In our future we are fre.., p.25
In Our Future We Are Free, page 25
143 Caddo Parish went Author correspondence with Clay Walker.
13. The Battle in the Courtroom
148 Since then, national organizations Liz Ryan, “Toward Transformation: The Youth Justice Movement in the United States on Ending the Youth Prison Model,” in The Palgrave International Handbook of Youth Imprisonment, ed. Alexandra Cox and Laura S. Abrams (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 563–92.
148 suits have been filed Richard A. Mendel, “No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration,” The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2011, assets.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-NoPlaceForKidsFullReport-2011.pdf.
148 After Congress passed Ryan, “Toward Transformation.”
149 Specter joined the Prison Law Office “Staff,” Prison Law Office, prisonlaw.com/about-us/staff.
149 including his winning argument Solomon Moore, “California Prisons Must Cut Inmate Population,” New York Times, August 4, 2009.
150 “inhumane, filthy, stultifying housing conditions” Farrell v. Harper, filed January 16, 2003, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, clearing-house.net/case/9466.
151 opened its doors in 1894 “Request for Conceptual Proposals: Preston School of Industry,” California Department of General Services, May 26, 2023.
153 An intense climate of fear Barry Krisberg, General Corrections Review of the California Youth Authority, December 23, 2003, https://www.policyarchive.org/download/6210, 18.
154 “an effort to get” Jenifer Warren, “Videotape of Beating by CYA Officers Is Released,” Los Angeles Times, April 2, 2004.
155 “My son paid the price” Scott Smith, “State Urged to Consider Total Shutdown of CYA,” Stockton Record, January 8, 2011, www.recordnet.com/story/news/2004/02/20/state-urged-to-consider-total/50701687007.
156 In 2007, he signed “Juvenile Corrections Reform in California,” Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, www.cjcj.org/history-education/juvenile-corrections-reform-in-california.
157 In 2016, the court finally released Farrell v. Harper.
158 One nine-minute video begins Sarah Barr, “Connecticut Concerns About Youth Incarceration Mirror National Debate,” Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 15, 2015, jjie.org/2015/09/15/connecticut-concerns-about-youth-incarceration-mirror-national-debate.
158 The girl, who suffers Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, “Watchdog: ‘Unlawful’ Restraints, Other Failures in Juvenile Jails,” Connecticut News Project, July 22, 2015, ctmirror.org/2015/07/22/state-watchdog-restraint-seclusion-overused-at-juvenile-jails.
159 Less than three months after Brian Rinker, “‘It’s Not Just a Jail Break’: Juvenile Prison Populations Reach All-Time Lows,” Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, January 10, 2023, jjie.org/2023/01/10/its-not-just-a-jail-break-juvenile-prison-populations-reach-all-time-lows.
159 “In Connecticut, we’re leading” “Gov. Malloy Announces Closure of Connecticut Juvenile Training School,” CT.gov, April 12, 2018, portal.ct.gov/Malloy-Archive/Press-Room/Press-Releases/2018/04-2018/Gov-Malloy-Announces-Closure-of-Connecticut-Juvenile-Training-School.
14. Smaller, Closer, Nicer
161 Run by the nonprofit Rising Ground Author correspondence with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.
162 “for all intents and purposes” Kirk Semple, “Opposition Grows as Home for Troubled Youth Comes to Quiet Queens Block,” New York Times, April 26, 2015youth.
162 a Zoom tour of the Crown Heights facility I had hoped to visit a Close to Home facility in person and speak with the young people about their perception of, but the Administration for Children’s Services, in consultation with state attorneys, would grant permission only if all of the young people were out of the house and any photographs were turned to face the wall. That stood in contrast to the open-door policy I had encountered as a reporter under Gladys Carrión’s tenure in New York.
15. Who Is a Child?
171 In October 2014 J. Maxa, unpublished opinion, State of Washington, Respondent, v. Aaron Ata Toleafoa, Appellant, October 24, 2017, casetext.com/case/state-v-toleafoa.
171 The last time Toleafoa tried Alexis Krell, “Teenager Sentenced for Shooting Man During Tacoma Carjacking,” [Tacoma, WA] News Tribune, June 3, 2016, www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article81710052.html.
172 “I did it for all kinds of reasons” “Stories of Change & Forgiveness,” Equal Justice Initiative, eji.org/files/miller-media-kit-stories-of-change-and-forgiveness.pdf.
173 In 2000, roughly Marcy Mistrett and Mariana Espinoza “Youth in Adult Courts, Jails, and Prisons,” The Sentencing Project, December 16, 2021, www.sentencingproject.org/reports/youth-in-adult-courts-jails-and-prisons.
