a rider."
    Society's a fool if they don't see that. Little kid, he has so much to prove. Them older hounds--"I ain't got nothing, I got life. Let me go and send this kid up the river too." That little kid, he's believing the hype. "You want me to shank him, okay, I'm gonna do that, go in the hole, go to Pelican Bay, don't see my momma." Little kid, he should be put in a program. When you send them to the pen all you making is a better criminal.

Mark is serving 13 years in L.A. County Men's Jail.

`I carry my own weight'

David, 18, awaiting sentencing

Was your life exciting before you came in here?

I was living in the fast lane and I didn't have no time to think. Since I been off drugs I noticed I'm a real good person. I just regret those "exciting days."
    I think of me now as a man. I had to grow up early. It's sad I did that to myself but I did. But I can't look at the past. As far as me getting locked up, I'm happy. If I didn't get locked up I would have kept going, I would have lost all my years.

Did your parents try to discipline you?

My mom tried so many ways to control me. I couldn't let a woman take control. I felt too grown. I felt, I'm a man. I was too stubborn, hardheaded.

How are you preparing for adult prison?

You can't really predict it at all. I think prison is not a rehabilitation and it's just there for us to kill each other or to get that mentality that we're nothing. I can live through it. I gotta take it and roll with it.

Did your environment contribute to you being in here?

I carry my own weight. My surroundings had a lot to do with it. [But] it was me, my decision. Made the wrong one. I just need the opportunity to make the right one.

What's your maximum sentence?

25 years to life. If I lose my case, it's life without parole.

Is it hard to wait for the results?

I'm like, get this over with. It's like stripping you slowly. People rather die than go through this slow pain. Go ahead and give that to me. They think this is a game that can be played with. This is our life.

How does it feel not to control your fate?

I don't think nobody controls my fate. God controls my fate. If I get a long time, it's `cuz I got to learn something. And if I go home it means I'm ready. God has control. And I'm very happy he has control.

What would you be doing if you weren't locked up?

With the state of mind I have now, I'd be occupying myself with a trade and I'd be going to school to be an actor. And keep myself busy, occupied. The last time I was out my mind was stuck on drugs, money and other things. I don't want that to sneak up on me. I got high expectations of myself.

How are you preparing for adult prison?

Instead of you getting ready for them, how about them getting ready for you? Be confident in yourself. Be something different. You gotta be a man of your own path.
    I got something to say. It's still itching in my brain. It bothers me when people say it's easy in here. I go through a lot of pain. I sit and think about the things I done, and I sit there and cry. For people who say this is easy, they don't know how much pain we go through. I heard people down the hall from where I sleep saying they rather die than go through this. Some people are stronger than others.

David is awaiting his sentence in Central Juvenile Hall. 

`At night when nobody sees you, you cry'

Mayra, 17, serving life sentence

Were you ever into school?
I dropped out of school when I was 13, seventh grade. Because my family didn't have enough money and the rest of the girls, I used to see them every day with different kinds of clothes. I used to be with the same clothes almost every day you know. It used to hurt me seeing them have everything. So that's when I dropped out.

Did your parents try to discipline you?
I had a lot of discipline, `cuz my dad is coming from Mexico. You know the whips for the horses, he would hit us with those. With anything he could find he hit us with until my back would be bloody. When I was in Mexico, he hang me from a tree and hang me there for one hour `cuz I think I stole a candy. He was abusive to my mother. My dad used to leave black eyes on her, and when the cops came and she would cover it with her hair. That's one thing, it didn't work. `Cuz that makes you angrier. After he used to hit me or whip me, he would tell me don't cry, why you crying, I'm gonna hit you harder, I ain't hitting you hard. I had to hold it in, I couldn't cry because he'd hit me more. So I had to hold my tears in and it built up you know.

What do you think your parents could have done that would have helped?

I would have liked for my mother when my dad was hitting me to tell him something. My dad hitting me and she wouldn't do nothing. I would like for my mom to stick up for me. If I did something wrong instead of hitting me, it would be better if they would have told me that's wrong.

What was it like when you first came to Juvenile Hall?

The first time when I got arrested my friend told me, they're gonna ask you where you're from, they're gonna rape you. So get in there and put a front and start walking like you're crazy. So I was walking like this (she swaggers with her arms raised to her chest). When I first came all the girls started laughing at me and one said, what are you doing? I said I don't know, I'm scared. And she said, it shows.

How does it feel to lose your freedom?

