“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?

Oak Clarke

In the United States, when children commit crimes that are too heinous for the public to handle,

or they are deemed mature enough to be responsible for their own actions, courts often decide to

try them as adults, sentence them as adults, and then punish them as adults. This practice,

evidently making up for gaps in the juvenile justice system, is one that is deeply flawed. It has

destroyed, is destroying, and continues to destroy many lives. Children who are tried as adults

rarely become rehabilitated members of society. Instead, their lives are thrown off track, into a

life of crime and debauchery.

Trying children as adults has few to no provable benefits, and we would be better served

by adapting the juvenile justice system to better handle extreme cases. In fact, we may even have

to question the use of confinement as a punishment for juveniles, even in juvenile courts.

The question “Why try children as adults in the first place?” begs a second question: Why

do we even have a distinct and different system of juvenile courts in the first place?

For a long time, no one cared about the answer to this question the idea of childhood as a special

developmental time, distinct and unique from adulthood, is a relatively new one, on a historical

scale. For much of the history of our country, children were thought of and treated as tiny,

weaker, less knowledgeable adults. They worked in factories, on farms, wherever they were

needed. And, when they committed crimes, they were tried and sentenced the same way as

adults1.

That is, until 1899, when the Illinois Juvenile Court Act was passed, marking the first

time in our country’s history that an alternative court system for handling the crimes of children

was established2. In keeping with the progressive reforms of that era, Illinois lawmakers had

1
Dobrin, 2013
2
Illinois Courts, 2020.
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realized that a system that was focused more on rehabilitation than it was on punishment would

be more effective in handling juvenile offenders.

Other states and even a few other countries took notice of this, and within a few decades,

every state in the Union had its own juvenile court3. To be sure, the juvenile courts then and

today had their fair share of issues, but the impulse at the heart of them, that desire to uplift and

save, is very important, and deserves to be remembered, especially these days, where the juvenile

courts are often ignored, and children are forced straight into the adult criminal justice system.

So. Why do we try children as adults, if we already have courts that are specialized and

dedicated to dealing with them? A portion of the answer to that question lies in politics. From the

1960s onward, there has been concern in the public consciousness over real or perceived rise in

youth crime, and the retributive or “tough on crime” stance that many politicians adopt extends

to attitudes towards youth crime4. It seems to be believed that we cannot be “soft on crime,” even

in cases where it would be advantageous to do so.

In many cases, it comes back to the general principle of deterrence: The idea that harsh

penalties will “make an example” of offenders and prevent other people from committing the

same crime5. This theory, is, on the surface, logical, but it presupposes several things that are not

true in all cases. For one thing, the principle of general deterrence presupposes that all offenders

will think through the full consequences of their actions, and be aware of the penalties that will

happen should they be caught. There is also a specific theory of deterrence: The idea that

imposing a harsh penalty on someone will prevent that specific person from committing crimes

3
Illinois Courts, 2020.
4
Mays & Houghtalin, 1992.
5
Harrington, Et al, 2019.
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

in the future. There is little evidence that specific deterrence works6. In most cases, imprisoning

someone is a bit like sending someone to crime school: They get to hang out with real world

criminals

However, if we look at how these theories work out in the real world, we find a few

startling things. Punishment does deter people from crime, but it’s less about the severity of the

punishment than it is about the surety that it is going to occur7. Many young people will commit

crimes, imagining that they’ll never be caught.

In other cases, it comes to the fact that regulations for handling juvenile offenders are

decided on a state level rather than a federal level, and many states have harsh or outmoded laws.

