Let's Put the "Justice" Back in Our Juvenile Justice System

Although she had no prior criminal record, 14-year-old Shaquanda Cotton was sentenced in 2006 to up to seven years in correctional detention for shoving a teacher's aide in the small town of Paris in East Texas. Another 14-year-old girl was sentenced by the same judge to probation after she was convicted of the serious crime of arson. Shaquanda is Black and the other girl is White. Shaquanda was imprisoned at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood, Texas, under an indeterminate sentence that could have lasted until her 21st birthday. Fortunately she was released in March 2007, having spent a year behind bars, after a wave of protests from civil rights groups prompted officials to intervene. Shaquanda's case is just one of many reflecting the racial inequity in America's juvenile justice system, which funnels low-income children of color into the Cradle to Prison Pipeline and unnecessary detention.

The Pipeline, which sucks many young people into adult criminal justice systems, runs through economically depressed neighborhoods, failing schools, across vacant lots where playgrounds and health facilities should be, and in and out of broken, understaffed child welfare agencies. By the time many children get arrested and are brought before a juvenile court, they have been provided far too little loving and thoughtful adult support only to face purported child serving systems that treat them unjustly.

The juvenile justice system is a major feeder into the Cradle to Prison Pipeline. The high volume of cases that juvenile courts administer--over 1.5 million cases each year nationwide--is attributable to the frequent inadequacy of counsel for poor youths; the cultural incompetence or bias of many judges; and the increasing criminalization of children at younger and younger ages for behaviors that used to be handled by families, churches and community organizations.

With overflowing dockets, many Black children get swept up in a judicial juggernaut where they are unlikely to be treated fairly. Often, a judge's hands are tied with mandatory minimum sentencing requirements, especially in drug cases. Judges scrambling to dispose of as many cases as possible, commonly handing down verdicts in minutes. However, racial disparities are evident. Although Black and White teens report using drugs at a similar rate, Black youths are almost five times as likely to be incarcerated as White youths for drug offenses. Far too few effective substance abuse prevention and treatment programs exist.

Poor youths have a hard time receiving the evenhanded treatment that is extended to more affluent White youths. A White, neatly groomed teen in a coat and tie appearing before a judge with his father and mother and a private attorney has a stronger chance of getting probation and no detention than a Black youngster with an overworked public defender and, too often, no adult family member present.

The White youth will likely be prepped to address the judge as "Your Honor" and his parents will be coached to make the right suggestions to the court: That they will place their child in a drug treatment program or send him to military school. They may implore the judge not to ruin their boy's chances of going to college. By contrast, the Black teen may meet his public defender for the first time on the day of his trial; may not fully understand the seriousness of his situation; and may lack social skills, making him appear disrespectful and resulting in harsher treatment. Public defenders also frequently counsel youths to plea bargain rather than present a defense. This may guarantee the youth some form of incarceration.

We can do better. Incarceration shouldn't be our society's first or primary response to a minority youth in trouble. Judges need to look for opportunities to offer poor young and minority defendants the same second chances most privileged youths can count on. These include alternatives to incarceration such as restitution, community service, electronic monitoring, drug rehabilitation treatment, or placement in a "staff secure" (but not locked) community corrections facility. In addition, counseling, social services, education and, in some cases, mental health support should be provided to address the root causes of a youth's involvement with the juvenile justice system.

And we must address drug addiction as a critical health issue and take it out of the criminal justice system. We don't penalize people because they are addicted to tobacco or alcohol, substances that kill far more people than drugs. More drug courts are needed with the capacity for early identification of substance abusing offenders and the ability to place them under court monitoring or community supervision for long-term treatment services, job skills training and family counseling.

It's time for justice to become a reality for all in America. Those administering our juvenile justice system must be given what they need to extend a real helping hand rather than an angry fist to young people in trouble.

For more information on the Children's Defense Fund's America's Cradle to Prison Pipeline^SM report, go to www.childrensdefense.org/cradletoprison

Comments

[PA]

"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky was arrested and imprisoned in 1849 but his sentence was commuted to exile performing hard labor for ten years in labor camps in Siberian as a political prisoner.

