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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.

As we mentioned in a recent Lessons from "Kids for Cash" blog, Hillary Transue was 14 years old when she created a fake MySpace page for her assistant princiapl in Luzerne County, PA. When she was contacted by law enforcement officials several months later, she hardly remembered that it existed. The police officer assured Hillary's mother, Laurene, that the court would go easy on her daughter. But when Laurene contacted Juvenile Law Center in 2007, her daughter had been removed from school and was serving a 90-day sentence in a wilderness camp for delinquent girls.

For youth who have been involved in the juvenile justice system, the consequences of committing a crime don’t end after they’ve “done the time.” Having a juvenile record can restrict a young person’s ability to enroll in college, find housing, enlist in the military, or get a driver’s license. That’s why it’s absolutely critical for youth to apply to seal or expunge (the term varies, depending on which state you’re in) their juvenile records as soon as possible, to help protect their futures.

In the wake of the Luzerne County, PA “kids-for-cash” scandal, convicted ex-juvenile court judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan bear most of the public blame for violating the rights of thousands of children. The judges sent many of those youth to private juvenile detention centers, and forever altered their lives. But we should not overlook the fact that many of those children ended up in Ciavarella’s courtroom because they were sent there by schools – the very institutions charged with caring for and teaching our children. And what have they learned?

When 13-year-old Matt watched his parents’ difficult divorce devolve into a nasty custody battle, he struggled to keep his emotions in check. One evening, after Matt accidentally knocked over his mother’s boyfriend’s beer, the boyfriend accused Matt of throwing a piece of steak at him. At the time, Matt was 13 years old, stood 4 feet 3 inches tall, and weighed 82 pounds—while the boyfriend was 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighed approximately 210 pounds. Still, Matt’s mother called the local police, and Matt ended up before Luzerne County, PA juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarella.

The United States holds more prisoners in solitary than any other democratic nation. To address this issue, in June 2012, Senator Durbin chaired the first-ever Congressional hearing on solitary confinement, featuring expert testimony on promising reform efforts that have reduced the use of solitary confinement, while also lowering prison violence and recidivism rates, and saving millions of dollars.

On February 25, Senator Durbin is holding a follow-up hearing to explore developments since the 2012 hearing and what addition steps must be taken to curb the overuse of solitary confinement while controlling costs, protecting human rights, and improving public safety. Juvenile Law Center submitted written testimony for this hearing.

The Chicago-based Mikva Juvenile Justice Council, in partnership with Smart Chicago, recently unveiled a smart phone app designed to help Illinois youth and adults with a history of juvenile justice system involvement erase (or “expunge”) their juvenile record.