In 2004, a teenage girl incarcerated at the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville was sexually abused by a male employee at the facility. The abuse consisted of repeated acts of oral sex and sexual intercourse. There was no doubt that the abuse occurred, and the employee ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual assault.
All told, the United States spends about $60 billion a year on locking people up. But there are also other, less obvious costs, including the effects on children left behind when parents are sent away to prison.
For years, we have been shocked by stories of the abuse — much of it sexual — of security detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. But prisoners are not just abused overseas. Rape and sexual violence are all too frequent here in our own backyard. If America is to reclaim its moral authority as a defender of human rights and dignity, it must start at home.
For too many years, the approach toward youth gang violence in the US has consisted largely of incarcerating too many vulnerable children and youth who are living in our most challenged communities.
Is Saudi Arabia backsliding on human rights, and backtracking on reform, since ‘Abdallah acceded to the throne in August 2005? Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch suggests the answer is yes.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, should show up for kids. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2008, the most important juvenile justice legislation Congress has addressed in years, is up for consideration in the Senate next week. This critical bill, which has strong bipartisan support, would improve public safety by reforming the juvenile justice system. It would increase mental health and drug treatment services for youth, improve confinement conditions and reduce disproportionate sanctions for minor adolescent misbehavior.
Juvenile justice policies in the United States are replete with contradictions between practices proven to prevent crime, and punitive laws politicians promote to get elected. Juvenile and criminal justice principles, scientific research on prevention, intervention, and adolescent brain development, and US treaty obligations argue against the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" policies that harm children, increase recidivism and exacerbate crime. Next week, the US Senate should act on reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act (JJDPA) and amendments to improve juvenile justice in this country. Improvement is long overdue.
When Mohammed Jawad, a 23-year-old Afghan detainee, was summoned to appear before the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay for his arraignment in March, he told his military handlers that he would not go. After being held for more than five years here, he didn't believe he could get a fair hearing from the U.S. military.
Though Saudi officials pay lip service to the rule of law, this is difficult to reconcile with reality. Arbitrary arrests and unfair trials characterize the fate of those who enter the system
In 2004, a teenage girl incarcerated at the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville was sexually abused by a male employee at the facility. The abuse consisted of repeated acts of oral sex and sexual intercourse. There was no doubt that the abuse occurred, and the employee ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual assault.
All told, the United States spends about $60 billion a year on locking people up. But there are also other, less obvious costs, including the effects on children left behind when parents are sent away to prison.
For years, we have been shocked by stories of the abuse — much of it sexual — of security detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. But prisoners are not just abused overseas. Rape and sexual violence are all too frequent here in our own backyard. If America is to reclaim its moral authority as a defender of human rights and dignity, it must start at home.
For too many years, the approach toward youth gang violence in the US has consisted largely of incarcerating too many vulnerable children and youth who are living in our most challenged communities.
Is Saudi Arabia backsliding on human rights, and backtracking on reform, since ‘Abdallah acceded to the throne in August 2005? Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch suggests the answer is yes.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, should show up for kids. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2008, the most important juvenile justice legislation Congress has addressed in years, is up for consideration in the Senate next week. This critical bill, which has strong bipartisan support, would improve public safety by reforming the juvenile justice system. It would increase mental health and drug treatment services for youth, improve confinement conditions and reduce disproportionate sanctions for minor adolescent misbehavior.
Juvenile justice policies in the United States are replete with contradictions between practices proven to prevent crime, and punitive laws politicians promote to get elected. Juvenile and criminal justice principles, scientific research on prevention, intervention, and adolescent brain development, and US treaty obligations argue against the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" policies that harm children, increase recidivism and exacerbate crime. Next week, the US Senate should act on reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act (JJDPA) and amendments to improve juvenile justice in this country. Improvement is long overdue.
Although most of the 20 juvenile detainees have now been released, three remain, having spent more than a quarter of their lives at Guantánamo.
When Mohammed Jawad, a 23-year-old Afghan detainee, was summoned to appear before the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay for his arraignment in March, he told his military handlers that he would not go. After being held for more than five years here, he didn't believe he could get a fair hearing from the U.S. military.
Though Saudi officials pay lip service to the rule of law, this is difficult to reconcile with reality. Arbitrary arrests and unfair trials characterize the fate of those who enter the system