Essay On Why Are So Many Children In Adult Jails

Andrew Sweet

01/30/23

Period 1 Science

Is Age Just A Number?

The United States prides themselves on being the land of opportunity, liberty, and freedom. However, reality is far from the truth. The U.S. is the country with the highest percentage rate of incarcerated children in the world, rooting from as early as the late 18th century. Every day, about 4,500 youths are imprisoned in adult jails and prisons in the United States. (EJI) What’s most shocking is that ¾ of the convicted are charged with non-homicide or non-violent crimes. 30 years ago, only 2300 kids were in adult jails, but in just 9 years the number went up 311%. (prisonpolicy.org) In 2016, the incarcerated child population decreased to 3,700 children in adult jails and 956 in

After reading “Surely Doomed,” in Bryan Stevenson’s memoir, Just Mercy, the question I want to explore is: “Why are so many children in adult jails in the first place?” According to the Equal Justice Initiative, founded by Bryan Stevenson, the government protects youth under the age of 14 because of their brains are not fully developed. In fact, most accused kids have signs of mental illness and come from traumatic and abusive backgrounds. However, if a child commits or is accused of commiting a given crime, the law’s protection defects, thus authorizing children younger than 14 to have a trial in an adult court and possibly subsequently sentenced to an adult jail or prison. Because of this, children as young as 8 years old have been tried as adults in US

Another considered factor not named is the convicted’s race; directly quoted from EJI: “More than half of the children under 14 transferred to adult court each year are African American or Latino.” There are also three legal provisions that need to be waived for a child to be charged as an adult. One, and the most common, a waiver or transfer process, where a prosecutor requests that a judge agree for the defendant to be transferred and tried in adult court. The protagonist of “Surely Doomed,” Charlie, was recommended by his prosecutor to be sent to an adult court. The grounds for this transfer tend to be based on the seriousnes off the crime, whether someone was hurt during the crime, the child’s record of previous offenses and whether they failed to be rehabilitated in juvenile detention. Another provision that prosecutors rely on is Statutory Exclusion, where serious crimes such as murder are automatically tried as adult crimes.

So, with all of this in mind, I’ve come to question the power of the prosecutor and whether or not their biased opinions overtake their commitment to deliver justice. Are prosecutors neutral? In “Surely Doomed,” the prosecutor was partisan with the victim who was a fellow law enforcer and manipulated the story to make it seem like the victim was a