Don’t give up on our kids: Stop sending Texas youth into the adult prison system

Texas remains one of only a few states that treats all 17-year-olds as adults in the justice system. In some cases, even younger children are sent to adult courts. While neither adult nor youth facilities are optimal for rehabilitation, especially for nonviolent crimes, sending more children into the adult system makes it harder for them to succeed.

Research shows that trying 17-year-olds as adults does not prevent crime. In fact, it increases rates of reoffenses by 34% or more. This suggests that keeping 17-year olds in the juvenile system makes communities safer because youth may be less likely to commit another crime.

Why pediatricians care

Pediatricians want children to grow into healthy adults, both mentally and physically. Keeping young people in their communities and schools is critical to achieving this. While young people may make mistakes, there are many programs that can help get them back on track, such as mental health services and mentoring.

Young people deserve support to grow and develop. The adult legal system is less forgiving and not designed to meet their needs.

Adult prisons are not built for kids

In the short term, adult prisons limit access to age-appropriate education. Most 17-year-olds are only juniors or seniors in high school. Though they may have educational opportunities in adult prisons, these are not adequate replacements for their high school studies. There are also fewer rehabilitation programs and those that are available are not designed with teenagers in mind.

In the long term, we know that young people have a unique capacity for change as their brains are continuing to develop. This also means that they are more likely to act impulsively and be influenced by peers. Simply put, 17-year-olds are not adults. They cannot vote, sign legal contracts or join the military without their parents’ permission. Most still live at home and depend on their parents. They should not be viewed differently in the legal system.

Continuing to send youth into this adult system only increases our mass incarceration problem. Texas has an incarceration rate of 751 per 100,000. This is not only costly in a financial sense, but also in the toll in takes on communities, families and individuals.

Helping our youth succeed

Instead of asking, “What is wrong with you” of the youth who enter the legal system, we should be asking, “What has happened to you?” Many of these young people have experienced serious hardships, including abuse, neglect and violence in the home. Regardless of what prior adversity may have led to this, the focus should now be on helping them grow and succeed.

Instead of sending our young people into a broken adult system, we can follow the evidence of what genuinely works to rehabilitate young people.

Most youth, especially those involved in nonviolent offenses, do better outside of jail or prison. The best results come from using several approaches together. These approaches may include mentoring programs, cognitive behavioral therapy, family-based treatment, restorative justice programs, and coordinated support services.

In the rare cases where youth pose a serious risk to others, placement in a youth facility is much more appropriate than an adult facility. In these cases, the emphasis should be on rehabilitation and treatment as opposed to punishment. Incarceration should be as short as possible, since long stays have negative effects on both development and rates of reoffending.

By Kaitlin Cole, pediatric resident at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital