The Juvenile Justice System Punishes Black and Brown Youth for Minor Infractions

[Nevilledog]

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Scott Hechinger
@ScottHech
THREAD: A history you don't know about. The direct line btwn slavery & Black children today thrown into cop cars over $3 bags of Doritos. "Adolescence" & "juvenile justice" were only ever for white kids. Black youth were first enslaved. Now excluded. More:

teenvogue.com
Teens Often Have No Legal Representation in Juvenile Court
Despite a 1967 Supreme Court ruling that secures this fundamental right.
2:13 PM · May 15, 2022

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/juvenile-justice-united-states-courts

As a youth defense attorney in Brooklyn, for the past five years, I witnessed firsthand the criminalization of young people. New York City is often hailed for its diversity, yet the overwhelming majority of children I have represented are Black and Latino/a. I could probably count on one hand the number of white youth I have represented.

Many people assume that when kids are arrested and appear in court, they must have done something terrible. But most of the children being pushed into the juvenile court system are there because they had been acting like a typical teenager — they just weren’t able to get away with it because of their race and ethnicity.

Every day, young people across the country find themselves enmeshed in the juvenile court system, often for common adolescent behaviors such as skipping school, drinking alcohol, or getting in a fight. Once they are involved in the system, juvenile courts can unleash the power of the state to put them in shackles, place them in confinement, surveil their movements, impose fees and fines that can cause lasting debt, and permanently mark their record. All of this can occur without a lawyer by their side to explain what is happening, strategize with them, and defend their case.

This practice of leaving children defenseless in juvenile court has long been illegal. On May 15, 1967, a U.S. Supreme Court case, In re Gault, secured due process rights for all children facing juvenile court, including the fundamental right to a lawyer. The Supreme Court recognized that without a lawyer standing by and enforcing the child’s rights, the legal protections afforded to the child are essentially meaningless. But 55 years later, children often face the punitive hand of juvenile courts without a lawyer to defend their rights. States thwart a child's constitutional right to counsel through a series of loopholes that include charging fees, delaying the appointment of counsel, and creating incentives for a child to waive their right to a lawyer.

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[onecaliberal]

1. Only a shithole country does this.

[jimfields33]

4. One thing is New York City schools should stop calling police if a child

Skips school. That alone will stop a lot of this. Skipping school should not be a crime.

[Johnny2X2X]

2. This is one of the huge issues of our time

I remember reading an article about school safety officers in Mississippi in black school districts. They were literally arresting children for offenses like talking in class, and chewing gum at school. Giving these kids records so when they did screw up for real there was no way out of jail.

There are 2 justice systems in America (Probably more than 2), one for white kids and one for black or brown kids. I am a 50 year old white male, me and everyone I know has stories of doing stupid things and the cops letting us go with a warning. Being allowed to make some mistakes without it affecting your prospects is just the type of privilege people don't acknowledge.

And the answer isn't to punish more kids to make it fair, the answer is to treat children like children regardless of color and have a society that promotes growth.

[Demovictory9]

3. K&r