173 In 2018, Vermont became Gladys Carrión and Vincent Schiraldi, “We’ve Tried Juveniles as Adults Before. The Results Were Catastrophic,” New York Times, March 10, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/opinion/crime-teeangers-jail.html.
174 “I think, Mr. Toleafoa” J. Maxa, unpublished opinion, State of Washington, Respondent, v. Aaron Ata Toleafoa, Appellant, https://casetext.com/case/state-v-toleafoa.
175 The judge sentenced Krell, “Teenager Sentenced for Shooting Man During Tacoma Carjacking.” By way of context, according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, the median time served for murder by those who are actual adults at the time of their crime is 12.4 years. For all other violent crimes, the median is 2.2 years.
175 Simmons was seventeen Paul Raeburn, “Too Immature for the Death Penalty?,” New York Times, October 17, 2004.
175 In 2004, Simmons’s appeal “Roper v. Simmons Ten Years Later, Part 2: Organizing Amicus Support, Developing Legislation Campaigns, and Preparing for Oral Arguments,” Juvenile Law Center, March 4, 2015, jlc.org/news/roper-v-simmons-ten-years-later-part-2-organizing-amicus-support-developing-legislation.
176 “a novel scientific argument” Raeburn, “Too Immature for the Death Penalty?”
176 The developmental psychologists came first See, e.g., Laurence Steinberg and Elizabeth S. Scott, “Less Guilty by Reason of Adolescence: Developmental Immaturity, Diminished Responsibility, and the Juvenile Death Penalty,” American Psychologist 58, no. 12 (December 2003), 1009–18.
176 Teenagers, they found “How Should Justice Policy Treat Young Offenders?” The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, February 2017, https://www.lawneuro.org/adol_dev_brief.pdf.
176 three-fourths of all American boys Clark Merrefield, “Should Juvenile Criminals Be Sentenced like Adults?,” Daily Beast, November 26, 2012, www.thedailybeast.com/should-juvenile-criminals-be-sentenced-like-adults?ref=scroll.
176 But the qualities that make “How Should Justice Policy Treat Young Offenders?”
177 MacArthur also funded the work Elizabeth Scott, Thomas Grisso, Marsha Levick, and Laurence Steinberg, “The Supreme Court and the Transformation of Juvenile Sentencing,” Models for Change, September 2015, https://www.modelsforchange.net/publications/778/The_Supreme_Court_and_the_Transformation_of_Juvenile_Sentencing.pdf, 9.
177 “driving a car” Katie Jerstad, “The Adolescent Brain,” Juvenile Justice Update 29, no. 3 (Fall 2023): 17.
177 By the midtwenties, neuroscientists found Miller v. Alabama, United States Supreme Court (no. 10-9646, slip op. at 8 (2012)), quoted in Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States, Human Rights Watch and ACLU, 2012, https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/publications/us1012webwcover.pdf, 11.
177 By the latter half of the twenties Scott et al., “The Supreme Court and the Transformation of Juvenile Sentencing.”
178 “As any parent knows” Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/543/551/#tab-opinion-1961712.
178 Five years later, in 2010 Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/560/48.
000 Two years later, in Miller v. Alabama Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/567/460.
179 As scholars wrote The Supreme Court and the Transformation of Juvenile Sentencing, Models for Change, Elizabeth Scott, Thomas Gross, Marsha Levick, and Laurence Steinberg, p. 6
179 Twenty-eight states eliminated Ann Teigen, “Juvenile Life Withouth Parole,” National Council of State Legislatures, February 28, 2024, https://www.ncsl.org/civil-and-criminal-justice/juvenile-life-without-parole
179 Zyion Houston-Sconiers was seventeen State v. Houston-Sconiers, March 2, 2017, casetext.com/case/state-v-houston-sconiers-5#p23.
180 Their haul included Katherine Sypher and Anthony J. Wallace, “The Ununited State of Juvenile Justice in America,” USA Today, December 2, 2020.
180 In March 2017 Derrick Nunnally, “Teenage Halloween Robber’s Sentence Reduced by Decades,” [Tacoma, WA] News Tribune, July 1, 2017, www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article159189044.html.
180 Instead, the judge deducted State of Washington v. Aaron Ata Toleafoa, Court of Appeals of the State of Washington, July 8, 2020, https://law.justia.com/cases/washington/court-of-appeals-division-iii/2020/37349-5.html.
180 Toleafoa’s next appeal State of Washington v. Aaron Ata Toleafoa.
182 In March 2024, Toleafoa went This account is drawn from Aaron Toleafoa’s Petition for Clemency hearing before the Washington State Clemency & Pardons Board, March 8, 2024, tvw.org/video/washington-state-clemency-pardons-board-2024031171.
