Ensure Responsible Juvenile Sentencing

When children and youth commit a crime it is important that they are held accountable for their actions. However, it is equally important that the manner for which they are held accountable reflects their special capacity for rehabilitation.[1]  It is also critical that juveniles are provided with opportunities for quality treatment when their offenses are related to drug and alcohol abuse.  Ensuring appropriate interventions for juvenile offenders increases the likelihood that these young people will grow into productive adults able to contribute to their communities. Some strategies that can be used to ensure responsible juvenile sentencing include:

• Require objective detention admission criteria and risk assessment. Objective admission criteria and standardized risk assessments help to keep youth in their homes and communities while ensuring the appropriate services and supervision. New Mexico’s juvenile code explicitly limits detention to admission criteria that link placement decisions with detention alternatives. New Mexico also requires the use of a risk assessment instrument and a written report of risk assessment data collected.[2]  Virginia requires a risk assessment instrument to determine detention eligibility and has documented this tool’s reliability and positive effect on public safety.[3]

• Support the use of juvenile court. Research shows that the adult criminal justice system is ill-equipped to meet the needs of youth offenders at every stage of the justice process, from the trial, to sentencing options, and to incarceration. Studies also indicate that putting juveniles through a system never intended to process youth has led to exacerbating the problems they sought to address.[4] Serving juveniles through juvenile courts allows for youth to receive developmentally appropriate options for treatment.  Some states are making efforts to ensure that juveniles are served most frequently in juvenile courts.  As of January 1, 2010, 17-year-old misdemeanors in Illinois are no longer being filtered automatically into the adult justice system. Under Public Act 95-1031, 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors will now have access to the juvenile court’s balanced and restorative justice approach including mental health and drug treatment and community-based services.[5]

• Support the use of drug courts. The OJJDP, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have collaborated to enhance the capacity of states, state courts, and Indian tribal governments to serve substance-abusing juvenile offenders by developing and establishing juvenile drug courts adopting the Reclaiming Futures model, which embodies three essential elements: designing a system of care that coordinates services, involving the community in creating new opportunities, and improving treatment services for drug and alcohol use.  The New York State Unified Court System will apply the Reclaiming Futures model to the Nassau County Juvenile Treatment Court program to improve coordination among the Nassau County Family Court and public and nonprofit agencies working with justice-involved juveniles. The goal is to improve the identification of juveniles requiring substance abuse treatment, expand the screening and assessment of respondents in juvenile delinquency petitions; and engage youth more effectively in treatment by increasing the number and range of effective treatment options.

• Ban juvenile life without parole. Once children are prosecuted as adults, they become subject to the same prison sentences that can be imposed on adults, including in forty-two states, the sentence of life without parole. While serious crimes need to be taken seriously, the forming identities of young offenders make them excellent candidates for rehabilitation.  Youth are more successful than adults at learning new skills and establishing new value systems.[6]  Considering strategies that allow for reevaluation provide youth with opportunities to rehabilitate and contribute productively to society. Currently, Kentucky, New York, Oregon, and the District of Columbia specifically exclude anyone under the age of eighteen, who is tried as an adult, from life without parole sentencing.[7]