It hurts. It hurts being here `cuz every time they see their mother on Sunday, they see them cry and that's what breaks your heart in here. You miss your family. You don't want people to see you cry so at night when nobody sees you, you cry.

What do you need to help you get through this?

I need my mother. I need when I go to sleep to have her next to me and tell me everything's gonna be okay. I need my son. I was pregnant here and I had him here. He's six months old. His name is James.

How are you preparing for adult prison?

I'm kind of scared. Just the thought of being with all those old people. I'm not prepared. I'm just scared. Rapes, guards, getting raped by women. I'm not ready, I'm scared. If I do go over there, I have a good friend. But I'm still not ready, I don't think I'll ever be ready. But if I have to go, I have to go.

Mayra is now serving a life sentence at a women's state prison.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation ISSUE BRIEF January 2009

Reform the Nation's Juvenile Justice System

Across the nation, juvenile courts and corrections systems are littered with poorly conceived strategies that increase crime, endanger young people and damage their future prospects, waste billions of taxpayer dollars, and violate our deepest held principles about equal justice under the law. These problematic practices persist even as scholars, advocates, and hands-on juvenile justice practitioners have vastly expanded our understanding of what works (and doesn't work) in combating delinquency over the past 20 years, as well as how to undertake effective system reform. Indeed, among all of the policy areas affecting vulnerable children and families, juvenile justice probably suffers the most glaring gaps between best practice and common practice, between what we know works and what our public systems most often do on our behalf. The most urgent need is to reduce our wasteful, counterproductive overreliance on incarceration and detention, and instead to redirect resources into proven strategies that cost less, enhance public safety, and increase the success of youth who come in contact with the juvenile courts. Reducing racial disparities and combating abuse in juvenile facilities also require immediate attention. While juvenile justice is largely a state and local responsibility, the federal government can and should make a crucial contribution. Often, states and localities lack the financial resources and technical know-how to reform their juvenile programs and practices, and they have long looked to Washington for guidance. Indeed, since the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) was passed in 1974, Washington has often played a vital role in setting minimum standards, conducting and disseminating research on best practices, and providing funding to help states and localities improve their juvenile systems. Unfortunately, in recent years the federal government's role in juvenile justice has suffered due to inattention and drift. With the landmark JJDPA up for reauthorization in 2009, the Obama administration has an unparalleled opportunity to use the resources and influence of the federal government to jumpstart a long-overdue renaissance in our nation's approach to adolescent crime.

Recommendation: Restore the capacity of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to serve as a national incubator and catalyst for improving juvenile justice policies and practices. Since 2000, total federal juvenile justice funding declined by nearly 60 percent, and the budget for OJJDP's core research and dissemination efforts was slashed 90 percent from $6.8 million to just $700,000. Meanwhile, despite evidence of widespread rights violations in juvenile justice, the federal government has done little in recent years to expand or intensify its efforts to protect the safety and well-being of court-involved youth. To reverse this troubling trend and restore OJJDP's leadership, the reauthorized Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act should:

· Restore OJJDP's budget for nationally sponsored research, demonstration, and public information efforts to its 2002 level or higher. Added funding will allow OJJDP to expand production of timely research and replenish its in-house staff expertise. However, administrators must reverse recent practice and award grants based on scientific merit as judged by career OJJDP staff and objective peer reviewers.

· Restore OJJDP support to state and local juvenile justice efforts to 2002 levels or higher, but tie funding to proven and cost-effective strategies and require outcome evaluations for all federal investments. OJJDP should require outcome measurements for all federally financed programs and ban the use of federal funds to support models that have been proven ineffective.

· Use OJJDP's funding and influence to encourage or require state and local tracking of key juvenile justice indicators, and establish a uniform measure of recidivism for youth released from correctional facilities.

· Study the feasibility of a uniform juvenile justice data collection system to provide researchers and policymakers with information essential to good planning and practice, and to promote data-driven and evidence-based policymaking in juvenile justice.

Recommendation: Focus the energy and resources of OJJDP and other federal agencies on crucial and pervasive shortcomings in juvenile justice practice. As the Casey Foundation documented in its 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book essay, «A Roadmap for Juvenile Justice Reform,» our nation's juvenile justice systems are plagued by several pervasive weaknesses - areas where policy and practice often diverge dramatically from our knowledge of what works. In the coming years, federal efforts should be specifically targeted to help states address these priority concerns. PRIORITY FOCUS #1: Combat overreliance on training school incarceration and pre-trial detention. Juvenile justice systems routinely detain and incarcerate youth who pose little or no danger to public safety, despite research that community supervision and non-residential, evidence-based programs are more effective and vastly more cost-efficient. Nationwide, in both pre-trial detention centers (analogous to adult jails) and youth correctional facilities (analogous to prison), less than one-fourth of confined youth have been involved in violent felonies. Many have committed only misdemeanors or status offenses. To help states reduce reliance on confinement, OJJDP should:

· Fund and encourage states to replicate intensive and evidence-based nonresidential alternatives to incarceration for lower-risk youth.

