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Reform in New York's Juvenile Justice System(Originally posted on Daily Kos.) Yesterday, the Justice Department released a damning new report (PDF) about the horrible conditions in juvenile prisons in upstate New York. The story made the front page of the New York Times, and in a related op-ed called "New York's Disgrace," the Times writes: This problem has been festering for decades. Elected officials who have ignored it will need to clean house as swiftly as possible, closing down the worst institutions and ensuring that children in custody are protected from abuse in compliance with federal law.Unfortunately, the abuses that occurred in these prisons have been going on for years, despite having been exposed before. Back in the winter of 2005, I was a novice researcher at Human Rights Watch, trying to find out what life was like for girls held in youth prisons in upstate New York. Getting information was almost impossible. The New York juvenile justice agency — called the Office of Children and Family Services, or OCFS — was one of the most secretive and defensive that Human Rights Watch had ever encountered, even compared with agencies in places like Bulgaria, Guatemala, Kenya, and Brazil. Because OCFS refused to let human rights monitors into its facilities, we scraped together information from every place we could, tracking down girls who had recently been released, finding sources inside the agency and even lurking in prison parking lots in mid-winter to talk to the parents of incarcerated girls. Months of work yielded the ACLU/Human Rights Watch joint report, Custody and Control. The report exposed severe abuse and neglect of all kinds at the Lansing Residential Center for girls in Tompkins County and the Tryon Residential Center for girls and boys in Fulton County. Girls were brutalized for transgressions as minor as talking back or not standing in line the right way. They were denied adequate schooling and services and kept in isolation. Their histories of victimization, their mental illnesses and their human rights were ignored. We released Custody and Control in 2006. We pushed the Justice Department to investigate and we railed in the press. OCFS, for its part, owned up to some of the abuses, denied others, and promised to change. Reading the DOJ's report, which describes in gruesome detail many of the same abuses we exposed three years ago, I didn't feel vindicated. Instead, I felt sick. So much is still so wrong, and in some ways it's gotten even worse. Girls are still brutally punished for hurting themselves or confessing they've considered suicide. They are brutalized for their mental illnesses. One severely mentally ill girl described in the DOJ report was held alone in a building — "abandoned" is the word DOJ used — in a room with her own urine and feces, because facility workers couldn't or wouldn't help her. It was clear back in 2006 what needed to be done, and it is still clear now. First, the Justice Department's report shows us that these four youth prisons, at a minimum, are corrupt beyond repair. They should be closed. Now. More effective, cheaper and safer alternatives to incarceration have worked elsewhere, are working in New York, and need to be expanded. Second, in the coming legislative session, the New York state senate must pass the bill, which has been introduced several times, creating an Office of the Child Advocate, separate from OCFS. The abuses in youth prisons thrive in darkness. An independent child advocate means transparency and accountability, which are the only way to keep these abuses from happening over and over. There have been more than enough damning reports, broken bones, and abandoned children. We know where the problems lie, and how to solve them. It will take genuine political will and public pressure that goes on far longer than a news cycle to make sure that two years from now we don't hear the same heartbreaking revelations again. Tags: children's rights
When Cops Go to School(Originally posted on FireDogLake's the Seminal.) As a growing number of advocates and scholars have observed, K-12 public schools around the country have increasingly come to rely on law enforcement officers, frequently referred to as School Resource Officers (SROs), to patrol school hallways. Unfortunately, these officers are frequently deployed without sufficient consideration as to how their presence might impact the overall educational climate of schools, how overzealous policing tactics might compromise the educational achievement of at-risk children, or how to ensure that these programs are subject to transparency and accountability. That’s why, with the new school year getting underway, the ACLU released a white paper outlining best practices for the administration of SRO programs. In setting the tone for a productive school year, school districts with SROs should adopt the policies recommended in this document to ensure that students learn in a safe and respectful environment. When SRO programs do not adequately define the roles of the SROs or their purpose, students suffer. In New York City, public school students have been arrested for minor disciplinary infractions like being late to class or bringing cell phones to school. In Florida, a 13-year-old was arrested for repeatedly passing gas in class; a Los Angeles, 16-year-old was arrested after she dropped a piece of birthday cake and failed to clean the mess to the satisfaction of the school resource officer; and a Minnesota 14-year-old was arrested for text-messaging in class.Arrests of students for such minor incidents do not promote a safe learning environment. The impact on students of improper school-based arrests can be devastating. Studies have shown that getting arrested dramatically increases the likelihood of students dropping out of school and reduces students’ chances of succeeding academically. Students who are arrested and also have to appear in court are four times more likely to drop out of school, have lower standardized test scores, have reduced employment prospects and are far more likely to interact