In re M.H.

The trial court found M.H., an eleven-year-old girl, incompetent to stand trial yet ordered her detained in the local juvenile detention center for competency restoration. Juvenile Law Center, The Gault Center, and Professor Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno, represented by pro bono counsel Adam VanHo, submitted an amicus brief arguing that detaining M.H. was dangerous and counter-productive.  

Amici argue that confining an eleven-year-old child deemed incompetent in a detention facility puts M.H. at grave risk of physical abuse, causes trauma and lifelong devastating health outcomes, and disrupts the supportive systems needed for healthy development. Detention most acutely impacts pre-teens, who are at an especially delicate and formative stage and uniquely vulnerable to the traumas of incarceration.

Amici also cited research showing that confining a young child is also counter-productive and unlikely to result in any change in competency. For children ages twelve-and-under, legal incompetence often stems from “pure developmental immaturity” that is unlikely to respond to restoration in the foreseeable future. Indeed, many health authorities have recommended that children under 14 never be confined.

Though correctional settings can traumatize all youth, these harms fall disproportionately on Black and Brown youth. Black youth in Ohio are over seven times as likely to be detained in or committed to correctional facilities  And like Black boys, Black girls are subject to “adultification bias,” which can lead to receiving unduly harsh penalties.

Finally, Amici highlight research that correctional settings not only harm youth, they do nothing to decrease rates of re-arrest and may even increase recidivism. Community-based supportive alternatives to incarceration, in contrast, are more effective and safer.