Children

Incarcerated Children

Children are incarcerated in both juvenile institutions and in adult prisons. In 1998, the number of delinquency cases in juvenile court reached 1.8 million; increasing 44% from 1989. This expansion of the number of children brought before the juvenile court for delinquent offenses in turn spurred an increase in the number of juveniles being incarcerated. The number of children incarcerated in juvenile institutions peaked in 1990 when 570,000 such juveniles were housed in these facilities. The total number of juvenile offenders in custody across the United States has decreased since that time. According to the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, as of October 29, 1997, the number of juveniles being housed in correctional facilities had been reduced to approximately 105,790.

One of the most controversial aspects of incarcerating children involves housing them in adult facilities. Prior to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (Public Law 93–415, 42 U.S.C. 5601) juveniles were often housed in the same facilities as adult offenders. This act did not, however, entirely eliminate the presence of juveniles under the age of 18 in the adult criminal system.

Currently, there are several ways in which juveniles can be housed in correctional institutions with adults. First, juveniles can be sent to adult court through a judicial waiver in which the judge decides to transfer a case from juvenile to adult court, usually as the result of a transfer hearing. Second, in some states juveniles are automatically waived to the adult court based on the crime they allegedly committed. Most of these statutorily excluded offenses involve murder or other person-related offenses. The age at which statutory exclusions may be applied to juveniles differs among states. For example, those charged with a capital crime in Florida are automatically tried in adult court while children aged 14 and older in North Carolina are also automatically tried in adult court if charged with a capital offense. In New Mexico, juveniles must be aged 15 and older and charged with murder, while in Mississippi they have to be aged 17 and older and charged with a felony. Finally, some jurisdictions allow the prosecutor discretion to decide in which court (adult or juvenile) to prosecute the individual.

As with so much of the criminal justice system, race seems to play a role in the number of juveniles transferred to adult court. Between 1988 and 1997, the number of black youths who were transferred to adult court increased by 35%. Yet the number of white youths transferred increased by only 14%. Furthermore, black youths were more frequently transferred for person-related offenses, while white youths were transferred for property offenses.

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