Criminal Injustice: States unfairly prosecute children as adults
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Dwayne Fatherree | Read the full piece here
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Friend,
Ten years ago, in a historic decision
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, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized, as it had in earlier cases, that
children who commit crimes are fundamentally different from adults
- less mature biologically, more vulnerable and susceptible to
negative pressures and influences, and therefore less culpable and
more likely to change.
It's one of the reasons this country has had a separate criminal
justice system
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for children for the past century.
But even though this distinction between adults and children is widely
accepted in the law and science, thousands of children accused of
crimes are still prosecuted in the adult justice system each year
- subjecting them to adult jails, where they are often denied
adequate educational resources and the mental health and
rehabilitative services they need.
No state prosecutes children as adults on felony charges more than
Florida, where 4,446 children have been charged with felonies in the
adult system over the past five years. And the statistics show that
Black children accused of crimes are more likely than white children
to be funneled into adult courts and lockups.
What makes Florida an outlier is its harsh "direct file"
statute, enacted in 1978 as the era of mass incarceration was taking
root in this country and politicians were racing to pass ever-tougher
sentencing laws.
Florida's law grants state prosecutors the extraordinary power
to bring adult charges against children as young as 14 - without
any review by a judge or a grand jury.
Juvenile court judges can also transfer a child's case to the
adult courts. But that rarely happens. In Florida, direct file
prosecutions - those decided by prosecutors themselves -
account for more than 98% of the adult charges brought against
juveniles in the state.
READ MORE
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.
Friend, will you make a gift to help the SPLC fight for
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