We can – and must – do better for our kids

Crystal Willis, writing for the Kentucky Youth Project, makes the powerful case that young children should not be in the juvenile justice system.

From the article:

AAP recommends the following juvenile justice reforms:

• Advance poli­cies and com­mu­ni­ty action to address the root caus­es of juve­nile jus­tice involve­ment, includ­ing sys­temic racial dis­par­i­ties as well as unad­dressed men­tal health, med­ical, and legal needs. 
• Ensure that incar­cer­a­tion for chil­dren and young peo­ple is used only as a last resort, which means after diver­sion and oth­er com­mu­ni­ty-based inter­ven­tions have been deployed.
• End exces­sive­ly puni­tive and devel­op­men­tal­ly inap­pro­pri­ate prac­tices that serve to fur­ther trau­ma­tize children. AAP cit­ed iso­la­tion, soli­tary con­fine­ment, and sen­tences of life with­out parole as par­tic­u­lar­ly harsh prac­tices that should be aban­doned in favor of approach­es that bet­ter sup­port the devel­op­men­tal needs of young people.

Young Kids Are Learning to Regulate Their Emotions — They Should Not Be in the Juvenile Justice System