Question: Which country sentences more citizens under the age of 18 to life without parole than any other major developed nation? If you guessed the United States of America (with nearly 100,000 juveniles in detention, many of them from low-income homes), you were right. Some groups are trying to do something about it.
Some American believers are viewing juvenile justice—or a lack of justice—as a critical issue they must confront.
The numbers offer a stark portrait. There were more than 92,000 juveniles in detention in 2006, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. A 2007 report by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency found that these juveniles are more likely to be nonwhite and from low-income backgrounds, with African-American youths 4.5 times more likely to be detained than white youths for the same offenses.
Moreover, human rights groups say there are more than 2,500 inmates serving sentences of life without parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles, with some states charging minors as young as 10 as adults for serious crimes. That is far more than the numbers in the rest of the world combined, they say.
In May 2010, a divided Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The decision, under the Eighth Amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment, voided provisions for such life sentences in 37 states and the District of Columbia.
Only 129 juveniles were found to be incarcerated under those particular circumstances, but Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the practice “has been rejected the world over” and “the United States is the only Nation that imposes” the penalty.
The faith community—which, according to critics, has too long ignored this issue—has begun to reframe juvenile justice as a social justice matter. Some have started ministries to at-risk and incarcerated youths, while others are establishing programs based on “restorative justice,” the idea that brings together victims, perpetrators, the community and people of faith to “repair the harm” caused by young offenders. Many are working to support laws that would reform the way juveniles are treated by the courts.
What do you think about the issue?
Here are three groups that are doing something to fight for juvenile justice:
1) Breakaway Outreach is a faith-based, nonprofit organization that works with young offenders in a juvenile detention center ministry. It was co-founded by Jimmy Larche, who says his life was changed by faith when he was a teenager in a juvenile detention center (BreakAwayOutreach.com).
2) The Campaign for Youth Justice seeks to prevent youths from being tried as adults (CFYJ.org).
3) The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth is “dedicated to reducing and abolishing the sentencing of any person below the age of 18 to life without the possibility of parole” (FairSentencingOfYouth.org).
