The recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report about sexual victimization in juvenile justice facilities “is an addition to a growing list of reminders that incarcerating youth - the majority of whom are locked up for nonviolent offenses - is expensive, unproductive and harmful.”
“Every day, youth across the country who are incarcerated find themselves facing harms ranging from mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, to a lack of nutritious food and basic necessities including clean undergarments and adequate bathing supplies, and a lack of education and future opportunities,” Bell writes in his blog. “The majority are denied their liberty for minor offenses, and are placed in the mercy of a system that has been proven broken and in need of a serious and immediate overhaul.”
Bell goes on to list some of the most egregious incidents of the past four years to illustrate that our notions of crime and punishment for young people have left us intellectually “captured and clueless.”
“Society at large, as well as the opinion shapers, the elites and those who wield power, seem to be afraid to say what we all know to be true. Using cells to change the behaviors of teenagers is ineffective, expensive and more likely to increase crime,” Bell writes.
Read Bells’ blog here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-bell/captured-by-the-clueless_b_422557.html.
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