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National Resolution

The National Resolution on Trying and Sentencing Youth as Adults is a declaration championed by the Campaign and its many supporters to end the involvement of youth in the adult criminal justice system. This resolution establishes the many concerns that go along with trying and sentencing youth as adults. Please consider signing on to show your support of this issue.

 

 

  • National Resolution
  • Signatories to the National Resolution As of November 11, 2008

 

National Resolution on Trying & Sentencing Youth as Adults
WHEREAS policies and practices providing “adult time for adult crime” are often harmful—rather than helpful—to community safety, as evidenced by research demonstrating that prosecuting juveniles in the adult criminal system increases rather decreases the likelihood that they will re-offend, as compared with handling them in the juvenile justice system;

WHEREAS, 75% of youth under age 18 sent to adult facilities will be released by the age of 22 and most will have been denied adequate education, mental health treatment, drug treatment and employment skills training;  

WHEREAS trying and sentencing youth in adult court is not reserved for the most serious, chronic and violent juvenile offenders, but inappropriately includes more than half of the cases involving only nonviolent drug and property crimes;

WHEREAS there exist serious human rights concerns, as well as physical and emotional health concerns, when youth held in adult facilities are sexually assaulted five times more often, commit suicide eight times more often, and are assaulted with a weapon 50% more often than youth held in juvenile facilities; 

WHEREAS there exist serious civil rights concerns given that youth of color are  disproportionately represented in cases sent to adult court—as shown in 18 of the largest court jurisdictions where 82% of juvenile cases filed in adult court involved youth of color;

WHEREAS research continues to establish and reaffirm that the adolescent brain—particularly the part that makes judgments, reins in impulsive behavior and engages in moral and ethical reasoning—is not fully developed until age 19 or 20, laying the foundation for laws that prohibit youth under age 18 from taking on major adult responsibilities such as voting, jury duty and military service;

WHEREAS the use of statutes or procedures that automatically exclude youth from the juvenile court without an assessment of individual circumstances deny them basic fairness;

WHEREAS more than 250,000 offenders under the age of 18 are sent each year to adult criminal courts across the United States, including an estimated 218,000 excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction, not because of the severity of their crimes, nor because they are habitual violent offenders, but because states have lowered the age of adulthood in the criminal code;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Campaign For Youth Justice and signers of this resolution will work to build broad acceptance for reform, as well as to create reform, in state policies and practices, so as to significantly reduce the number of youth sent to adult criminal court and to ensure that young offenders are appropriately adjudicated in ways that enhance community safety and vitality.

To sign on to this resolution or for more information about the campaign please contact the Campaign For Youth Justice at info@campaign4youthjustice.org

 


Signatories to the National Resolution As of November 11, 2008

 

National Organizations

ACLU National Prison Project  
Alliance for Children and Families  
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry  
American Academy of Pediatrics  
American Counseling Association  
American Humane Association  
American Probation and Parole Association  
American Psychiatric Association  
American Youth Policy Forum  
ASPIRA Association  
Association for Children's Mental Health (ACMH)  
Campaign for Youth  
Campaign for Youth Justice  
Catholic Charities USA  
Center for Children's Law and Policy  
Center for Law and Social Policy  
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice  
Central Juvenile Defender Center  
Child Welfare League of America  
Church Women United  
Coalition for Juvenile Justice  
Coalition on Human Needs  
Committee for Public Counsel Services  
Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY)  
Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders  
Covenant House  
Critical Resistance  
Drug Policy Alliance  
Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health  
Forum for Youth Investment  
Girls Inc.  
Human Rights Watch  
Justice Policy Institute  
Juvenile Law Center  
Legal Action Center  
Magellan Health Services  
Mental Health America  
NAACP  
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd  
National African American Drug Policy Coalition  
National Alliance on Mental Issues  
National Association of Counties  
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers  
National Association of School Psychologists  
National Association of Social Workers  
National Center for Youth Law  
National Council on Crime and Delinquency  
National H.I.R.E. Network  
National Institute for Children Youth & Families  
National Juvenile Defender Center  
National Juvenile Justice Network  
National Mental Health Association  
National Network for Youth  
National PTA  
National Youth Employment Coalition  
Physicians for Human Rights  
Presbyterian Church USA  
School Social Work Association of America  
Society for Adolescent Medicine  
Southern Poverty Law Center  
Southwest Key Program  
The Corps Network  
The Sentencing Project  
Unitarian Universalist Association  
United Church of Christ, Office for Church in Society  
United Methodist Church  
United Methodist Church, Board of Church and Society  
Voices for America's Children  
Western Juvenile Defender Center  
Youth Build USA  
Youth Law Center  


State Organizations

       

Alabama
Southern Juvenile Defender Center at the Southern Poverty Law Center

Youth Justice Coalition

Alabama CURE
Arizona
Children's Action Alliance
California

Youth Justice Coalition

Archdiocese of Los Angeles Juvenile Detention Ministry

Western Juvenile Defender Center
Colorado
Pendulum Foundation
Colorado CURE, Inc.
Connecticut
Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance
Washington, D.C.
Juvenile Justice Clinic, Georgetown University Law Center
The Center for Community Empowerment
Children's Law Center - Washington, DC

Covenant House Washington

Justice for DC Youth! Coalition
Delaware
Delaware Center for Justice
Delaware Collaboration for Youth
Florida
Justice 4 Kids
Georgia
Georgia Parent Support Network, Inc.
Barton Child law and Policy Clinic, Emory University

Making the Walls Transparent

Youth Task Force
Idaho
Tribal Justice Programs
Illinois
Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative
Indiana
Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force, Inc.

Kentucky

Central Juvenile Defender Center
Louisiana
Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
Maine

Juvenile Justice Clinic, University of Maine School of Law

Maryland
Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition
Massachusetts
Citizens for Juvenile Justice

Juvenile Justice Center, Suffolk University Law School
Youth Advocacy Project

Michigan

Michigan Association for Children's Mental Health
Michigan Collaboration for Juvenile Justice Reform
Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency

Michigan Collaborative on Juvenile Justice Reform

Mississippi
Mississippi Youth Justice Project
Nebraska
Voices for Children in Nebraska
New Jersey
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey

New Jersey Parents Caucus

New Jersey Parents Caucus of Passaic County

New Jersey Parents Caucus of Union County

New Jersey Parents Caucus of Bergen County

New Jersey Parents Caucus of Camden County

New Jersey Parents Caucus of Essex County
New York
Correctional Association of New York
North Carolina
Action for Children North Carolina
Ohio
Juvenile Justice Coalition
Children's Defense Fund of Ohio
Voices For Children of Greater Cleveland
Oklahoma
Oklahoma CURE
Oregon

Partnership for Safety and Justice
Reclaiming Futures, Portland State University
Pennsylvania
Mental Health Association in PA - PA Collaboration for Youth
South Dakota
Parents Who Care Coalition
Texas
Southwest Key Program
Texas Coalition Advocating Justice for Juveniles
Virginia
Just Children

Virginia CURE
Vermont
Office of the Juvenile Defender
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Council on Children & Families