Sentencing Juveniles to Adult Facilities Fails Youths and Society

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Should juveniles be sentenced to adult correctional systems? To answer this question with a simple yes or no would be to make a dangerous generalization about the nature of juveniles, the nature of crime and the nature of juvenile justice programs. But the Child Welfare League of America believes that this nation has taken a dramatic step toward prosecuting far too many juveniles in the adult correctional system.

This country's laws recognize that juveniles are too young to drink alcohol, vote, engage in legal contracts and enter into marriage, all because they are still developing mentally and emotionally. Legislators created the juvenile justice system based on the belief that youths have much to learn, with the hope that early interventions might alter the path that youths pursue.

But many of today's politicians seem ready …