with the criminal justice system in the future. Additionally, children who witness fellow students being unnecessarily arrested tend to develop negative views or distrust of law enforcement, which may foster aconfrontational relationship between police and the communities they serve. Busy school administrators may be tempted to rely on SROs for disciplining difficult students, and SROs, who may not be accustomed to working with youth, may unintentionally treat students like adults rather than children in school. Both the integrity of schools and the reputation of law enforcement agencies suffer as a result. Given that police presence is increasingly commonplace in schools around the country, school districts must ensure that the relationship between police and the school communities they serve is respectful and productive. The ACLU white paper, which includes a model governance document, is designed to do just that. Tags: children's rights
For Students of Color, It May Hurt to Go to SchoolAfrican-American students are referred to special education at a rate over two times the national average and over three times the rate at which white students are referred to special education programs. They comprise 36.9 percent of the special education population, but only 16.8 percent of the entire U.S. student population. On August 10, 2009, the ACLU and Human Rights Watch (HRW) released Impairing Education, a report that reveals the disproportionate use of corporal punishment on students with disabilities in our public schools. Corporal punishment, or the use of physical force with the intent to punish, is legal in 20 states and includes, but is not limited to, paddling, hitting, pinching, slapping, forceful grabbing, throwing, spanking, and dragging. Although corporal punishment should not be used on any student, its effect on students with disabilities can be especially damaging. This report builds upon a prior ACLU/HRW report, A Violent Education, that discussed the disproportionate use of corporal punishment on students of color. A Violent Education raised concerns about the disproportionate rates at which students of color are subjected to corporal punishment, violating their right to nondiscriminatory access to education. The disproportionate referral of students of color to special education programs may raise further concerns for racial justice advocates about the use of corporal punishment with students of color. Corporal punishment should be banned from use on all students. It can cause serious injury and lasting psychological damage. Research shows that the practice is also largely ineffective in maintaining safe and productive learning environments. Rather, positive behavioral supports (PBS), which teach children why what they did was wrong and reward positive behaviors, have been proven to be the most effective behavioral management strategies in the classroom. The use of PBS has been shown to reduce school discipline referrals, support improved academic outcomes, and improve perceptions of school safety. Lawmakers are beginning to recognize the critical importance of PBS programs. Recently, Representative Phil Hare (D-Ill.) introduced the Positive Behavior for Safe and Effective Schools Act (H.R. 2597), a bill that would enable schools to use Title I funds to implement evidence-based approaches, such as PBS. It is important that this law is passed to replace ineffective, punitive approaches to discipline in favor of research-based, effective PBS programs. Until corporal punishment is banned throughout the United States, there are domestic civil rights laws that may help advocates combat the disproportionate use of corporal punishment on students of color. Using corporal punishment more often with students of color than with white students is prohibited by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts if the discrepancy has resulted from intentional discrimination. Corporal punishment is already prohibited by 107 countries, 30 U.S. states, and international human rights law. It's time for all children in the United States to be free from this physically and psychologically harmful practice.
Stop Beating Students with Disabilities in Schools(Originally published in Huffington Post.) In the 2006 – 2007 school year, nearly quarter of a million school children were subjected to corporal punishment in public schools. Impairing Education, a report released yesterday by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, finds that students with disabilities — who have a right to appropriate, inclusive educational programs that give them the opportunity to thrive — are nonetheless subjected to this violent discipline at disproportionately high rates. Corporal punishment — from paddling to beating to throwing children into walls or floors — is routine in public schools in many parts of the United States. Impairing Education documents many such cases. No student should be subjected to these abusive forms of discipline, but students with disabilities, who already face extra challenges, can be particularly vulnerable to physical or psychological harm from these punishments. Anna M.’s son, who has autism, was seven years old when he was punished in school. She told me about an experience at his elementary school: I’m in the front office ... They bring [my son] into the room. His nose is beet red. He lifts up his shirt sleeve, I get a glimpse of scratches all up his arm. I got overwhelmed, I couldn’t focus ... I wanted to get my son to the doctor. I get him home and I take off his clothes. He was marked, top of his arms, under his arms, down his torso. He had a busted lip, which I hadn’t noticed at first. He said, “they made me wash the blood off before I saw you.” Corporal punishment causes pain, humiliation, and in some cases deep bruising or other serious injury; it also can have long-lasting psychological consequences. Students with disabilities may see their underlying conditions worsened as a result. Furthermore, it creates a violent, degrading school environment in which all students — and particularly students with disabilities — may struggle to succeed.