· Help states transition away from the failed model of incarcerating youth in large, congregate care training schools, where recidivism is uniformly high, and instead adopt the «Missouri model» with a regionalized network of small facilities offering positive youth development and behavioral treatments. Through this approach, 70 percent of youth released from Missouri juvenile facilities avoid recommitment to any correctional setting three years after discharge--far better than most states, even though its costs are low compared with other states.

· Support comprehensive reform efforts at the crucial front end of the juvenile system, the detention phase, following the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) model. JDAI is now being replicated in 100 jurisdictions nationwide, and many sites have sharply reduced confined populations without harming public safety. JDAI model sites in Albuquerque, Chicago, Portland (OR), and Santa Cruz have lowered their daily detention populations by 38 to 75 percent without any uptick in youth offending.

PRIORITY FOCUS #2: Take aggressive steps to reduce racial disparities in juvenile justice. Perhaps the most troubling characteristic of our nation's juvenile justice system is the shameful and persistent overrepresentation of minority youth. The research is now clear that youth of color are treated more harshly than white youth at every stage of the juvenile process, even when they present the same histories and are accused of the same crimes. In 1988, Congress amended the JJDPA to make addressing racial and ethnic disparities a «core requirement,» but it offered little guidance and few consequences for inaction. Consequently, few jurisdictions have made progress in reducing disproportionate treatment. To remedy this pervasive injustice, the core mandate in JJDPA should be strengthened, and states should be required to analyze each stage of the juvenile court process for racial equity, and to develop corrective action plans to reduce disparate outcomes.

PRIORITY FOCUS #3: Combat abuse and protect the safety of youth confined in juvenile facilities. Conditions of confinement within juvenile detention and corrections facilities are deeply problematic. Violence and abuse are rampant in many facilities, as are the excessive use of isolation and dangerous or overly harsh disciplinary techniques such as four-point restraints, strip searches, and pepper sprays. Juvenile systems in California, Texas, and several other states have been plunged into scandal in recent years by revelations of endemic abuse, and the Associated Press recently reported that 13,000 cases of abuse were reported in juvenile institutions nationwide from 2004 to 2007. To better protect confined youth, the federal government should: establish a mandatory reporting system for all unusual incidents, injuries, and deaths in secure facilities; develop guidelines on the proper use of seclusion and restraints in juvenile facilities; require states to develop and implement plans to ensure the safety and prevent abuse of confined youth; expand funding for the U.S. Justice Department office responsible for investigating conditions of confinement; and repeal federal legislation that inhibits private litigation over conditions of confinement for juveniles.

PRIORITY FOCUS #4: Limit the number of youth tried in adult courts. Brain studies and social science research now show conclusively that adolescents are less mature than adults (and therefore less culpable for their crimes), and more likely to desist from crime and respond to rehabilitation. Studies consistently find that young people prosecuted and punished in the adult justice system are more likely to re-offend than similar youth retained in the juvenile system. Nonetheless, an estimated 200,000 youthful offenders are tried in adult courts every year, many of whom are punished in adult prisons or probation/parole systems. Some live in states that define the age of juvenile jurisdiction at 16 or 17, rather than 18, and many others are transferred to adult courts through ill-considered transfer and waiver laws passed in the 1990s. To inhibit these counterproductive practices, Congress should repeal federal laws that encourage the transfer of juveniles to adult courts and corrections for specified crimes. OJJDP should provide funding and encouragement for state efforts to reverse rules that result in large numbers of transfers to adult court, and encourage all states to set the age of majority at 18. Also, just as the U.S. Supreme Court has banned the death sentence for crimes committed before age 18, OJJDP should encourage states to prohibit life sentences without parole for crimes committed by underage offenders.

PRIORITY FOCUS #5: Conduct research and support demonstration projects to address other pervasive weaknesses in juvenile justice systems. Specifically, OJJDP should support, evaluate, and disseminate results of initiatives for overcoming:

· Inattention to the parents and families of court-involved youth. Despite evidence that families continue to play crucial roles in the success or failure of court involved youth, juvenile courts, probation agencies, and correctional systems seldom engage parents/families in making decisions or designing individualized interventions.