[stevesrant]

America's population is 13% black. America's prison population is 49% black. These numbers certainly seem to indicate at least some bias is present in the system. They also say a lot about the source of the bias. This is a historically rooted, complex, socioeconomic problem, but one thing is clear: ethical, socially responsible behavior in children of any color must begin with their parents.
Legalizing all drugs (not just alcohol and tobacco) would also help; it would remove the huge temptation of 'easy' money while greatly reducing the prison population.

[realitytrumpsbull]

I feel motivated to comment on this, but I'm not entirely sure what to say, exactly. I can
think of three things that contribute to
social problems, public corruption, organized crime, and poverty. You could also add on
globalization, for good measure, because
through the miracle of global banking, countries
can now slowly strangle each other economically
and methodically and cause upheaval and
other trouble and all that. Nothing like
starting a crime wave and social crisis over in another country to draw their attention away from the fact that you're systematically robbing them...and, if you look at what's happening with the dollar, they say the drug dealers use euros, now, well, maybe it's time to close the borders and get our house in order...and drug-test and means-test and knowledge-test a lot of these politicians
and policymake­rs...illeg­al immigration is
also a factor...adding millions of people
to an already troubled system is a great
way to break it.

[1will]

The author's case for bias is weakened by her not citing information regarding the cases. I suspect she doesn't give any information about Shaquanda because it would hurt her argument of racial bias. Most would feel Shaquanda Cotton deserves some time in juvie after assaulting a 58 year old woman.
She makes an even less compelling case when writing of the white arsonist. I understand she cannot give the white girls name since she is a minor but the author lists no information of the crime. There is a difference between burning down a house and burning a pile of leaves. There is a difference between two minors if one is a violent repeat offender (such as Mychal Bell in Jena) and one has no record.
As the author listed no information regarding the youths past crimes (if any) or severity of the crimes we are expected to take her word for the Justice System's bias.
Luckily since we are at least given Shaquanda Cotton's name if nothing else, it only takes a few clicks to find her story. I don't know if 7 years in Juvie is a just sentence but I know that returning to the home enviroment that made her what she is would be a mistake.

[splashy]

Well said. Punishment is not the be-all and end-all. It wastes so much of the potential in this country.

[FOXYLADY]

I WAS A STRICT MOM....TO THE POINT WHEN OTHER CHILDREN USED TO TALK ABOUT ME BEING STRICT AS IF "IT WAS A DIRTY WORD"...SOME OF THESE KIDS DID DRUGS, GOT PREGNANT AND WORSE. I NEVER QUESTIONED THE TEACHERS, EXPECT WHEN ONE CALLED MY 12 YR. OLD SON A "JERK" OR A TEACHER TALKED ABOUT HER STUDENTS AT THE TOWN POOL...
THIS GIRL DOES NOT DESERVE 7 YEARS IN JUVI HALL

[FOXYLADY]

THE LAWS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE GETTING RIDICULOUS­...SOMEONE KILLS A CHILD, HIT AND RUN, AND GETS A COUPLE YEARS IN PRISON AND USUALLY IS OUT ON PAROLE SOONER....CHECK OUT ALL THE "SHORT" SENTENCES "MURDERERS" GET... EVEN IF IT IS AN ACCIDENT, 2 YRS. IS NOT ENOUGH FOR KILLING SOMEONE. AND THESE IDIOTS ARE SENDING HER AWAY FOR 7 YEARS??? MY GOD, WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??

[Troubledgoodangel]

It used to be that the parents knew how their kids behaved and felt responsible before the nation if something was not right. Today the parents have been virtually castrated by the governmental agencies run by rabid liberals! Rather than responding for their kids' behavior, the parents are brainwashed into "staying on the sidelines,"...or else! The "else," of course, is imprisonment if they are perceived to be responsible parents for their childrens' behavior! Since the sixties, we have gone a long way, baby, the wrong way! Children need to be loved responsibly! The parents must be empowered again! And, starting today, the government should imprison all the liberals who have been throwing the monkey wrench into the juvenile system, for decades!

[BeyondFatalism]

Sorry, not buying it. Here in Minneapolis, too many of the murders and rapes are committed by juveniles. I don't want to see them 'relax' on the demographic that is hell-bent on making life miserable for the rest of us.

