1. Juveniles Facing Lifelong Terms Despite Rulings, Erick Eckholm, The New York Times, 2014
U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2010 and 2012 curtailed the use of mandatory life sentences for juveniles, accepting the argument that children, even those who are convicted of murder, are less culpable than adults and usually deserve a chance at redemption. However, most states have taken half measures, at best, to carry out the rulings.
2. U.S. Inquiry Finds a "Culture of Violence" Against Teenage Inmates at Rikers, Benjamin Weiser and Michael Schwirtz, The New York Times, 2014
A federal investigation into a juvenile detention facility found that correction officers truck adolescents in the head and face as punishment at "an alarming rate," even when inmates posed no threat; officers took inmates to isolated locations for beatings out of view of video cameras; and many inmates were so afraid of the violence that they asked, for their own protection, to be placed in solitary confinement.
3. Not a Lock: Youth Who Stay Closer to Home Do Better than Those in Detention, Texas Study Shows, Lynne Anderson, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE), 2015
For two decades reports and studies have shown the futility of programs of youth jails. After abuses within the Texas system came to light in 2007, Texas moved to reduce the number of incarcerated youth. During 2007 to 2012, the number of young people incarcerated dropped more than 60% and juvenile crime dropped more than 30%—evidence that safety was not compromised by changes in the law.
4. Juvenile Injustice: Truants Face Courts, Jailing Without Legal Counsel to Aid Them, Susan Ferriss, Center for Public Integrity, 2014
Parents allege that children whose only infraction was struggling with a loathing for school were pulled into the criminal justice system, branded with permanent delinquency records and jailed with kids who had actually committed crimes. All of this happened without their kids having lawyers, and some dropped out rather than go back to school.
5. Level 14: How a Home for Troubled Children Came Undone and What It Means for California’s Chance at Reform, Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica, 2014
The breakdown at FamiliesFirst, one of California's largest residential facilities for emotionally damaged kids, has helped spur California to rethink how it cares for its most troubled children, a question that for decades has confounded not just the state but the country.
6. Why Jonathan McClard Still Matters, Gabrielle Horowitz-Prisco, Correctional Association of New York, 2013.
Jonathan was a 17-year-old boy who committed suicide by hanging in an adult facility as he was awaiting transfer to a notoriously abusive adult prison. His mother described the changes she observed in his appearance as he spent time in adult facilities, and she described her powerlessness to get her son out of what she knew was a life-threatening situation.