Juveniles in Adult Prisons

Black and Hispanic Juveniles in Adult Prisons

 The first blog posted was about the unequal sentencing between races and now this blog post is about the disparities between juveniles in adult prisons between races. In the 1900s, juvenile justice systems were created to stop the youth from becoming criminals. The Juvenile system tried to prevent youth from continuing to be involved in illegal activity by changing their mindsets so that they would become productive adults in society. Although the system was created to help the youth, it has over- represented minorities in the system. The juvenile system has created racial disparities. A system that was created to help improve the lives of the youth seems to have targeted minorities and has actually been harmful for the growth of the youth in these communities. These systems that have inequality are also extremely harmful because once the youth are sent to various places such as adult prisons they become labeled as second class citizens starting at a very young age.

For few races the juvenile system is an intervention for the youth, while many minorities experience the juvenile system as a way to label the youth as criminals at an early age. The youth that are sent to adult prisons due to the disparities, cause the youth to become actual criminals because they are placed in situations where they are living among real adult criminals that were sent to prison for serious crimes. Due to the fact that a lot of the youth are exposed to real criminals in adult prison, when they get out if they get out they have the tendency to become criminals because of their expose. The racial disparity in the juvenile system is that white youths are being sent to rehabs or detention centers while minority youths are sent to adult prisons with harsh sentences. 

The juvenile system has even gone as far to have disparities between the numbers of black and hispanic youths going straight to adult prisons.  Minority youths are disproportionately sent to adult courts and adult prisons more likely than their white counterparts. This is harmful to the community because the youth are viewed as criminal, which helps to support the stereotypes that there are more minorities committing crimes. These stereotypes are the reason why more minorities are stopped, frisked and arrested. Due to the disparities, minorities  youths are going to adult prisons and being sentenced as adults, while whites are getting let off with a lighter consequence and more opportunities to change their fate in society.

http://www.vsb.org/publications/valawyer/dec00/dunnaville.pdf 

http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial/juvenile.html