By Laurie Bergner
I’m proud of my country. And I’m ashamed of my country. Recently, there’s been attention drawn to the situation in which many juveniles are serving their sentences in adult jails and prisons, places that are traumatic for them. Places that were never intended to house young people. Places where they get beaten up and raped by adults. Places that can ruin their chances for any decent future they might have had.
And just who are these juveniles? Sometimes they are convicted of something as small as stealing a backpack; sometimes of robbery or drugs. About half are convicted of nonviolent crimes, crimes related to property, drugs or public order. For legal purposes, juveniles are defined as under 18 years old. Why? It’s understood that young people are immature, and their brains are not fully developed. It only makes sense that they not be judged on the same conditions as adults because they are not as mature and responsible for their actions as adults are. Yet, in fact, many under-18 year olds are charged as adults. In fact, in nine states, 17 year olds are automatically charged as adults. And youths at the age of 14 have been charged as adults if the crime is heinous. Race is a huge factor in many cases: in Chicago, of 257 children prosecuted as adults between 2010 and 2012, only one was white! Another national study found that almost 10 times more black kids were committed to adult facilities than white kids.
In 2010, a 16 year old black teenager, Kalief Browder, was put in the infamous Riker’s prison for a robbery that he insisted he did not commit. He spent 3 years in prison, including two years in solitary confinement, enduring being beaten up by guards. He attempted suicide unsuccessfully. After he was released, he couldn’t get back on track, and at 21 years old, he committed suicide.
In juvenile detention centers, staff has special training on how to deal with young prisoners, and there is access to education and counseling. But that is rarely true in adult prisons.
Some young prisoners have filed a lawsuit, asking to be “housed in a safe environment free of sexual assaults, sexual harassment, and physical violence perpetrated by adult prisoners and/or staff.”
It was only in 2005 that the Supreme Court ruled against allowing states to execute defendants who had committed crimes before the age of 18. At that time, we were one of only a handful of countries that still allowed for capital punishment for juveniles. But they could still receive life without parole sentences. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles could not receive life without parole sentences, noting that they had to be allowed the ability to demonstrate that they were rehabilitated.
Our whole juvenile justice system is simply horrendous. It does not account for either the immaturity and lack of adult responsibility of minors who commit crimes, or the trauma of being incarcerated with adults. I applaud the new lawsuits and encourage people to sign a petition by Credo Action calling for the Department of Justice to investigate the practice.
Laurie Bergner is a clinical psychologist in private practice, working with individual adults, families and couples. She also works with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, helping organize candidates forums, educational programs, and many issues in the field of law and justice. She has received many recognitions in both fields, including YWCA’s Women of Distinction in the Professions, Leaguer of the Year, LWV Special Project Awards, and the LWV of Illinois’s prestigious Carrie Chapman Catt award. Laurie has a wonderful husband and two grown children – also wonderful. She loves biking in the countryside, reading, and traveling.
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