Report: Recidivism Higher for Youth Offenders Tried as Adults
Children tried as adults then housed in adult prisons are more likely to become repeat offenders than youths who remain in the juvenile justice system, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
Since the 1980s and 1990s, laws have pushed more juvenile offenders into the adult criminal justice system and given them longer sentences, the Washington Post reports.
But according to the CDC report, those laws have done little to deter youths from committing crimes or rehabilitate those sent through the adult system.
“Not only does it not deter youth crime, it actually makes them more violent,” the Post quotes Robert L. Johnson, dean of the New Jersey Medical School, and a member of the CDC task force. “It may salve our desire to punish. But don’t get that confused with rehabilitation. Don’t make the mistake of believing that punishment will help anything.”
Panelists from the CDC’s Task Force on Community Preventive Services reviewed six studies that looked at the impact of transferring juveniles into the adult system. The Post reports that a look at Florida cases found that youths sent to adult prisons had 34 percent more rearrests than those with equivalent criminal records kept within the juvenile system.
