How American Juvenile Justice Lost Its Way
Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 499 g
ISBN: 978-0-19-060555-1
Verlag: Sinauer Associates Is an Imprint of Oxford University Press
As shocking as Terrence's sentence sounds, it is merely a symptom of contemporary American juvenile justice practices. Today in this country, adolescents are routinely transferred out of juvenile court and into adult criminal court without any judicial oversight. Once in adult court, children can be sentenced without regard for their youth. Juveniles are housed in adult correctional facilities; they may be held in solitary confinement; and they experience the highest rates of sexual and
physical assault among inmates. Until 2005, children convicted in America's courts were subject to the death penalty; today, they still may be sentenced to die in prison - no matter what efforts they make to rehabilitate themselves. America has waged a war on kids.
The War on Kids reveals how the United States went from being a pioneer to an international pariah in its juvenile sentencing practices. While academics and journalists have recognized the failings of juvenile justice practices in this country and have called for change, recent Supreme Court decisions and political developments make those calls a reality today. The War on Kids seizes upon this moment of judicial and political recognition that children are different in the eyes
of the law. The book chronicles the shortcomings of juvenile justice by drawing upon social science, legal decisions and first-hand correspondence with Terrence and others like him - individuals whose adolescent errors have cost them their lives. At the same time, The War on Kids maps out concrete steps that states
can take to correct the course of American juvenile justice.