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Nearly 90% of New Jersey children tried as adults since 2011 were black or Latino
Source: The Guardian
Nearly 90% of New Jersey children tried as adults since 2011 were black or Latino
Mostly black minors requested to be prosecuted as adults,
a WNYC analysis found when comparing the US juvenile
detention system with that in Germany
Sarah Gonzalez
Tuesday 11 October 2016 11.00 BST
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Minors in New Jersey who commit crimes like robbery, drug trafficking or homicide can be tried as adults. But that only happens at a prosecutor’s request. And according to an analysis by WNYC Radio, most of their requests are for black minors, like Jamal.
Getting tried as an adult depends on your race
Minors in some other countries – like Germany, which WNYC visited – never get such long sentences for robbery, and would never be prosecuted as adults. But it is allowed in every US state.
In New Jersey, court data obtained by WNYC found 692 minors tried as adults in the past five years. The youngest were 14 years old when charged. Almost 90% are black or Latino.
Not all were found guilty and not all went to prison, but WNYC found at least 152 inmates still in adult prisons today for crimes they committed as minors in the past five years. The most common crime? Robbery.
Laura Cohen, director of the Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic at Rutgers Law School, says white children commit the same crimes as black children. National research shows prosecutors do not seek to try white children as adults at the same rates.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Mostly black minors requested to be prosecuted as adults,
a WNYC analysis found when comparing the US juvenile
detention system with that in Germany
Sarah Gonzalez
Tuesday 11 October 2016 11.00 BST
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Minors in New Jersey who commit crimes like robbery, drug trafficking or homicide can be tried as adults. But that only happens at a prosecutor’s request. And according to an analysis by WNYC Radio, most of their requests are for black minors, like Jamal.
Getting tried as an adult depends on your race
Minors in some other countries – like Germany, which WNYC visited – never get such long sentences for robbery, and would never be prosecuted as adults. But it is allowed in every US state.
In New Jersey, court data obtained by WNYC found 692 minors tried as adults in the past five years. The youngest were 14 years old when charged. Almost 90% are black or Latino.
Not all were found guilty and not all went to prison, but WNYC found at least 152 inmates still in adult prisons today for crimes they committed as minors in the past five years. The most common crime? Robbery.
Laura Cohen, director of the Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic at Rutgers Law School, says white children commit the same crimes as black children. National research shows prosecutors do not seek to try white children as adults at the same rates.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/11/new-jersey-juvenile-detention-minority-tried-adults
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