Being young and incarcerated destroys our youth’s future. The problem with incarcerating people at such a young age is that they are charged using adult law, even though they have not reached the age of maturity, and their brains are still developing. Minors do not belong in juvenile facilities because they commit crimes or misbehave; being confined at a young age simply increases the likelihood of them being entangled with the legal system and being sentenced. ‘Developing brains are more malleable than those of adults; young people are also more capable of change and rehabilitation’ (OJJDP, 2019).
This allows us to go into more detail with the justice system because if young people get behavioral assistance before or after they are incarcerated, the likelihood of them becoming more engaged with the criminal court again when they are adults tends to be low. The US is the only country with such underdeveloped methods for getting our young people to quit committing crimes, but the problem with juveniles is that they are simply creating more criminals. ‘Not only does throwing a kid in detention often reduce the chance that he or she will graduate high school, but it also raises the chance that the youth will commit more crimes later on in life’ (CJJ, 2023).
There should be other ways to discourage young people from engaging in illegal activities than taking them out of school, isolating them from society, and subjecting them to additional stress. Juvenile detention institutions are ineffective and cause more harm than good