The Ugly Truth: Youth Incarceration in America

October was Youth Justice Awareness Month.

Thirty-one days dedicated to raising awareness about youth incarceration, preventing youth from entering the juvenile justice system, and exposing the consequences of prosecuting youth in the adult criminal justice system.

This is an important cause that needs more awareness, considering that once a child enters the criminal justice system, it is hard to tell when they will ever be able to join society again, and if they do, whether they will be emotionally, mentally, and physically stable enough to do so.

Prior to the incarceration of any individual under the age of eighteen, there are usually many factors that impact the way that particular individual lives their life; factors such as: poverty, a low level of positive parental involvement, social disorganization in their home community, maltreatment and abuse, gang involvement, enrollment in low-quality public schools, and much more.

It should be noted that being exposed to one of these factors does not lead a child to delinquency, on the contrary, the more factors youth are exposed to, the more likely it is that they will experience delinquency.

Granted, most of the youth that faces these conditions are minorities.

For this reason, it does not come as a surprise that youth of color are overrepresented at all stages in the juvenile justice system.

The facts prove that the American criminal justice system is corrupt – instead of working towards their purpose, controlling crime and imposing penalties on those who violate laws, it often incarcerates innocent people, neglects individual’s rights, and severely impacts, on an emotional, physical, and mental level, the way many live their lives.

After being incarcerated, the children are forced to deal with a system that seems to be working against them. Many have to deal with poor prison and jail conditions, corrupt correctional officers, inexplicably high bails, violence, and more.

In the documentary miniseries, “The Kalief Browder Story,” Robin Steinberg, a leader in the field of indigent defense, states, “It begs the questions whether the system is actually broken or whether the system is doing precisely what we intended it to do.”

Steinberg’s allegation that the American criminal justice is doing exactly what we intended it to do—incarcerate as many African American and Latino males as possible and force them to remain in the system through a variety of unethical techniques—has been the case for many years and there seems to be no change in sight.

However, there are many organizations and programs working towards ensuring that the interaction between children and the criminal justice system is fair, timely and effective.

Campaign for Youth Justice is an exemplary initiative focused solely on “ending the practice of prosecuting, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under the age of eighteen in the adult criminal justice system.”

Aprill Turner, CFYJ Communication & Media Director, shared her insight on the matter, stating:

“There are things kids used to do that used to get them detention and now it is getting them arrested.”

Turner says the most challenging aspect of this campaign is helping their opposers, such as prosecutors, understand that their stance is not that children shouldn’t be punished.

On the contrary, their position is that “[children] should be handled by the juvenile system, which is why it was created.”

Through research, policy making, and ten to twelve campaigns per year, CFYJ has helped our society, which Turner believes is “punitive by nature”, prevent kids as young as seven years old from making any contact with the criminal justice system.

CFYJ advocates, raises public awareness, advances a national research agenda, and builds a national movement, all with hopes of ending the prosecution of youth in the adult criminal justice system.

The reality of youth incarceration is that it is in dire need of revision, proper supervision, and national attention.

If after reading this you have the desire to learn more about this subject, consider watching Netflix’s “The Kalief Browder Story,” a documentary that recounts the heart-wrenching story of Kalief Browder, a Bronx high school student who was imprisoned for three years, two of those which he spent in solitary confinement on Rikers Island, without being convicted of any crime.

By: Caitly Reynoso