· Overzealous prosecution of minor crimes. Juvenile justice systems have shown an increasing propensity to prosecute minor cases in the juvenile justice system - often as the result of ill-conceived «zero tolerance» policies. Formally prosecuting routine misbehavior - rather than diverting non-dangerous youth from court and serving them informally - harms youth, with no benefit to public safety.

· Dumping of special-needs youth better served by other systems. Juvenile courts and corrections systems have become a dumping ground for youth with mental health problems, abuse and neglect histories, and learning disabilities who should be served by public systems with specialized expertise in addressing these problems.

· Inadequate access to counsel. In a series of recent reports, the American Bar Association and the National Juvenile Defender Center have documented severe weaknesses in the legal representation offered to low-income youth involved in juvenile court. Under a revised JJDPA, states should be required to provide prompt access to qualified counsel for all youth in the juvenile justice system, and they should receive funding and assistance to help improve their juvenile indigent defense systems.

PRIORITY FOCUS #6: Strengthen JJDPA core requirements aimed at:

· Preventing the confinement of status offenders. Before Congress enacted JJDPA, juvenile courts locked up nearly 200,000 young people every night for noncriminal behavior like running away from home, skipping school, and underage drinking. After JJDPA made federal funding contingent on deinstitutionalizing these status offenders, the number of confined status offenders dwindled to 10,000. In recent years, however, many jurisdictions have been exploiting a loophole that allows confinement of status offenders who violate a court order. This Valid Court Order loophole should be closed.

· Keeping youthful offenders and adult offenders separate. For more than 30 years, JJDPA's «jail removal» and «sight and sound separation» requirements have kept juvenile offenders out of adult jails - or, if jail is the only available option, in separate units away from adult offenders. However, this protection was not extended to youth tried or punished as adults. JJDPA's rules should be revised to allow states flexibility to serve youth convicted as adults in juvenile facilities.

Recommendation:

Improve the juvenile justice workforce.

In any effort to address the problematic practices described above and to adopt promising reforms, a key variable will be the talent, training, and dedication of the workers involved. Therefore, as recommended by former OJJDP Director Shay Bilchik, OJJDP should provide assistance to states in recruiting, training, and retaining juvenile justice workers, including support for:

· Partnerships between state agencies and universities that offer a career track for college students into the juvenile justice field (as is done in child welfare); and

· Internship experience and tuition subsidies for college students who commit to working for a juvenile justice agency within the state for a minimum number of years.

List of References

I - Primary Sources

Official Reports:

National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, https://nsduhweb.rti.org/respweb/homepage.cfm

Solitary Confinement of Juvenile Offenders, http://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/2012/Solitary_Confinement_of_Juvenile_Offenders.aspx

Defending Childhood, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/defendingchildhood/legacy/2012/12/12/cev-executive-sum.pdf

Review Panel on Prison Rape, http://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/pdfs/panel_report_prea_apr2016.pdf

Berkeley Media Studies Group, http://www.bmsg.org/

Interviews:

BERNSTEIN Nell, Burning Down The House: The End of Juvenile Prison

BETTS Reginald Dwayne, «Only Once I Thought About Suicide». http://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/only-once-i-thought-about-suicide

COATES Ta-Nehisi, «The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration». http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/403246/

GATELY Gary, «Experts: Brain Development Should Play Bigger Role in Determining Treatment of Juvenile Offenders» http://jjie.org/experts-brain-development-should-play-bigger-role-in-determining-treatment-of-juvenile-offenders/105927/

KEREN Robert, «Life After Prison», http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2011/03/08/life-after-prison/

«Behind bars: Four teens in prison tell their stories», http://www.layouth.com/behind-bars-four-teens-in-prison-tell-their-stories/

Letter:

Prisoner 4099 - Oscar Wilde's letter - The National Archives, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/prisoner4099/historical-background/transcript-letter.htm

* ¹²³ Danielle Paquette, «One in nine black children has had a parent in prison» https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/27/one-in-nine-black-children-have-had-a-parent-in-prison/

* ¹²⁴Glenn Kessler, «The stale statistic that one in three black males `born today' will end up in jail» https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/06/16/the-stale-statistic-that-one-in-three-black-males-has-a-chance-of-ending-up-in-jail/

* ¹²⁵ «Police killed more than 100 unarmed black people in 2015», http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/