Anna M.’s son has changed after he was restrained and beaten. He now struggles with anger, has had nightmares, is reluctant to leave his mother’s side and fears running into the person that administered his punishment. Anna said, “I was afraid for his life, to be honest. He was 52 pounds, or maybe even less, at this point.” The use of corporal punishment on children with disabilities violates the right to freedom from cruel, degrading treatment and violence guaranteed to them under international human rights law. Children with disabilities have the right to an inclusive education, yet corporal punishment impinges on this right and creates barriers to their success. There are positive, nonviolent approaches to school discipline that have been proven to lead to safe environments in which children can learn. Positive behavioral supports teach children why what they did was wrong and gives them the tools necessary to improve their behavior. The staff in our schools must be trained on how to discipline children effectively and humanely. No child should be hit, especially the most vulnerable. Tags: children's rights, corporal punishment, Human Rights Program
Ohio Bans Corporal PunishmentWhen Ohio's children return to school in just a few weeks, they'll finally have long-overdue protection from corporal punishment (or "paddling") in their public schools. Last Wednesday, the Ohio legislature passed a ban on corporal punishment as part of the state's biennial budget. With Gov. Ted Strickland's signature, Ohio became the 30th state to ban corporal punishment. You can send Gov. Strickland a message supporting this move here: Corporal punishment is still legal in 20 states. It typically takes the form of students beaten with a wooden "paddle" or board about 1 ½ feet long, 6 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. The ACLU has interviewed students who were beaten for a wide range of misbehavior, from being late, to fighting. Students can be seriously injured by this punishment. You can see more in our report, A Violent Education. Now that corporal punishment has been banned in Ohio, children there will be able to learn in safe, secure environments. Corporal punishment is ineffective and abusive; it discourages children from learning and has been linked to higher drop-out rates. Better methods of disciplining children, including Positive Behavior Intervention and Support, provide safe, secure schools where children can learn. The ACLU congratulates Ohio in this important move for securing a better future for its children. Tags: children's rights, corporal punishment, Human Rights Program
Let's End Juvenile Life Sentences Without Parole Now!Today at 3:00 pm, the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will convene a hearing on H.R. 2289, the "Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2009.” This legislation would deny funding to states that refuse to offer a parole option to juvenile offenders and authorize state grants to improve legal representation for youths charged with life sentences. It's hard to believe that the United States still sentences children as young as 13 to spend the rest of their lives in prison without any opportunity for release. Right now, there are approximately 2,570 children serving juvenile life sentences without parole in the U.S. — the only country that allows this cruel punishment to happen. Just last week, the ACLU, along with other human rights organizations, sent a letter to the CERD Committee, urging them to conclude that the imposition of this sentence violates the treaty obligations of the United States and fails to recognize customary international human rights law. Young people are still developing mentally and emotionally. Their punishment needs to be focused on rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Offering a parole option to young people provides a second chance — this is in our society's best interest. We've made some progress — currently Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Oregon and the District of Columbia forbid juvenile life sentences without parole. But we have a long way to go, and we have no time to waste. It's time for a change. Our youth deserve fair sentencing, and the opportunity for rehabilitation. You can watch the hearing online and learn more about the ACLU's work on ending juvenile life without parole at: www.aclu.org/juvenilelifewithoutparole. Tags: children's rights, Human Rights Program, jlwop, juvenile justice
Stop Beating Children in Schools(Originally posted on Daily Kos.) With state legislatures back in session, we're renewing the fight to take corporal punishment out of public schools. There's a bill pending in Ohio to do just that. Here's our letter supporting this crucial step to protect Ohio's kids. In recent months we've also seen bills introduced in other states limiting corporal punishment, making it harder for schools to beat children. Click here to find out if paddling is legal and prevalent in your state. While we hope all states will follow suit, paddling can also be banned school district by school district. More and more districts are adopting discipline policies that throw out the paddle and support effective learning instead. For instance, in recent months, the school districts in Marfa and Aldine in Texas and