Juvenile court is no place for kids
In California, children as young as 5 years old are prosecuted in juvenile court. As a probation chief with nearly 30 years of experience, I can attest that the justice system is no place for very young children.
Early in my career, I met a 10-year-old child who was referred to the justice system and detained in juvenile hall. The offense was not very serious, but he had a troubled home life and was detained throughout his court case. The image is seared into memory — we had to give him a box to stand on so he could peer out the window of his cell. He couldn’t reach the privacy curtain in his cell to use the toilet. And he felt so alone and scared that we bought him stuffed animals to comfort him.
California Senate Bill 439, authored by state Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, would exclude children age 11 and under from juvenile court prosecution, except for the most serious, violent offenses. The bill would protect young children from the negative impacts of formal justice system involvement. Currently, 21 states and the U.S. Territory of American Samoa have a minimum age of juvenile justice jurisdiction, but California does not. This means that in our state, a child of any age can be prosecuted in juvenile court.
We all know that children who are 5, 6, even 11 years old have a lot of growing up to do. They’re in elementary school. They do childish things because they are children. It’s not surprising, then, that the vast majority of young children are referred to the justice system for typical childish behaviors like school fights, being “incorrigible” or drawing on school property.
For example, in 2017, there were 637 children under 12 in California who were referred to probation. The vast majority were for minor violations: 66 percent were referred for status offenses — acts such as truancy or curfew violations that are not considered criminal if committed by an adult — and misdemeanor offenses.
Shockingly, five of these children were just 5 years old when referred to probation; three children were 6-year-olds and five were 7-year-olds. This means they were actually arrested by a police officer for activities like fights, curfew violation and trespassing. Though most of the cases ultimately were dropped, a few of these youth went through the formal court and ended up on probation.
These young children do not pose a public safety threat. From 2010 to 2017, no young child under 12 was found guilty of homicide or rape. In the unlikely event that this does happen, there is a special exception in the law to allow prosecution for the most serious law violations, regardless of the young person’s age.
Based on my long history of working with youth in the justice system, I know it’s not the right place for young children. The programs in place are ill suited to them. In Santa Clara County, we have a wide array of evidence-based programming that works for adolescents. But the programs are not tested on young children, and in our experience don’t work for them. For example, many programs require a degree of reflection and insight that exceeds the abilities of children who are 7, 8 or 9 years old.
In Santa Clara County, we’ve made changes that acknowledge the developmental differences of young children. In 2010, we were the first county in California to divert children under 13 from juvenile detention. The decision followed a report from the Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice Commission that looked at the specific circumstances of youth that had been detained. The commission found that these young children were not a threat to public safety, but instead had needs that were best met outside the justice system. The majority of the children were clients of the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services and had been physically or sexually abused. More than one-third had a mental health diagnosis. We worked with nonprofit organizations and the community at large to develop genuine options for these youths. And it’s been a success.
Importantly, this year, the state budget included a $37 million for the Youth Reinvestment Fund, which would provide counties with funding for community-based services to divert youth from formal justice system involvement.
If a young child needs services, he or she should be provided services. Anything that we as a justice system can do for really young children, another childserving system can do better. California has the opportunity to take a leadership role in protecting our young children by excluding them from juvenile court jurisdiction now.