Thousands of children in the USA accused or
convicted of criminal offenses are subjected to human rights abuses ranging
from brutal physical force, lengthy periods in solitary confinement and long
periods in jail before trial, to imprisonment with adults, a new Amnesty
International report states.
According to the report (Betraying
The Young: Children in the US Justice System AI
Index AMR 51/60/98) ,
many children are incarcerated for very minor offenses when other action could
or should have been taken. Here are some examples:
•
a 10 year-old-boy handcuffed, arrested and
locked up for allegedly kicking his mother;
•
a 13 year-old-girl detained on suspicion
of possessing marijuana, which turned out to be oregano,
•
a 16 year-old-girl detained for
transgressing her father's rules (throwing objects in her room and not
attending school);
•
an 12 year-old-boy detained for making a
harassing telephone call.
In some jurisdictions, incarceration is regarded
as an appropriate punishment for even minor infringements of the law by very
young children, such as fighting in school.
Excessive use of incarceration is a matter of
grave concern because of its inherent risks to the physical and mental
integrity of children, and its potential for negative influence rather than
rehabilitation. The harm that children suffer as a consequence of
incarceration may be permanent.
From the end of the last century, the USA was a
world leader in the development of a legal system specifically for children,
with a mandate to promote their welfare. Today, however, even within the
juvenile justice system children's well-being is often placed at risk rather
than being protected.
Many custodial facilities for children in the USA
are overcrowded and unable to provide adequate mental health and other
important services. In recent years, there have been many reports that staff
in juvenile facilities have punched, kicked, shackled, sprayed with chemicals
and even used electro-shock devices against children in their care.
An increasing number of children are being
prosecuted as adults, often for non-violent offenses. Once in the adult
criminal justice system they may be held for months in jail before they are
tried, and they are often denied access to education, exercise and other
programs. Over four thousand children are in adult prisons where they are
notoriously at risk of physical and sexual abuse, as well as the corrupting
influence of people with long criminal histories.
And at every stage of the justice system, racial
and ethnic minority children are present in numbers greatly out of proportion
to their numbers in the community. "The evidence strongly indicates that
one reason for this is discrimination on the part of law enforcement and
justice system personnel," Amnesty International said.
The most disturbing aspect is that a number of
the violations are actually sanctioned by US laws. In particular, the US
executes people for crimes they committed when they were children, in flagrant
violation of international standards.
Three such prisoners - all of them borderline
mentally retarded - have been executed in the USA in 1998. Amnesty
International knows of no other such executions anywhere else in the world
during the year.
The USA has executed nine juvenile offenders
since 1990, half the known world total in the same period. The other nine
executions were carried out in five countries -- Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Over 70 prisoners remain on death row in the USA for
crimes committed when they were 16 or 17 years old.
The USA has consistently refused to implement
fully the protection of the human rights of children provided by international
law.
"Children in the USA should be no less
entitled to this protection than children of countries around the world,"
Amnesty International stressed. "We urge the US federal government to
ratify without reservations all international standards for the protection of
children."
"We also call on all US authorities to
ensure that their laws, policies and practices are fully consistent with these
standards," Amnesty International said.
Definition of who is a "child"
Under international and national laws, 18 is the
most common age below which special protection is deemed to be necessary and
desirable for people accused or convicted of violating criminal laws. All
international standards related to the death penalty define a child as someone
under 18 years of age.