I know how good kids behave. It doesn't include shoving authority figures. I never would have considered that for a second when I was a child and neither do good kids who will never be a problem for society.

Kids who are shoving the adult authority figures in their lives are the ones who don't respect other people. Those are the type of people who commit crimes like rape, murder theft and so on.

If you lack respect for others at a young age and have already assaulted someone, I'm not too worried if you spend some time in juvenile hall.

[charlesrfd2003]

When we send children to prison for behaviors that we should handle through home and school, we send our children to the best crime schools money can buy. A school where the students cannot drop out. Imagine 7 years where the child will major in crime. If we send the smartest and best, we will have a whole generation of super criminals.

We are becoming so much like Germany prior to WWII. We become super patriots, hating and fearing all who are different from ourselves. We are believing that we are a god's avenging angel who is to scourge all who are not truly american in our eyes. I believe in a different God and a different America.

[PA]

In my state, the Dept of Juvenile Justice has camps for different levels of behavior. Yes, some of those camps are boot camps, but that is not where the teens go to start in the juvenile penal system. The first of the camp situations is a year long woodsy-camp, where the boys (or girls in separate camps) live together in groups of ten with two counselors. They take classes together, eat together, do chores and have recreation time together. Some of these kids learn how to put their lives together. Some do not learn, and they get moved into the boot camp situation after several opportunities.

I have volunteered working with these students on environmental service learning projects. For the most part, these kids are smart, but have mixed feelings about aggression, defensiveness, lack of status and self respect. The skills we have to learn to grow into mature adults are the very skills these kids have missed. This is what juvenile justice should be doing with these kids. Whether those teens were “sucked” into the pipeline or put themselves directly in the way of the hose is a moot point. Kids are getting into trouble. What are we (as a society) doing to help them get their heads straightened around?

[1will]

I just looked up Shaquanda's case on the internet. The author left out that the teacher Shaquanda assaulted was 58 years old and the youth could have gotten two years probation had she pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge. I don't think two years probation is unreasonable for a young woman that assaults an old lady. I don't know what the white arsonists past was like but Shaquanda Cotton had several discipline issues at school before this assault.

[davis8787]

I am sorry to say but you have it backwards. Instead of asking why the Black girl was so harshly treated you should be asking, why was the white girl not punished. Its time to hold everyone accountable for their actions rather than make excusses. If we do that it may take a generation or even two to undo all the harm that has been done by making excusses for action or rather lack of action. lets stop blaming the system and take a good look back at the home.

[yourstruly]

Anyone who thinks the juvenile justice system is just is not speaking from experience or knowledge of statistics. We have been on an unfortunate trend of treating juveniles as if they were adults for decades, and the penalities fall more heavily on youth of color.

Last week a friend in East Harlem told me about a young man who was jailed by the police for loitering. When his frantic mother found out what had happened, she visited the police station and discovered that he had an outstanding summons-- for walking the family dog without a leash. He didn't want to tell her, because of course there was a fine, and being a teenager, his judgment was a bit short-sighted. If this had happened to a white kid, I can promise you he would not have been jailed but driven home where police would have confronted the mother.

Although Ms. Wright-Edelman doesn't go into it, the unfortunate drug laws we have passed penalize the use and sale of crack cocaine more heavily than of the more expensive powder, and this alone has overburdened our corrections facilities. People who sell cocaine on Wall Street have less to fear than people in poorer neighborhoods.

As Barack Obama said recently, it's time to reverse the policies that send more young black men to prison than to college.

[wrabbitt]

Our legal system just doesn't work. The war on drugs should be renamed the futile waste of money.After how many billions of dollars and, nothing to show, except maybe prisons full of our youth. Some drugs are dangerous but, homemade versions are more deadly. We need to make drugs legal and, more available. ending the domination of the drug culture. Tax money off safer drugs can go to real rehab plans. Registration of drug users could go far towards better cures,Putting them in jail and, making them hate a biased system of injustice is not the answer. After thirty years of fighting the drug war one would think we would wise up and change directions. With the money we have wasted we could all have health care and taxes would be lower. besides we already know what don't work.....