187 An investigation in Maryland Rachel Baye, Jennifer Lu, and Clare Keenan-Kurgan, “Judges Use ‘Arbitrary,’ ‘Horrendous’ Reasons to Keep Teens in Adult Court,” American Public Media, March 20, 2024, www.apmreports.org.www.apmreports.org/story/2024/03/20/judges-use-arbitrary-horrendous-reasons-to-keep-teens-in-adult-court.
187 Nationally, Black youth remain “The Juvenile Justice System Should Treat Kids like Kids,” Children’s Defense Fund, June 24, 2021, www.childrensdefense.org/blog/juvenile-justice-treat-kids-like-kids.
16. How Not to Close a Prison
191 In July 2023, a small crowd “youthDJJ Ceases Operations, Transfers Last Youth to Counties,” July 5, 2023, Division of Juvenile Justice, Jobs, Training and Facilities, California Depaertment of Corrections and Rehabilitation, www.cdcr.ca.gov/insidecdcr/2023/07/05/djj-ceases-operations-transfers-last-youth-to-counties.
192 By the time the governor made Jeremy Loudenback, “In Surprise Move, Newsom Calls for an End to California’s Youth Prison System,” The Imprint, May 14, 2020, imprintnews.org/justice/juvenile-justice-2/in-surprise-move-newsom-calls-for-an-end-to-californias-youth-prison-system/43366.
192 By 2020, that system Loudenback, “In Surprise Move, Newsom Calls for an End to California’s Youth Prison System.”
193 A follow-up bill, SB 92 Legislature Enacts “Secure Track” to Prevent Transfer to Adult Court, Pacific Juvenile Defender Center, May 24, 2021, https://www.pjdc.org/legislature-enacts-secure-track-to-prevent-transfer-to-adult-court/
193 “Today is the beginning” “Governor Newsom Announces His Intention to End Juvenile Imprisonment in California as We Know It,” Governor Gavin Newsom, January 22, 2019, www.gov.ca.gov/2019/01/22/end-juvenile-imprisonment.
195 Under SB 823, each of California’s Author review of county plans submitted to the California Office of Youth and Community Restoration as of July 2022.
196 Life inside is strictly regimented Meredith Desautels and Ji Seon Song, “Juvenile Halls Are Not Our Destiny,” The Imprint, June 28, 2019, imprintnews.org/opinion/juvenile-halls-are-not-our-destiny/35958.
197 Their efforts appeared to be Robert Garrova, “LA County Wants to Move from Locking Up Juveniles to a ‘Care-First’ Approach,” LAist, November 24, 2020, laist.com/news/la-county-juvenile-justice-move-from-locking-up-to-care-first-approach.
197 The county pledged Jason Henry, “Why a ‘Reimagined’ Detention System for Juveniles Has Stalled in LA County,” Pasadena Star-News, June 7, 2024, https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2024/06/02/why-a-reimagined-detention-system-for-juveniles-has-stalled-in-la-county/.
197 The centers would be staffed James Rainey, “California Plans to Close Troubled Youth Prisons After 80 Years. but What Comes Next?,” Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2021.
198 excessive force, overuse of isolation The People of the State of California, ex. rel. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of the State of California v. Los Angeles County and Los Angeles Country Office of Education, Superior Court of the State of California, filed January 13, 2021.
198 Drugs were so ubiquitous Celeste Fremon, “A String of Kids Overdose & a Staff Member Attacked in One of LA County’s Troubled Youth Halls,” WitnessLA, June 23, 2023, witnessla.com/a-string-of-kids-overdose-a-staff-member-attacked-in-la-county-youth-hall.
198 Things came to a head James Queally,”18-Year-Old Dies of Overdose in L.A. County Juvenile Hall, as State Suggests Shutdown,” Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2023.
198 In the wake of Diaz’s death Rebecca Ellis and James Queally, “After Fatal Overdose at L.A. Juvenile Hall, a Mother Grieves,” Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2023.
198 “unsuitable for the confinement of minors” *** NOTICE OF FACILITY UNSUITABILITY *** Barry J. Nidorf and Central Juvenile Halls Welf. & Inst. Code, 209,
198 Out of options, the county transferred In late 2024, the California Board of State and Community Corrections found Los Padrinos unsafe out of compliance with minimum standards and ordered that all youth be removed from that facility. As of this writing, 260 young people remain in the decertified facility. Celeste Fremon, “Unsuitable: 2024—LA County Board of Supervisors Vote on Who to Blame Because Probation’s Main Youth Hall Isn’t ‘Suitable’ to House Young People,” WitnessLA, December 7, 2024, witnessla.com/unsuitable-2024-la-county-board-of-supervisors-vote-on-who-to-blame-because-probations-main-youth-hall-isnt-suitable-to-house-young-people.
