Vera Institute of Justice

Just Kids: When Misbehaving Is a Crime
Chapters
  1. Just Kids
  2. Understanding adolescence, acting out, and calls for help
  3. How status offenses lead kids into the justice system
  4. Why criminalization is not the answer
  5. Decriminalizing adolescent behavior
  6. A national movement
  7. Skipping School Can Get Kids Locked Up?
  8. Endnotes
  9. Acknowledgements
Menu

Endnotes

Endnotes

August 2017

Endnotes

  1. Francine Sherman and Annie Balck, Gender Injustice: System-Level Juvenile Justice Reforms for Girls (Portland: National Crittenton Foundation, 2015), https://perma.cc/UVR9-RWWY.
  2. Uberto Gatti, Amelie Petitclerc, Richard E. Tremblay, and Frank Vitaro, “Effects of Juvenile Court Exposure on Crime in Young Adulthood,” The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 54, no. 3 (2013), 291-297, https://perma.cc/XMQ5-UVZA; and Edward P. Mulvey, Highlights From Pathways to Desistance: A Longitudinal Study of Serious Adolescent Offenders (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, March 2011), https://perma.cc/WM59-QC4U.
  3. American Psychological Association (APA), Developing: A Reference for Professionals (Washington, DC: APA, 2002), https://perma.cc/SX89-78PG.
  4. Institute of Medicine and National Research Council Committee on the Science of Adolescence, The Science of Adolescent Risk-Taking: Workshop Report (Washington, DC: The National Academies, 2011), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53420/.
  5. TJ Berndt, “Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents,” Developmental Psychology 15 (1979), 608–616.
  6. Sharon Casey, “Understanding Youth Offenders: Developmental Criminology,” The Open Criminology Journal 4 (2011) 13–22, https://perma.cc/L3YW-2SHZ.
  7. Laurence Steinberg, “Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice,” Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 5 (October 18, 2008), https://perma.cc/X29S-CSFN.
  8. Malika Saada Saar, Rebecca Epstein, Lindsay Rosenthal, and Yasmin Vafa, The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story (Washington, DC: Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, 2015), https://perma.cc/R26S-HE6P; National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Homeless and Runaway Youth (Washington, DC: NCSL, 2016), https://perma.cc/DS44-VZ37.
  9. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Answers to Frequently Asked Compulsory School Attendance Questions (Madison, WI: DPI, 2016), https://perma.cc/6GVV-EXR2.
  10. Sarah Hockenberry and Charles Puzzenchera, 2014, https://perma.cc/8XV4-G8F9.
  11. Texas Appleseed, Criminalization of Truancy in Texas: Prosecution of “Failure to Attend School” in Adult Criminal Courts (Austin: Texas Appleseed), https://perma.cc/8FGS-B2UV.
  12. Act4Justice, “What is the JJDPA?”, https://perma.cc/B852-KCR3.
  13. Kristin M. Finklea, Juvenile Justice: Legislative History and Current Legislative Issues (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2012), https://perma.cc/EF2W-FNSN.
  14. Act4Justice, “Fact Sheet: Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenses Core Protection,” https://perma.cc/A35S-FJ6N.
  15. Coalition for Juvenile Justice, SOS Project, “Fact Sheet: Use of Valid Court Order: State-by-State Comparisons,” https://perma.cc/5YYK-6NNB.
  16. Howard N. Snyder and Melissa Sickmund, Juvenile Offenders and Victims:1999 National Report (Pittsburgh: National Center for Juvenile Justice, 1999), https://perma.cc/WDR2-GY7J. Although it is not covered in this report, it is important to note that many parents today are sent to court for their child’s misbehavior. For example, recent media attention has been given to parents who receive significant fines and can be eventually jailed for their child’s truancy. This alternate punitive response has its own negative consequences for families and, like sending kids to court, does not address the problems that underlie the child’s misbehavior. See Jessica Feierman with Naomi Goldstein, Emily Haney-Caron, Jaymes Fairfax Columbo, Debtor’s Prison for Kids? The High Cost of Fines and Fees in the Juvenile Justice System (Philadelphia: Juvenile Law Center, 2016, 17-19), https://perma.cc/Z2RQ-8BUK. See also: Nadja Popovich, "Do US laws that punish parents for truancy keep their kids in school?", The Guardian, June 23, 2014, https://perma.cc/7LG8-38E2; and Dana Goldstein, "Inexcusable absences," The Nation, March 6, 2015, https://newrepublic.com/article/121186/truance-laws-unfairly-attack-poor-children-and-parents. 
  17. This concept has been noted by other experts in the field, including Francine Sherman and Annie Balck, 2015, https://perma.cc/UVR9-RWWY.
  18. Lindsay Rosenthal, “Ending the Unjust Treatment of Girls Charged with Status Offenses,” Think Justice (blog), Vera Institute of Justice, October 26, 2015, https://perma.cc/CT8F-UCLT; and Francine T. Sherman, 13 Pathways to Juvenile Detention Reform: Detention Reform and Girls: Challenges and Solutions (Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005), https://perma.cc/R7K2-CPHT.
  19. Joan McCord, Cathy Spatz Widom, and Nancy A. Crowell, eds., “The Juvenile Justice System,” in Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice (Washington, DC: National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, Panel on Juvenile Crime: Prevention, Treatment, and Control, 2001) https://www.nap.edu/read/9747/chapter/7.  
  20. Lindsay Rosenthal, 2015, https://perma.cc/CT8F-UCLT; and Francine Sherman, 2005, https://perma.cc/R7K2-CPHT.
  21. David M. Ramey, “The Social Structure of Criminalized and Medicalized School Discipline," Sociology of Education 88, 3, https://perma.cc/TNP5-97SG. 
  22. American Psychological Association (APA), Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds (Washington, DC: APA, 2014), https://perma.cc/9FAF-4MRH; Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected (New York: African American Policy Forum and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, 2015), https://perma.cc/G7VK-6R4F; and Monique Morris, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (New York: The New Press, 2016), 11.
  23. Angela Irvine, Shannan Wilber, and Aisha Canfield, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Questioning, and/or Gender Nonconforming and Transgender Girls and Boys in the California Juvenile Justice System: A Practice Guide (Oakland: Impact Justice, 2017), https://perma.cc/3L9T-TMSB.
  24. James Austin, Kelly Dedel Johnson, and Ronald Weitzer, Juvenile Justice Bulletin: Alternatives to the Secure Detention and Confinement of Juvenile Offenders (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, September 2005), https://perma.cc/ZMV9-5EW6; Christopher T. Lowenkamp and Edward J. Latessa, “Understanding the Risk Principle: How and Why Correctional Interventions Can Harm Low-Risk Offenders,” Topics in Community Corrections (2004), https://perma.cc/37GT-JYXB; and Elizabeth Seigle, Nastassia Walsh, and Josh Weber, Core Principles on Reducing Recidivism and Improving Other Outcomes for Youth in the Justice System (New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2014), https://perma.cc/Z67W-5LKC.
  25. James Austin, Kelly Dedel Johnson, and Ronald Weitzer, 2005, https://perma.cc/ZMV9-5EW6; and Edward P. Mulvey, 2011, https://perma.cc/WM59-QC4U. 
  26. Models for Change Juvenile Diversion Workgroup, Juvenile Diversion Guidebook, March 1, 2011, https://perma.cc/T69U-487N.
  27. While research shows the effect of the court experience, there is no available research on the mechanisms by which court experience affects kids. See Uberto Gatti, Amelie Petitclerc, Richard E. Tremblay, and Frank Vitaro, 2013, https://perma.cc/XMQ5-UVZA.
  28. Sarah Hockenberry and Charles Puzzenchera, 2014, https://perma.cc/8XV4-G8F9. 
  29. Christopher T. Lowenkamp and Edward J. Latessa, 2004, https://perma.cc/37GT-JYXB; and Richard A. Mendel, Maltreatment of Youth in U.S. Juvenile Corrections Facilities: An Update (Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2015), https://perma.cc/9YKH-KT85. 
  30. Barry Holman and Jason Ziedenbreg, The Dangers of Detention: The Impact of Incarcerating Youth in Detention and Other Secure Facilities (Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 2011), https://perma.cc/LPW3-FKF3; and Edward P. Mulvey, 2011, https://perma.cc/WM59-QC4U. 
  31. Justice Policy Institute, Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration, December 2014, https://perma.cc/V452-YK9H; and Richard Mendel, No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration (Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2011), 19-22, https://perma.cc/KBV7-6HYD.
  32. Ibid.
  33. Sharon Casey, 2011, https://perma.cc/L3YW-2SHZ; and Edward P. Mulvey, 2011, https://perma.cc/WM59-QC4U.
  34. Elizabeth Seigle, Nastassia Walsh, and Josh Weber, 2014, https://perma.cc/Z67W-5LKC.
  35. Rapides Parish, LA and Spokane County, WA offer two examples of jurisdictions that have successfully implemented such reforms.
  36. For more information on the importance of family as partners and on using broader definitions of family, see Ryan Shanahan and Margaret diZerega, Identifying, Engaging, and Empowering Families: A Charge for Juvenile Justice Agencies (New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2016), https://perma.cc/TYE4-RT6T.


