‘An exposé of the grim reality of children coming of age in prison’
“Terrence was 16 when he and three other teens attempted to rob a barbeque restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. Though they left with no money and no one was injured, Terrence was sentenced to die in prison for his involvement in that crime.” – Cara H. Drinan, The War on Kids
– via the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
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“Last [October], Texas executed Robert Pruett, who was already serving a 99-year sentence for murder when he was convicted of stabbing a correctional officer with a makeshift weapon,” Drinan wrote then for USA Today.
“Pruett maintained to his death that he had not killed the officer, and there was no physical evidence connecting him to the crime. The state relied on inmate witnesses who allegedly received favorable deals in exchange for their testimony implicating Pruett. As irrational as it may seem, it is very difficult to mount a claim of actual innocence in the American appellate process, and we will likely never know whether Texas executed Pruett for a crime he did not commit.
“But we do know this: Robert Pruett did not belong in adult prison in the first place.”
From the publisher:
-> Authoritative and trenchant overview of how America’s juvenile justice system has gone off of the rails.
-> Powerful exposé of the grim reality of children coming of age in prison.
-> Provides a reform blueprint for policymakers who are grappling with the many problems plaguing our juvenile justice system, from brutality to extreme sentencing to over-incarceration.
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SSRN: “The War On Kids reveals how the United States went from being a pioneer to an international pariah in its juvenile sentencing practices.”
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Excerpt.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on July 23, 2018