Over the past few decades, America’s juvenile justice system has undergone a startling transformation — from an approach built around punishment and deterrence, to one centered on rehabilitation and prevention.
The evidence: Beginning around the year 2000, incarceration of juveniles has declined by almost 75%, from a peak population of more than 10o,000, to somewhere less than one-third that number.
I guess I played a small part in that transformation through my association with two alternative programs: a nine bed shelter where kids in need could stay up to two weeks, and a 40 bed residential alcohol and drug rehab where the typical length of stay of three to six months, and sometimes longer.
I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day running of the programs, but I learned a lot from observing those who were. Like most Americans, I realized I had been operating under a number of misconceptions about troubled kids, their families, the people who worked with them, and the justice system itself. Those two years inside the system were a real eye-opener.
I learned that although violent offenses by kids were far and away the most publicized, the vast majority of arrests were for so-called nonviolent crimes. I mean the ones where a clear intent to harm others was not present: larceny, auto theft, drunk and disorderly, illegal drugs, vandalism, and so forth.
I learned about the close relationship between violent crime and guns. It’s clear that the risk of a homicide or other fatality goes up dramatically whenever juveniles are in possession of a firearm. But teens can’t legally purchase a weapon, so where do they get one?
One survey suggested that in a full third of such cases, the source was within the family. But in another 20%, a gun had been procured through an app known as Telegram.
The Internet, once again.
Not everyone agrees with the current approach, however. There’s an element in society that’s convinced that the only sure way to keep us safe is to incarcerate teenage offenders for long periods, on the grounds that at least while inside, they can’t commit more crimes. Some also argue in favor of trying more teenagers as adults, with more serious penalties attached.
It’s an ongoing discussion that periodically devolves into fierce argument. There are serious issues on both sides that I won’t get into here.
If the subject interests you, you might want to peruse this brief but informative report from The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit policy group:
