For more information on the following story contact J. Steven Smith at [email protected] or (765)285-5102.
ADULT PRISONS ARE WRONG PLACE FOR MOST JUVENILES
MUNCIE, Ind. -- While America's crack down on juvenile crime has nearly doubled the number of young people serving time in adult prisons, it hasn't solved any problems, says a Ball State University educator.
"There is this thought that if we put them in an adult jail, we'll teach them a lesson," said J. Steven Smith, a criminal justice professor. "All we are doing is creating monsters that we'll have to keep in one type of system or another for probably the rest of their lives."
A new U.S. Department of Justice report shows the number of criminals age 18 and under serving time in adult state prisons doubled from 1985 with 3,400 to 7,400 in 1997.
About five percent of the 2 million inmates in U.S. prisons are 18 and younger. The report points out that violent young offenders are more likely to serve time in adult prison than in the past.
About 70 percent of young offenders were convicted of violent offenses, including 37 percent for robbery, 13 percent for murder and 13 percent for aggravated assault.
Smith, who has studied juvenile crime problems for nearly three decades, said adult prisons are no place for teens.
"A prison is a lousy place to grow up," he said. "All you do is put them there for five or 10 years and they come out as mean, nasty people. They've learned how to survive in the jungle and that is all they know."
Instead of waiving teens into adult court, Smith advises that young offenders be kept in the juvenile system which is better suited to handle such problems. Juvenile courts offer more intervention options such as drug and alcohol counseling, employment assistance and behavior modification.
The backlash against high profile juvenile crime comes at a time when the number of violent crimes by young people has diminished. From 1992 to 1998, the juvenile murder arrest rate fell by 50 percent.
Smith believes too many young people have suffered in recent years from the public backlash against juvenile crime.
"If I was a betting man I would say that out of the 7,000 children in adult jails, maybe 2,000 to 3,000 can't be helped and need to be put away," he said, alluding to rapists and murderers. "But the rest probably would be better served in the juvenile justice system. You don't want a 12 to 15 year old boy or girl in with adults. That is not helping them or society."
(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about this story contact Smith at [email protected] or (765)285-5102. For more stories visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news on the World Wide Web.)
Marc Ransford
2/29/00
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