In Florida, for instance, a 1978 law, still on the books, known as a “direct file” statute, allows

state prosecutors to try children as young as fourteen as adults8. Yes, the state prosecutors. Not

the judge, not the jury, not set up for any board of review. If the state—appointed prosecutors

decide that, for whatever reason, they want to make a child’s life hell, they just can. (This is not

the case in most states, where the approval of a judge is required,

And the fact is, even the best intentioned of people need mistakes. Checks and balances

exist in government for a reason. If one delves deeper into the data about Florida, we find that

Black children are tried as adults at a disproportionate rate. Although they make up only 37%

percent of the arrested juveniles, they make up 61% of the transfers to adult courts9. Ah, the

American criminal justice system. You can only delve into it for so long before you inevitably

stumble into the violent amounts of baked-in racism. In the cases of direct file cases, the biases

6
Harrington, et al, 2019.
7
Five Things About Deterrence, 2016
8
Fatherree, 2022.
9
Ibid
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

of the prosecutor will play a pivotal role in deciding whether or not to try a child as an adult,

which will have far reaching consequences for the child’s whole life.

Children of color are greatly disadvantaged at pretty much every step of the process.

Black youths are 2.4 times more likely to be arrested than White youths10, and are also more

likely to be detained, and more likely to get taken from their homes/ incarcerated 11. A 2019 report

found that Black and Latino youths who were charged as delinquent were 40% more likely to be

placed under supervision than White youths in similar circumstances. The decisions made early

on in a case regarding arrest, detention, and processing can have a snowballing effect, dooming

youths to worse outcomes later on12. These decisions are often made by individual officers or

officials, leaving room for their prejudices to sway decisions.

Another con of trying children as adults is that, on the whole, it is much more

expensive13. Putting children into juvenile facilities eases the burden on the taxpayer.A report

from the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated that the state of Florida could save 3.6 million

dollars by transferring all of the children in the adult criminal justice system back into the

juvenile justice system.14 Putting low-risk offenders into rehabilitation programs instead of

confining them further reduces, the cost, and is more effective at preventing recidivism, as I will

discuss later. Why wouldn’t we want to lessen the burden on an already overcrowded prison

system?

American Jails are already understaffed and overfilled, a combination that can have truly

horrendous results. Jail populations have been on the rise since the dip of late 2020, and as of

10
Hausey, 2024
11
Mendel, 2022
12
Hausey, 2024
13
Fatherree, 2022.
14
Harrington et al., 2019.
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
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2022, some jails were at an all time high15. In our overcrowded jails, infrastructure is breaking

down, and in many cases prisoners sleep on the floor, and lack access to basic facilities16. Is

putting children in the middle of all that going to help anything?

But there are also some more valid reasons why so many children get tried as adults. It is

an unavoidable fact that, in the United States, the majority of perpetrators of violent crime are

between the ages of fifteen and twenty17. (And there is a smaller, though still significant, amount

of violent crime perpetrated by individuals between the ages of 12 and 1518.) The very reason

why we have a different criminal justice system for youths (developing brains and poor decision

making) is also the very reason why they become violent offenders in the first place.

Due to this, there is a “public safety” argument to be made: We need to lock these kids

up! Otherwise, they’ll be out in the streets continuing to commit crimes! In the 1990s, the works

of several influential criminologists put an insidious idea into the consciousness of the American

public: The idea that the nation was about to see a wave of crime from juvenile “superpredators,”

underage criminals who committed crimes without remorse19. The idea was planted in the heads

of the American populace, and in the name of public safety, many states passed laws that made it

easier for children to be tried as adults, and to be landed with certain adult- only penalties, such

as lifetime in jail without parole20.

The thing is, the predicted rise in crime never happened. The superpredator theory was

rather incorrect. But we’re still feeling its effects to this day.

15
Blakinger, 2022.
16
Ibid.
17
McGowan, et al, 2007.
18
McGowan, et al, 2007.
19
Equal Justice Initiative, 2014.
20
Equal Justice Initiative, 2014.
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

It’s easy to see how a judge can look at a sixteen year old who murdered someone and

think, “Yeah, this kid is old enough to know better. It would be better for him to be tried in the

adult system.”

From a retributive point of view, it also makes sense to try children as adults in certain

cases, such as heinous crimes: Same crime, same punishment. Otherwise it’s not justice, right?

