Call to Action for Juvenile Justice Reform
by Amanda Yates
Have you ever wondered how the juvenile justice system came about?
It all started in the late 19th century when hundreds of children and adolescents were being arrested for minor offenses and subject to the harsh dealings of the adult criminal court system every year.
Two social reformers, Julia Lathrop and Lucy Flower, who were a part of Jane Addams’ Hull House in Chicago, were particularly concerned about the conditions to which these children were subjected. They banded together in an effort to seek change around this issue. Julia toured every jail in Illinois to document the detrimental conditions, while Lucy collaborated with the city’s ruling class to gain support for the court. Lucy ultimately drafted a bill that the legislative act was based upon, and soon the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899 was passed.
This bill created a separate system for juveniles to be tried in, and in 1907, right across the street from Hull House, the first juvenile court and detention center was built. This newly established juvenile system focused on the children themselves rather than the offenses they committed and was more concerned about rehabilitative measures that worked in the best interest of those children, rather than punishment.
However, in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a regressive shift in policy when the myth of “super-predators” became popular. This was an idea that speculated there would soon be a wave of violent crimes committed by youth who did not show remorse and were incapable of being reached by even the most effective of interventions. Even though this prediction turned out to be false, states began passing transfer laws that allowed for juveniles to be tried in the more punitive adult courts again. Now, despite each state having a set age for juvenile jurisdiction, all 50 states have one or more transfer laws allowing for their juveniles to be tried as adults.
Nearly 200,000 of the United States’ youth are now tried as adults each year. These children and adolescents are subject to higher risks of physical and sexual abuse and experience exacerbated mental health problems, with suicide being 16 times more likely by juveniles tried as adults than those tried in their respective juvenile courts. In addition, trying juveniles as adults does not decrease the likelihood of their committing future crimes—a sentiment often cited as justification for these rulings. The adult criminal court system is also inherently discriminatory in nature, as black and brown youth are disproportionately represented at every level of the system.
As social workers, one of the core values we hold is that of social justice, as our NASW Code of Ethics tells us that we “pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals.” Now’s the time to start doing just that. I encourage you to be active in advocacy for these youth who are consistently subject to injustice. It is time that transfer laws become a thing of the past and that juvenile jurisdiction is increased to age 18 to ensure that the youth of our future are given the best possible chance to be successful.
Together, we can be the change.
Resources
Campaign for Youth Justice. http://campaignforyouthjustice.org
Juvenile Law Center. (2020). Youth tried as adults. https://jlc.org/issues/youth-tried-adults
Myers, Q. (2019, May 13). How Chicago women created the world’s first juvenile justice system. NPR. https://www.npr.org/local/309/2019/05/13/722351881/how-chicago-women-created-the-world-s-first-juvenile-justice-system
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). NASW code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
Amanda Yates is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. She has a Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA) in Human Development and Family Sciences with a minor in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.