The U.S. Sends 2 Million Kids to Prison Every Year

[n2doc]

By Sarah Mimms and Stephanie Stamm
May 2, 2014
When Justin Bodner was 12 years old he had a problem with swearing. Big time. His mother had tried to curb the habit, but as Bodner was walking his brother to school one day he ended up in a screaming match (which can't be transcribed here) with another child's mother. The argument didn't land him in the principal's office or a time-out. Instead, it landed him in prison.

Bodner ended up spending nine years in juvenile detention centers where he smoked marijuana and tried heroin for the first time. His cellmates even taught him how to steal a car. And Bodner missed his entire middle-school and high school career.

Hillary Transue was luckier. When she was 14, Hillary created a fake MySpace page mocking her assistant principal and, to her surprise, was arrested and sent a juvenile prison. Thanks to quick thinking by her mother, Hillary's case was referred to the Juvenile Law Center, sparking a broad investigation that took down two Luzerne County, Pa., judges and lead to Hillary's release just three weeks after she was arrested.

Both children were convicted of so-called "status offenses," crimes that would not be punishable under the law if committed by adults. Status offenses run the gamut from drinking alcohol to truancy to running away from home to "incorrigible behavior," according to the American Bar Association. As evidenced in the cases of Bodner and Transue, the definition is often broadened by judges.

more

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/the-u-s-sends-2-million-kids-to-prison-every-year-congress-is-trying-to-change-that-20140502

[chervilant]

1. We are not now,

nor have we ever been, a child-centric society. The corporate megalomaniacs -- who've usurped our media, our politics, AND our global economy -- have created the means to make incarcerating our children highly profitable.

[secondwind]

5. so true... if we cared more about the children, they would all be getting free college

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Horrific.

Thanks for posting this.

[littlewolf]

3. and those who do not fall under the "status offenses"

can be sent off to boot camps that can be worse then prison.
no congressional oversight of any kind. their own parents send
them there.

[spanone]

4. we've got to keep our promise to our privatized prison systems....

keep the jails full for commerce.....that's what our judicial system has become

[Fla Dem]

8. +2,000,000 nt

[indepat]

11. + another 2,000,000. The private prison system must be extremely profitable, no matter how many

lives are ruined in this programmed rush to riches.

[mountain grammy]

6. Yeah, right! Congress is trying to change this.

they need to get off their dead asses and do something now! This is just wrong on every level. The Justice Department also should be looking at every case of every juvenile who is locked up.

[Dustlawyer]

7. The article mentions my usually far right Congressman Ted Poe. You may remember him when

he was a Judge in Houston. He was the 1st national "shaming Judge" who would sentence people to wear sandwich boards saying "I stole from this store." He also was in the news for initially agreeing to sentence a rapist to chemical castration. This is the guy on board with this measure now! Wow!

[redruddyred]

9. funny, because it's nearly impossible to sue your parents for child abuse.

there's like a two year statute of limitations or something, and 20-year-olds can definitely afford lawyer fees working minimum wage. on jobs with no benefits, so forget about seeing anyone for the ptsd.

[alp227]

10. What does this have to do with the topic in OP?

The article has stories of children being frivolously sent to prison.

[redruddyred]

12. someone mentioned something about america not being a child-centric society

I figured I would elaborate.

[littlewolf]

14. WTH whoever that was ..

member since 2003 and zero posts ... come on ....