It’s hard to find literature that is steadfastly in favor of trying children as adults, but in

various reports I’ve trawled through, a concern that pops up again and again seems to be the

potential for teenagers to try and use their status as minors as shields against the consequences of

their actions.

Another issue, is that sometimes, much younger children commit incredibly heinous

crimes. What do you do with a third grader who stabbed a bunch of their classmates to death? Is

it even safe to keep that kind of offender alongside other children?

Maybe not. But it’s not safe to house that kind of offender with adults, either. We need to

build provisions into the juvenile justice system for dealing with such offenders. Additionally,

children rarely commit homicide21. The cases in which they do, though, such as the murder of the

toddler James Bulger by two ten year-olds, tend to get overreported on, as they are violent and

sensational. “If it bleeds, it leads,” and all that. Not only are these cases rare, but delving into

them, we see that, in nearly all cases, children who commit homicide are deeply disturbed and

traumatized themselves, often having been the victims of neglect & abuse22. These children need

to face justice, yes, but more importantly, they need rehabilitative psychiatric care.

21
Wolff, S., & Smith, A. M. (2001).
22
Ibid.
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

The list of reasons to not try children as adults, on the other hand, is much longer, and is

filled to the brim with hard evidence and established fact. The very fact that we have a juvenile

justice system in the first place does in fact hint that there’s a reason we prosecute children

differently than adults: They are still at a critical point in their development, and their

personalities are much more moldable. It’s no secret that our brains continue developing in

important ways until our mid-20s23. Kids who do things wrong can be taught to do things right.

Sadly, being in adult prison teaches many lessons, but compassion and goodwill towards our

fellow people are not among them.

Being ‘tough’ on juvenile offenders does nothing to help them reform. If anything, it does

the opposite. Data shows that, on the whole, children tried in the adult criminal justice system are

34% more likely to reoffend24 than children who are shunted into the juvenile justice system.

And why wouldn’t they be? Children tried as adults, no matter how grave their offenses

may be, have nothing on most adult offenders. Putting kids in adult prisons and expecting

nothing bad to happen is like throwing minnows into a shark tank and expecting them not to get

eaten. These people are being made to spend the most important years of their development in

unsafe conditions, around who do not have their best interests at heart.

Children locked in adult prisons have to contend with all of the risks that adult prisoners

do, but they have it just that much worse because they are the most vulnerable in a very

dangerous environment. Imprisoned minors are at increased risk for being victims of sexual

violence (as well as good old normal violence,) and are 34% more likely to commit suicide than

23
Fatherree, 2022.
24
Fatherree, 2022.
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

juvenile offenders who are imprisoned in juvenile facilities25. They are at substantially greater

risk for struggling with mental illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder26.

Additionally, being incarcerated as a youth can be devastating for their lifetime prospects.

Many youths are unable to finish their high school education as a result of being incarcerated 27,

and the traumas that they experience while incarcerated makes it more difficult for them to

regulate themselves, often leading them back into a life of crime.

It is sad to say, however, that juvenile facilities themselves are not much better. Often,

they are rife with the same kinds of abuses found in adult prisons, and do not offer children better

chances or a brighter future. Though it is imperative that we stop trying children as adults, we

also, as a nation, need to clean up our criminal justice system. Like an infected wound, the

problems run much deeper than the surface, and are often interconnected.

We need to put the focus in juvenile corrections not on incarceration, but on programs

that will rehabilitate youth and help them give back to their communities.

In 1997, the state of Washington did an experiment where they funneled funds from their

juvenile justice system into noncombative services such as family therapy and aggression

replacement training. A 2004 report found that this incredibly effective, reducing the recidivism

rate for individuals in these programs by 24%, and saving the state eleven dollars on juvenile

detention per dollar spent on the program28.