Muskogee, Oklahoma, have debated banning or limiting corporal punishment, like many other small districts. Meanwhile, Jackson Public School (JPS) District, one of the biggest districts in Mississippi, recently upheld its ban on paddling. Click here to see our letters to JPS. What can you do? We've put together a "toolkit" for parents that we published with the Our Children, the National PTA magazine. Parents and PTAs can take the lead in campaigns to change school policies. Even if you don't live in a school district that paddles kids, you can help. Parents can write letters to their state legislatures, objecting to laws that permit schools to paddle, and advocating for safe, nonviolent discipline in schools. New funding from the federal stimulus package can also help. The Department of Education can allocate funding to school districts that want to implement positive behavior discipline systems that teach kids why what they did was wrong and what they can do better. Positive behavior systems are much more effective than paddling; they produce safe, secure classrooms where kids can effectively learn. The Southern Poverty Law Center has more on using federal money for positive behavior. What’s more, the right to dignity — one of the founding principles of human rights — protects children from abusive or discriminatory school discipline practices. U.S. schools should implement effective, positive discipline systems, so that children’s human rights are protected and so that every student can maximize his or her potential. To learn more about the ACLU’s work to end corporal punishment, visit: www.aclu.org/corporalpunishment Tags: children's rights, corporal punishment, Human Rights Program
International Intervention Needed on Behalf of Obama's Child SoldiersPresident-elect Barack Obama will make history on his inauguration day. And if a scheduled Guantánamo military commission trial goes forward on January 26, President-elect Obama will make a wholly different kind of history, by presiding over a terrible historical event. On January 26, Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr, a 22-year-old Canadian national who has been held at Guantánamo for nearly one-third of his life, is slated to be tried by military commission for war crimes allegedly committed when he was 15. If Omar Khadr's trial goes forward as scheduled on January 26, one of the first acts of President-elect Obama's administration will be to preside over the first war crimes prosecution of a child soldier in U.S. history.
If President-elect Obama does not suspend the military commission trial of Omar Khadr, the United States will become the first western nation since Nuremberg to hold a war crimes trial for crimes allegedly committed by a child. Omar Khadr's trial would require President-elect Obama to break from international practice and flout international standards that recognize children used as child soldiers should be treated first as victims in need of rehabilitation, not abused and prosecuted by an unjust and discredited military commission. Today, the ACLU called on two international U.N. bodies to intervene in the military commission cases of Omar Khadr and Mohammed Jawad, who were both teenagers when they were captured by U.S. forces. (Like Omar Khadr, Mohammed Jawad faces trial by military commission, though a trial date has not yet been set in his case.) We called on the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child to issue public statements calling for their military commission cases to be suspended. Earlier this week, the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers jointly called on President-elect Obama to suspend Omar Khadr's trial — a call that was echoed by children's rights scholars, advocates, and professionals who work with youth. While intervention by U.N. bodies in Omar Khadr's case is an exceptional measure, it is warranted by the urgent circumstances. If Omar Khadr's trial goes forward, it would establish dangerous precedent for the United States and the entire world. Time is running out for President-elect Obama to honor his promise to break from the Bush administration by respecting U.S. human rights treaty obligations. Guantánamo, its military commissions, and unjust trials of child soldiers have no place in the new direction the U.S. government plans to take under his leadership. Join us in asking President-elect Obama to stop this travesty in its tracks. Send him a message through the change.gov website at www.aclu.org/askobama. Tags: children's rights, Close Guantanamo, Human Rights Program
