This article first appeared here in 2011. It was true then, it is even more true today (250,000).
When it ran, I received a call from a reporter at the Star Tribune to talk about mental health issues of abused and neglected children I had worked with as a volunteer CASA guardian ad-Litem.
Over 50% of the youth in juvenile justice suffer from diagnosable mental health issues, and fully half of those children suffer from multiple, chronic, serious problems.
A third of our youth are arrested before their 23rd birthday. Fostered youth have an even greater rate of incarceration (and early pregnancy).
All of us are paying the price of underserving at risk youth. Too many neighborhoods are dangerous and we are victims of violence at a rate 5 times that of europeans.
America’s prison recidivism at 9 years is over 80%. No other nation comes near this figure. This is a solvable problem. Healing children that have suffered adverse childhood experiences works. We know how and we have the resources.
Let your State Representative know how important healthy children are (share this with them).
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Legislative Relationships Are Needed for Systemic Change Relationships between KARA followers and legislators are needed at the Minnesota State Legislature. Law makers make their decisions on information received from trusted advisors. If you read this blog, you know more about what at risk youth need than most State Representatives. Contact yours here and share stories and posts on as you are able. At risk youth, KARA and our community will thank you. |
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INVISIBLE CHILDREN SOCIAL MEDIA
My experience with children receiving adequate therapy for the severe trauma and resulting behavior problems was almost non existent.
Once these very troubled children become old enough to impact their surroundings they do so in a most troubling manner. That’s why our jails are full and our schools are troubled.
From the study; “In other words, by one mechanism or another, more than 200,000 individuals under the age of 18 are prosecuted in criminal court each year. There are three trends in the data worth noting.
First, the proportion of juveniles prosecuted as adults is growing, primarily because states are adding more and more offenses to the list of crimes that are excluded from the juvenile court.
Second, a very large number of these cases — about one-third — are for non-violent offenses, such as burglary or drug charges. Finally, Black and Hispanic offenders are more likely than White offenders to be
transferred, even when they have committed the same crime.
The greatest disparity is in the processing of drug charges.
Finally, Black and Hispanic offenders are more likely than White offenders to be transferred, even when they have committed the same crime. The greatest disparity is in the processing of drug charges.”
We are very familiar with the results of juveniles incarcerated as adults.
Many years of being in and out of jail & prison, high cost of crime & families impacted by crime. There is no upside in creating lifelong offenders which is exactly what we do by charging eleven and twelve year olds as adults.
“Children that are the victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the State Of Minnesota” MN Past Governor Tim Pawlenty.
No one wins when we abandon five year olds to be brutalized by abusive families and the losses grow as we incarcerate more and more juveniles. Punishing abandoned children as adults is its own crime.
As Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz so aptly stated, “the difference between that poor child and a felon is about eight years”
Vote for mental health services and child friendly programs for at risk children and call your state legislators and tell them to do the same.
Donate now and support these pages & KARA’S Traveling Child Abuse/Child Protection Exhibit
and KARA’S Financial Literacy Peer Groups for at risk youth
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