In other states, and other similar programs, we find similar positive results. And there are

all sorts of different programs that can help youth reintegrate. In Credible Messengers programs,

25
Fatherree, 2022
26
Mendel, 2022
27
MST, 2018
28
Ibid
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

youth are mentored by adults who have had similar experiences in the criminal justice system. A

2018 evaluation found that New York City Youth involved in Credible Messengers programs

were rearrested at about half as much as juvenile delinquents who were not involved in the

program29.

Wraparound programs support youth in a similar fashion, but with actual professional

counselors and individualized plans of care. These programs were found to increase attendance,

mitigate mental health issues, and reduce rates of recidivism by more than half30. Not only that,

but they saved taxpayers millions of dollars31.

Other programs like these exist, and have been found to be similarly successful. We need

to alter the way we handle juvenile crime by putting more of a focus on rehabilitation and

reintegration, on helping these kids get their lives back together. Not only should we stop trying

them as adults, but we should see what we can do to reduce the use of confinement as a

punishment in general. It’s costly, ineffective, and unsafe.

References
MST Services. (2018, November 1) “Do We Know The Full Extent of Juvenile Recidivism?” MST
Services. https://info.mstservices.com/blog/juvenile-recidivism-rates

“Five Things About Deterrence” (2016, June 5) National Institute of Justice

https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/five-things-about-deterrence

29
Mendel, 2022
30
Ibid
31
Ibid
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

Mays, G. L., & Houghtalin, M. (1992). Trying Juveniles As Adults: A Note on New Mexico’s
Recent Experience. The Justice System Journal, 15(3), 814–823.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27976786

Dobrin, Arthur. (2013, June 28) “When Childhood was Discovered” Psychology Today.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/am-i-right/201306/when-childhood-was-
discovered

Harrington, Julie; Niekus, Martjin; Cao, Jian. (2019, February) An Economic and Fiscal Analysis
of Direct File Reform Proposals, The Center for Economic Forecasting and AnalysisFlorida
State University.
djj_3-4-2019_final_report.pdf (splcenter.org)

Fatherree, Dwayne. (2022, January 21) “CRIMINAL INJUSTICE: STATES UNFAIRLY

PROSECUTE CHILDREN AS ADULTS” Southern Poverty Law Center.
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2022/01/21/criminal-injustice-states-unfairly-prosecute-
children-adults

Mendel, Richard. (2022) “Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence.”
The Sentencing Project. https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/why-youth-
incarceration-fails-an-updated-review-of-the-evidence/

Hausey, James/ (2024, April 1st) “The Health Divide: Should Juveniles ever be sent to an Adult
Prison?” Center for Health Journalism.
https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/insights/health-divide-should-juveniles-
ever-be-sent-adult-prison

(2020, June 2023) “Illinois Supreme Court History: Juvenile Courts” Illinois Courts.
https://www.illinoiscourts.gov/News/388/Illinois-Supreme-Court-History-Juvenile-
Courts/news- detail
Hahn, R., McGowan, A., Liberman, A., Crosby, A., Fullilove, M., Johnson, R., Moscicki, E.,
Price, L., Snyder, S., Tuma, F., Lowy, J., Briss, P., Cory, S., & Stone, G. (2007). Effects
on Violence of Laws and Policies Facilitating the Transfer of Youth from the Juvenile to
the Adult Justice System: A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on
Community Preventive Services. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report:
Recommendations and Reports, 56(9), 1–11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24842346\

Blakinger, Kerry. (2022, November 11th) “Why So Many Jails Are in a ‘State of Complete
Meltdown’” The Marshall Project. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/11/04/why-
so-many-jails-are-in-a-state-of-complete-meltdown

Wolff, S., & Smith, A. M. (2001). “Children who kill.” BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 322(7278),
61–62. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.322.7278.61
“Do Children Have a Place in Adult Courts?
Oak Clarke

Equal Justice Initiative. (2014, April 7th) “The Superpredator Myth, 25 Years Later” Equal
Justice Initiative. https://eji.org/news/superpredator-myth-20-years-later/