End Abusive, Discriminatory Discipline in Schools: Give All Students a Chance to ThriveMinority students in schools across the U.S. are not getting a fair chance – in part because they are more likely to be subjected to abusive, degrading disciplinary tactics ranging from overpolicing to corporal punishment. Facing these and other obstacles, minority students are more likely to drop out of school and end up in the criminal justice system. The ACLU has been fighting this trend in the U.S. The ACLU had the chance to raise this issue in an international setting: at the first United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, which opened yesterday in Geneva. The Forum was established by Independent Expert Gay McDougall (herself an American who has spent years fighting for racial justice) to examine conditions for minority students in schools across the world. This year, the Forum focuses on access to education for minority students, understanding that all children need a fair, equal start in life in order to thrive and contribute to their societies later. Dennis Parker, director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU and an established expert on minority access to education in the U.S., was asked to speak at the Forum. Dennis spoke yesterday about abusive discipline practices faced by minority students. For instance, some policies are outwardly discriminatory: African American, Latino, Native American and other students of color are subjected to different punishment than white students for engaging in the same behavior. Other policies appear race-neutral but are felt more harshly by minority students. For example, corporal punishment, still widely used in a number of states in the U.S., appears to be inflicted disproportionately against students of color, is counter to international legal standards and adversely affects the learning environment for all children whether or not they are recipients of the actual punishment. International human rights standards such as those discussed at the Forum can help minority children in the U.S. get a fair chance at a decent education. Human rights law prohibits discrimination in all levels of education. What's more, the right to dignity – one of the founding principles of human rights – protects children from abusive or discriminatory school discipline practices. U.S. schools – and indeed, all schools worldwide – should implement effective, positive discipline systems, so that children's human rights are protected and so that every student can maximize his or her potential. For more information, read the ACLU's submission to the Forum on Minority Access to Education in the United States. Tags: children's rights, corporal punishment, Human Rights Program
Pentagon Admits Number of Guantánamo’s Children is Higher than Originally DisclosedAn AP article today announced the Pentagon has admitted that 12 children under the age of 18 have been held at Guantánamo since it opened in 2002. The news report comes on the heels of a study released last week by the U.C. Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, showing that the U.S. has held at least 12 juveniles at Guantánamo. These reports confirm what the ACLU has been saying for months: the U.S. government has been lowballing the number of children it has imprisoned at Guantánamo. In a submission to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child in May, the U.S. claimed that eight juveniles have ever been held at the detention camp and only two prisoners currently at Guantánamo were children at the time of their transfer to the prison. Yet in an ACLU report we issued that same month, Soldiers of Misfortune, we said that prisoner lists released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests show the number is closer to 23, while some sources estimate the number of youth held at Guantánamo as high as 60. At a U.N. review session in Geneva, the ACLU also pointed out that the U.S. had failed to count a third prisoner currently at Guantánamo, Mohammed El-Gharani (also known as Muhammed Al-Qarani), who was only 14 when first captured and has reportedly attempted suicide several times while in custody at Guantánamo. U.N. officials of the Committee on the Rights of the Child demanded that U.S. officials explain why discrepancies in the figures of child detainees may exist, pointing out that the U.S. had failed to count El-Gharani. The government delegation’s inadequate answer? It’s tough to determine the number of teens we’ve detained at the Navy base. In July, the ACLU renewed calls for the U.S. to release accurate numbers for the children imprisoned at Guantánamo, after an attorney for the U.K. non-profit Reprieve said testimonies collected by the NGO, which represents 30 inmates at Guantánamo, indicate the actual number is much higher than 22. As the number of children whom the U.S. owns up to detaining climbs higher, it is becoming crystal clear that there is no transparency in the government’s Guantánamo detention practices. And as the U.S. government’s past miscalculations of child prisoner statistics are revealed, it proves that there is a profound lack of accountability for Guantánamo policies, even when children are concerned. Sadly, this is not the first time the Bush administration has misled a human rights body and deflected public and institutional scrutiny to avoid full accountability for its Guantánamo policies. But it is not too late to correct past wrongs: Delay the upcoming trials of two of the remaining detainees who have been held since they were juveniles and assess their eligibility for rehabilitation and reintegration into society. As alleged former child soldiers, the two detainees (Omar Khadr, who was captured when he was 15, and Mohamed Jawad, who was captured when he was 16 or 17), should be treated first and foremost as candidates for rehabilitation and reintegration into society, not subjected to further victimization. Tags: children's rights, Close Guantanamo, Human Rights Program
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