About Resources

Find Your State Contacts

Partners

National Resolution

Facts & Research

Campaign Tools

 


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

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

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

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 Coaltion Inc.

National Alliance on Mental Illness

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 Insitute for Children Youth & Families

National Juvenile Defender Center

National Juvenile Justice Network

National Network for Youth

National PTA

National Youth Employment Coalition

Physicians for Human Rights

Presbyterian Church USA

Reclaiming Futures, Portland State University

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 Souther 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 Collaboration for Youth                                                                                  

Delaware Center for Justice                                                                                             

Florida

Justice 4 Kids                                                                                                                     

Georgia

Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic, Emory University                                               

Making The Walls Transparent                                                                                      

Georgia Parent Support Network Inc.                                                                            

Youth Task Force                                                                                                              

Idaho

Tribal Justice Programs                                                                                                    

Illinois

Juvenile Justice Initiative                                                                                                 

Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative                                                                                    

Indiana

Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force, Inc.                                                                      

Kentucky

Central Juvenile Defender Center, Children's Law Center                                          

Central Juvenile Defender Center                                                                                   

Louisiana

Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children                                        

Massachusetts

Citizens for Juvenile Justice                                                                                            

Juvenile Justice Center, Suffolk University Law School                                             

Youth Advocacy Project                                                                                                 

Maryland

Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition

Maine                                                                                                                                  

Juvenile Justice Clinic, University of Maine School of Law                                      

Michigan

Michigan Collaborative for Juvenile Justice Reform                                                   

Association for Children's Mental Health (ACMH)                                                    

Association for Children's Mental Health                                                                     

Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency                                                              

Michigan Collaborative on Juvenile Justice Reform                                                   

Mississippi

Mississippi Youth Justice Project                                                                                  

North Carolina

Action for Children North Carolina                                                                                

Nebraska

Voices for Children 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                                                                       

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                              

Mental Health Association in PA                                                                                  

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 and Families