http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-juvenile-justice-bills-20170320-story.html
This article discusses a page of bills to attempt to divert children from a school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately affects low-income families, black and Latino families. There was 8 proposals introduced that would extend protection for children facing arrest or detention and ease the punishments and fees for those who are inside the juvenile justice system.
I really love and agree with what one of the Senators said at a press conference about the bills. they said “Jail is no place for a child under 11, children are not pint-sized adults. They have a developmental process
that they go through to grow into adults. So, for us to expect that a
child will have the same judgment, understanding of legal terminology is
simply naive.” I find this statement to be so true about children and also a very true statement that most adults forget about when working with/being around a child; that they are still developing and that they are going to make mistakes ust like most adults now did when they were children.
The article highlights some of the other proposals that seem to be very common sense, like a child not talking to police without an attorney before waiving their constitutional rights and that judges can not sentence a child 11 years old or younger to life in prison without parole, as well as ending the costly court and administrative detention fees against the child families. If all of this were to pass, then they would be allowing a child a second chance, and not placing a child into a situation that can ultimately be very hard to get out of.
WOW! That Senator you quoted GETS it. I love that. I hope that they are able to maintain the package all the way through the legislation process because all of the proposals sound important and necessary (and one directly relates to my blog post about the cost of juvenile detention for families!) and likely will all go hand-in-hand in reforming the pipeline and the juvenile justice system in CA in general. I also think the extra hoops related to trying a child in adult court are needed. I would love to know more about this model elementary school they mentioned, as well.
ReplyDeleteMorgan,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. I posted a similar article. I also liked that the senator said jail is no place for children. It is so important that we get more people in the criminal justice system to understand child development!