Friday, October 19, 2012

Blog 7: Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails


On the 15th of October the New York Times reported about the juveniles being jailed in adult prisons.  They reported that this practice of confining juveniles in adult jails and prison is counterproductive and inhumane. Juveniles that are locked up with adults are at more of a risk to be raped, battered or driven to suicide than those juveniles in the juveniles lock up. Also the trauma of the time done in adult lock up makes it so that the juveniles are more likely to return home damaged which makes them likely to commit violent crimes and end up back in jail or prison. By keeping the juveniles in the juvenile justice systems it will get the kids counseling and mental health services that will benefit then rather than destroy them as would the adult justice system. Prison officials say that they use solitary confinement to isolate inmates who need protection or could be dangerous to others which can help those juveniles that need protection from the adult inmates. Statistics show that tens of thousands of young people each year are charged as adults even for nonviolent offenses and property crimes that do not permit adult time. A new study by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union displays the extended isolation can lead to mental illness and other damage among emotionally immature young people.

This can be affiliated with the world because by imprisoning the young children with the adults it creates monsters to just clog up the prison system. By keeping the juveniles in the juvenile justice systems will help rehabilitate the young and cut down on crimes in the future. The world needs to work on the youth to make a different and by putting the time and effort in the young criminal will eliminate the adult criminal.

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