and reach thousands of daily visitors
Listen to thisReform the juvenile justice
system to give our children
a better opportunity at happy, effective lives
It has been about half a century, but I still remember my first day imprisoned in Cleveland's Detention Home just like it was yesterday.
I'd been dumped unceremoniously into the place on orders from a Juvenile Court judge who said he wanted to see if some time locked up would wipe the smile off my face. It didn't, but it did scare me. I'd been to court on a matter involving property damage that the parties had already worked out, and had not been found guilty of a crime, just of somehow rubbing a judge the wrong way.
Once inside, the threat of violence was everywhere. The palpable sense of danger or serious harm was with me from the moment I was brought in. The indignant and disrespectful manner in which every supervisor (guard) treated us was dehumanizing.
In my first half hour, I was attacked by an inmate and threatened by a supervisor who had just knocked another inmate across the room.
During my first day, I was made to drop my drawers and spread myself to be checked for contraband four times, and I learned that everywhere we went, this embarrassing operation would be repeated. And the smell of the place was nauseating. Everything stunk like disinfectant and old sweat. This was surely a miserable place to be.
The theory seemed to be that if we scare these children enough, they will not commit any more crimes or act out in ways unacceptable to adults. Like most of my fellow inmates, the lesson I learned was to try to make sure I never got caught again.
A lot has changed in the juvenile justice system since then. Too much has remained the same.
Our juvenile justice system needs some serious help. According to published reports, on any given day, 60,000 juveniles are locked up in our country.
It is well known that our country locks up far more people in our adult prisons than any other country in the world. Many of those inmates are graduates of the juvenile justice system, which also locks up more juveniles than any other system in the world.
In the meantime, the taxpayer's bill for imprisoning so many has gone from around $7 billion a year in the 1980s to almost $70 billion in recent years.
For incarcerated juveniles, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, as outlined in a 2012 Campaign for Youth Justice fact sheet, two-thirds are there on nonviolent charges, such as status offenses "like running away or breaking curfew," technical probation violations, or property, drug, and public order offenses.
By most measures, all of this incarceration has not reduced the rate of delinquency, and has not improved the quality of life for most juveniles going through the system.
The OJJDP also reports that about 25 percent of all detention facilities are over-capacity, which reduces whatever effectiveness incarceration might have. Other reports cited by the Campaign for Youth Justice suggest that more than one in ten of the children locked up will be sexually abused while incarcerated this year.
Also, the impact of this focus on incarceration falls disproportionately on minorities, particularly blacks and Hispanics.
Fortunately, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia first introduced the Youth PROMISE (Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support and Education) Act in 2009. The act proposes to disrupt this dysfunctional, ineffective pipeline from the cradle to prison for so many of our young people by supporting effective alternatives. Under the act, local communities will be funded to develop coordinated prevention and intervention strategies utilizing evidence-based programs in all the areas mentioned. The key phrase here is "evidenced-based." All over our country, there are programs proven effective in reducing youth crime and increasing opportunities. This act will enable us to learn from the best models, and at the same time, maintain local control.
The Youth PROMISE Act has a chance to become law during our current Congress if enough people encourage their representatives to vote for it. Go to www.youthpromiseaction.org so you can help get Congress to pass this. Maybe then we will finally have a chance to give all our children the best opportunity to grow into happy, effective citizens who can continue to make the world better for their children's children.
River Smith of Cleveland is a psychologist and social justice educator. He is author of A Conspiracy to Love: Living A Life of Joy, Generosity, and Power.
River Smith
19 April 2015
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/04/reform_the_juvenile_justice_sy.html
