New HRFK Report

[James Dold]

Good morning everyone, 

Today HRFK is officially launching The Childhood Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline, which is the result of a two year study where we surveyed more than 20,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons for crimes committed as children. 

Our findings show widespread physical, emotional, and sexual abuse among children tried as adults, as well as alarmingly high rates of neglect, trauma in the home, and human trafficking. Our findings confirm the real urgency our movement faces in changing the way we view and talk about children who are prosecuted as adults. The reality is they were victims long before they were offenders, and the trauma they experienced often led to maladaptive coping strategies associated with delinquency and criminal offending. 

Perhaps even more tragic is the trauma that we impose on these youth once they enter the system. Nearly all youth tried as adults reporting being held in adult jails, placed in solitary confinement, and experiencing either emotional, physical, or sexual abuse at the hand of adult prisoners or corrections staff. We're not treating these children's trauma, we're compounding it. 

For judges and prosecutors, we hope this report gives greater pause to any decision to transfer a child into the adult system. For juvenile defense attorneys, we hope you can use this report in transfer and sentencing proceedings to keep your clients in juvenile court and/or from receiving unjust sentences in the adult system. 

Later today we will be hosting a powerful panel discussion to discuss these findings and how we can leverage this data to change the system for the better. We hope you can join us! Thank you! 

James

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James L. Dold, J.D.

CEO & Founder 

Human Rights for Kids

1250 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 700 (PMB 5126)

Washington, DC 20036

Email: jd...@humanrightsforkids.org

Phone: ‪(202) 573-7758

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