198 One group of young people Celeste Fremon, “Unsuitable: With Tuesday’s Pain-Haunted Vote, CA’s Oversight Board Ordered LA’s Youth Halls to Be Shut Down. But the Dangers Are Far from Over,” WitnessLA, May 24, 2023, witnessla.com/unsuitable-how-cas-oversight-board-ordered-las-youth-halls-shut-down-in-pain-haunted-meeting-but-the-dangers-are-far-from-over.
199 As youth crime declined Joaquin Palomino and Jill Tucker, “Vanishing Violence: Empty Cells, Rising Costs,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 2019.
200 County plans bear out this analysis Author review of county plans submitted to the California Office of Youth and Community Restoration as of July 2022.
201 In June 2023, they rallied Julia Forrest, “‘Recipe for Failure’: Santa Clara County Called On to End Youth Incarceration,” San José Spotlight, June 16, 2023, sanjosespotlight.com/recipe-for-failure-santa-clara-county-called-on-to-end-youth-incarceration-juvenile-hall.
17. Promises Made and Promises Broken
203 Some leaned on canes or walkers This account is drawn from The Marshall Project, “How Kids Ended Up in Angola Prison, and More on Juvenile Detention,” YouTube, February 2, 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ7WNTdooyg.
204 the number of young people locked up “Statistical Briefing Book,” Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2017, www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb.
205 the United States still has Richard Mendel, “Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence,” The Sentencing Project, December 2022, 8.
205 430,000 children were arrested “Youth in the Justice System,” Juvenile Law Center, jlc.org/youth-justice.
206 “An Officer Used a Broom” Audra D. S. Burch and Carol Marbin Miller, “An Officer Used a Broom to Beat Juveniles into Submission. They Called It ‘Broomie,’” Miami Herald, October 11, 2017.
206 “Staff Abuse Children” Sara Tiano, “Staff Abuse Children and Incite Violence at ‘Deplorable’ Tennessee Detention Center, Report Finds,” The Imprint, May 3, 2022, imprintnews.org/childrens-mental-health/staff-abuse-children-tennessee-detention-center/64850.
206 “Asthmatic Boy Was Pepper Sprayed” John Cheves, “Asthmatic Boy Was Pepper Sprayed Then Left in Cell at KY Juvenile Justice Center,” Lexington Herald-Leader, September 23, 2024, www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article292351724.html.
206 “Legal Roundup: SCOTUS Sides” Tristan Loveless, Bennett Brinkman, and Michael McNutt, “Legal Roundup: SCOTUS Sides with Tribes, DOJ Sues OKCPS, ‘Rape Culture’ Alleged at Tulsa Juvenile Center,” Non-Doc, June 10, 2024, nondoc.com/2024/06/10/legal-roundup-scotus-sides-with-tribes-doj-sues-okcps-rape-culture-alleged-at-tulsa-juvenile-center.
206 unremitting abuse inside youth prisons Richard Mendel, “Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence,” The Sentencing Project, March 1, 2023.
206 “pervasive violence and abuse” Richard A. Mendel, “No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration,” The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2011, assets.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-NoPlaceForKidsFullReport-2011.pdf, 3.
206 the state has been sued repeatedly Dana Liebelson, “‘He Had Fresh Head Injuries’: What Ohio Has Been Doing to Mentally Ill Boys,” Mother Jones, April 3, 2014, www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/doj-solitary-confinement-mentally-ill-children-ohio.
206 “barren concrete boxes” Stuart Grassian, M.D., “Declaration: Psychiatric Report in S.H. v. Reed,” static1.squarespace.com/static/571f750f4c2f858e510aa661/t/57da998337c581678ef05a2e/1473943941707/328-3-Attachment-C.pdf.
207 “adoration of the question” James Bell and Laura John Ridolfi, “Adoration of the Question: Reflections on the Failure to Reduce Racial & Ethic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System,” W. Haywood Burns Institute, December 2008, www.modelsforchange.net/publications/199/Adoration_of_the_Question_Reflections_on_the_Failure_to_Reduce_Racial__Ethnic_Disparities.pdf.
207 In 2003, Black youth Eli Hager, “Our Prisons in Black and White,” The Marshall Project, November 18, 2015, www.themarshallproject.org/2015/11/18/our-prisons-in-black-and-white.
