Harms of Incarceration
An expert declaration on the harms of the use of isolation on youth in juvenile correctional facilities.
From the abstract: “Contemporary scholarship has demonstrated the negative effects of incarcerating juveniles in adult facilities, coinciding with a growing concern about the long-lasting effects of this practice in the United States. The current study served to expand this literature by examining the effects of being incarcerated in an adult facility as a juvenile on…
The Gault Ctr. (October 2023). This resource provides an overview of the constitutional and federal laws that are implicated when young people are placed in juvenile or adult facilities and includes concrete examples of common violations. This resource offers an introduction for youth defenders on how to spot federal and constitutional violations based on conditions…
From the introduction: “Imagine you’re a student with a disability that impacts how you interact with others and process situations. In an instant, that disability may be criminalized, and you could find yourself thrust into a juvenile justice system that offers little support and few education resources. This scenario is all too common. Thousands of…
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in a civil lawsuit addressing the constitutional rights of youth who had been adjudicated delinquent and transferred to the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s former death row building, known as Angola. In their statement, the United States asserted that youth are particularly vulnerable to harmful conditions of…
The Center for Justice Innovation conducted an exploratory, participatory action research study of 103 youth ages 15-24 who reported carry guns in a neighborhood of Brooklyn. The research evaluates why these youth carry guns and proposing a collaborative approach to public safety. From the report: “The increase in gun violence experienced in many U.S.…
Youths incarcerated in adult correctional facilities are exposed to a variety of adverse circumstances that could diminish psychological and physical health, potentially leading to early mortality. In this cohort study of 8951 youths, the survival model suggested that being incarcerated in an adult correctional facility may be associated with an increased risk of early mortality…
From the resource: “This poster is a tool to assess and understand differences between reforms that strengthen imprisonment and abolitionist steps that reduce its overall impact and grow other possibilities for wellbeing. As we work to dismantle incarceration in all its forms, we must resist common reforms that create or expand cages anywhere, including under…
From the Executive Summary, developed by Equip for Equality: “The children in the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (“JTDC”) are some of the most vulnerable youth in Cook County, many having experienced significant trauma and violence as part of their daily existence. The JTDC is the juvenile jail for Cook County, housing youth awaiting adjudication of their cases, as well…
From the abstract: “Tens of thousands of people incarcerated in jails and prisons throughout the United States have one or more communication disabilities, a term that describes persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, low vision, deafblind, speech disabled, or otherwise disabled in ways that affect communication. Incarceration is not easy for anyone, but…
From the abstract: “Disabled people are disproportionately incarcerated and segregated from society through a variety of institutions. Still, the links between disability and incarceration are underexplored, limiting understanding of how carceral institutions punish and contribute to the social exclusion of disabled people. Using data from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, we estimated disability prevalence…
From the introduction: “The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the dangers of the juvenile legal system; this should make it harder to look away from the societal inequities that are exacerbated by youth incarceration. Indeed, the current moment, including the unprecedented nationwide protests in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in…
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Social Costs of Pretrial Electronic Monitoring in San Francisco
This report features findings from in-depth interviews from 66 people who were court-ordered to electronic monitoring (EM) in San Francisco County, California. Highlighting the nature and difficulties program participants face while trying to comply with EM programs, the report demonstrates the harms of EM, including finding safe housing, securing employment, social isolation, trouble maintaining physical and emotional connections to loved ones, and increased likelihood of new contacts with law enforcement. From…
