Juveniles Should Not Be Placed in Adult Prisons

Incarcerating juvenile criminals with adults is both ineffective and harmful, maintains J. Steven Smith. According to Smith, youth in adult prisons are likely to be assaulted and are also likely to commit more crimes when released. The desire to incarcerate juveniles with adults is based on the public's fear that juvenile crime is increasing; however, crimes committed by youth are actually decreasing. He advocates treatment rather than incarceration for young criminals.

Several years ago, one of the news feature shows on television had an interviewer talking with a freckle-faced, redheaded 12-year-old boy. The interview was taking place in a maximum-security prison yard.

When asked what he had done to warrant being in the prison, he told them how he had been spotted by local police as he drove a stolen car. After a high-speed chase, he crashed into an interstate highway roadblock. Several state and local law enforcement agencies and dozens of police cars were involved.

The interviewer asked if the child was sorry for what he had done because it had resulted in a sentence to an adult maximum-security prison. The boy responded that he would do it again because it was the "greatest day" of his life!

"It was just like 'Smokey and the Bandit'!". Clearly, he continued after a period of months to be caught up in the childish excitement of his criminal act. A mature sorrow for his actions and the resulting punishment were absent.

While most of us would expect that youths in adult prisons were the most-violent and dangerous juvenile offenders, the Department of Justice reported that 39% of the juveniles in adult prisons were sentenced for a nonviolent offense. The most-serious charge for almost 40% of these young Americans was most likely a drug or nonviolent property offense. It is reasonable to propose that seriously violent youths should be held in adult facilities only if they are incapable of being effectively managed in a juvenile facility.

They indicated that juveniles locked up in adult male prisons are four times more likely than adults to report being assaulted, and 21 times more likely to be assaulted than teens held in one of Florida's secure juvenile facilities. They also pointed out the likelihood that one-half of these improperly placed juveniles will be assaulted while incarcerated.

In 1980, Congress passed amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974. Among these amendments was a requirement to separate juveniles from adults in the nation's jails. This required local jails absolutely to prevent juveniles from seeing or hearing adult offenders. This provision was strictly enforced and required the restructuring of supervision for more than 6,000 juveniles in Indiana alone. This amendment is still on the books in spite of the ever-increasing use of adult prisons and jails for juvenile offenders.

With regard to juvenile crime, communities need to develop and support early childhood intervention programs to promote healthy families. In most communities, schools are the focal point for youths and their families. Schools need to be the focus for prevention programs. Elementary schools need to focus on providing counselors and social service personnel, rather than metal detectors and armed police officers, to stop the violence.