As a few Kentucky Youth Advocates staff gathered for a convening in Chattanooga, TN, we were incredibly animated by the work those across the U.S. are doing and have been doing to make the justice system more just. Organizations from 19 states gathered to share ideas, stories, and work already being done to end mass incarceration. Since 1983, Kentucky has seen a 287% increase in the amount of individuals locked up. We’ve been seeing incarceration [...]
Should children with mental health issues be incarcerated, or should they be given proper access to mental health treatment? In Kentucky specifically, 7 out of 10 youth involved with the juvenile justice system have a mental health condition. The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) recently released a new graphic (below) covering the mental health to incarceration pipeline so let’s take a look at how mental health and incarceration go hand in hand. Currently 1 in [...]
Children as young as six-years-old have been arrested in the U.S., which remains one of the only countries without a nationally mandated standard for juvenile prosecution. As of May 2022, just under half of states in the U.S. still have no minimum age for prosecuting children. Six-year-olds are still learning how to regulate their emotions. Throwing a tantrum should not lead to the arrest of a child but should instead be a segue to introducing [...]