Recommended Resources

  • Gender Injustice: System-Level Juvenile Justice Reforms for Girls, Francine Sherman and Annie Balck 
  • Guide to Status Offense Legislation across States, Juvenile Justice Geography, Policy, Practice, and Statistics 
  • Guide to the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), Act4Justice 
  • "How America Outlawed Adolescence", Amanda Ripley, The Atlantic 
  • Juvenile Court Statistics 2014, National Center for Juvenile Justice 
  • Juvenile Justice in a Developmental Framework, MacArthur Foundation 
  • Keeping Kids Out of Court: A Primer on Status Offenses (Infographic), Vera Institute of Justice 
  • National Standards for the Care of Youth Charged with Status Offenses, Coalition for Juvenile Justice 
  • Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach, National Research Council 
  • Strengthening Our Future: Key Elements to Developing a Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Diversion Program for Youth with Behavioral Health Conditions, National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice 
  • Structuring System Change: A Toolkit for Status Offense System Reform, Vera Institute of Justice 
  • Tackling Truancy (Infographic), Vera Institute of Justice 
  • The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice  
  • "Thousands of Girls Are Locked Up for Talking Back or Staying Out Late", Hannah Levintova, Mother Jones
Skipping School Can Get Kids Locked Up? Acknowledgements
Vera logo
34 35th Street
Suite 4-2A
Brooklyn, NY 11232

212-334-1300
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Events
  • Media
  • Contact Us
Keep up with us on
social media.

Transformative change, sent to your inbox.

Add your email

© Vera Institute of Justice. All rights reserved.

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • GSA Advantage