From Juvenile Justice Information Exchange:
Move the bodies.”
That’s what a defense lawyer recently overheard an employee in juvenile court say, as if the young people being brought into the courtroom for the next hearing were animals to be herded. The dehumanizing of young people involved in the criminal legal system is common, unfortunately. Those comments, and the attitudes underlying them, can have detrimental effects on youth who hear themselves spoken about with bias, disapproval and disrespect.
Many parents can tell you that young people may fail to be respectful and compliant or to show empathy and remorse in ways adults expect, particularly in a stressful and confusing environment. And few settings are as stressful or confusing as a courtroom. There, young people may be rude and disrespectful, talk back, laugh derisively and awkwardly, refuse to make eye contact, or otherwise appear uninterested. It is the responsibility of judges, prosecutors and defender attorneys to understand that this behavior is acceptable from adolescents. It’s also those legal professionals’ responsibility to consider the development of each child, identifying the layers of disability and trauma the young person has faced and recognizing that their behavior likely belies their fear.
It is not enough to just say we should “treat kids like kids.” Juvenile court practitioners need concrete guidance. That’s why Fair and Just Prosecution, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and National Juvenile Defender Center worked together to issue a joint statement on how important legal specialization is for those working in the juvenile court system; and to issue “Seeing What’s Underneath: A Resource for Understanding Behavior & Using Language in Juvenile Court,” a new resource, developed with the Georgetown Law Juvenile Justice Initiative, that provides guidance for legal practitioners and other court employees. Continue reading >>>
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