Hardly a week goes by when the phone doesn’t ring here at our Chicago Urban League offices with a young brother or sister on the line, looking and hoping for a second chance.
Hardly a week goes by when the phone doesn’t ring here at our Chicago Urban League offices with a young brother or sister on the line, looking and hoping for a second chance.
These are phone calls we’re always happy to take. More often than not, the caller is serious about turning his or her life around. And that gives us a chance to help them find work. Many of these ex-offenders already have a couple of strikes against them: they’ve done time and they don’t have much education or work experience. They just need a little guidance and support in getting back on their feet, in finding a job and a safe place to live.
But in listening to their stories, I’ve learned that while it’s good to help ex-offenders when they come out, it’s even better if we can help keep them out of the criminal justice system in the first place. The most effective and least expensive way to help young people at risk in our communities is to expand on the policies that keep them from entering the criminal justice system altogether.
A good place to start would be to raise from 17 to 18–the age at which young people charged with misdemeanor crimes can be tried as an adult. This would divert hundreds of non-violent young offenders into alternatives to jail–such as drug treatment programs, rehabilitation, counseling, job training and placement–a growing network of “no-entry” assistance programs that can give them a second chance on life.
Around most of the world, and in 37 states and the District of Columbia, young people are not tried as adults until their 18th birthday. Last year, the Connecticut legislature voted to raise the maximum age to 18 for those entering its juvenile courts. But here in Illinois, which sets its voting age at 18, its drinking age at 21, and even forbids tattoos without parental permission until age 18, anyone who commits a crime on or after his 17th birthday can be tried as an adult. Medical and sociological research sees this differently. Many psychologists agree that the part of the brain responsible for impulse control isn’t always fully developed at age 17. Putting 17-year-olds in the same boat as 25- and 50-year-olds doesn’t make sense.
The practical effects of this can have repercussions that stick society with even higher costs. An adult conviction can follow an individual for the rest of his life, even if he sincerely wants to make a fresh start, making it difficult for him to find a job and decent housing. Several research studies have even found higher recidivism rates for juveniles tried in adult courts. There is also research that shows that trying young people as adults has no effect on deterrence. Sending 17-year-olds to prison when there is still a chance at rehabilitation may even in fact, produce more crime. According to Illinois’ Department of Juvenile Justice, nonviolent juvenile offenders are less likely to wind up back in jail if they can be kept in the community and receive the services they need–like a chance at a job and the support of a family.
Of all the 17-year-olds currently held in Cook County Jail as adults, 95 percent are young men and women of color. Eighty-five percent of this total is African American. Last month, the Illinois Senate passed a bill to raise the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for a misdemeanor to 18. The bill also calls for additional research to be done to consider whether this age limit should be extended to felony crimes.
If Gov. Blagojevich signs this bill into law, in the future, 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors will have a shot at rehabilitation through the juvenile justice system and all the alternative programs it can provide. They can take advantage of community based programs that can reform them and bring them back into society.
If there is no change, a large swath of African American young people will continue to get caught up in the wheels of the criminal justice system, with little hope of getting out and staying out.
Cheryle R. Jackson is the president of the Chicago Urban League. She can be reached at president@thechicagourbanleague.org.
Copyright 2008 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
