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The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was signed into law in 2003 to protect our country’s bloated prison and jail population from sexual abuse, and in particular, to address the widespread sexual assault and rape of youth housed in adult facilities. More than a decade later, however, youth are still being raped, waiting for the protection they deserve in facilities nationwide.

The movie Kids for Cash chronicles the devastating effects the juvenile justice system can have on youth. Many people who see the film—from parents to experts—invariably ask one question: “If this film is meant to depict the devastation done to children in the justice system, why are there no kids of color represented in the film?”

Unaccompanied homeless youth and youth from foster care encounter many barriers to higher education. These vulnerable young people contend with histories of abuse, neglect, trauma, and frequent educational disruption caused by mobility. They struggle without parental care or other adult support, and frequently lack the basics that most of us take for granted, like shelter and food. Higher education is their best hope for a better life.

The Luzerne County "kids-for-cash" case has been called the “most egregious judicial scandal in U.S. history.” But not for the reasons most people think. The judges accepted $2.8 million in "finder’s fees” from the builder of the new for-profit detention center, and most Americans found that fact both shocking and repugnant. Yet something far worse was exposed in the shadows of the kids-for-cash story: America’s love affair with incarceration.

Our nation’s first juvenile court was established in Illinois in 1899. The court process at the time was informal, often nothing more than a conversation between the youth and the judge. Youth did not have lawyers—a child’s constitutional right to counsel in delinquency proceedings was not recognized. This right did not come until 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in In re Gault that children were entitled to many of the same rights as adults who committed crimes.

For virtually all young adults, making the transition from adolescence to independent adulthood is challenging. Luckily, most of us have parents to help guide us through the transition. Most foster youth aren’t so lucky.

Nationwide, more and more taxpayer dollars are spent to put children behind bars while fewer and fewer dollars are invested in education. A cost-benefit analysis of corrections spending shows that our country is moving in the wrong direction. According to the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) report, “The Costs of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Make Good Fiscal Sense,” our nation spends an average of $241 per day, or $88,000 annually, for every youth in a juvenile facility. Conversely, 2011 census data show the annual per student cost for a public school education was about $10,600.

“What were you thinking?!” As former teenagers, we’ve all been asked this question—and probably more than once.  

Teens act carelessly and impulsively for several reasons. First and foremost, numerous scientific studies (like the ones found here and here) confirm that teenaged brains are simply not mature, and key functional areas of their brains—primarily the frontal lobe, where decision-making and concentration are governed —are not fully developed until early adulthood. Kids are also much more susceptible to peer pressure than adults. They don’t recognize risks, and when they do, they evaluate risks differently from adults.

Amanda Lorah, one of the youth featured in the film “Kids for Cash,” grew up with her father and struggled in school to overcome her perceived social stigma of having a single-parent family. Friendships mattered to Amanda.

When one of those friendships ended badly and the girl became verbally abusive, Amanda fought with the girl in the school gymnasium. At 14, she was arrested and taken to juvenile court, where she was charged with aggravated assault. After a hasty adjudication by then Judge Ciavarella, she was immediately shackled and taken away from her father to a secure juvenile detention facility. Amanda spent most of the next 5 years in placement in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system, terrified and traumatized by her separation from family and friends.

In an exciting step forward toward implementing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama nationwide, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled on March 12, 2014 that courts must take into consideration the age and other unique attributes of adolescents or young offenders before sentencing them to life without the possibility of parole. Juvenile Law Center advocated for this requirement in our amicus curiae brief to the Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Long.