Bridging justice between childhood and adulthood |
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What's In A Name?
Why the EAJP uses the term "emerging adult"
Words matter. The terms we create and choose to use to describe people are not neutral and can and should be re-evaluated over time. The EAJP wrote a piece recently published in The Imprint that explains our choice of terminology (with special thanks to the co-author and former research assistant Rachel Barkin). Below are some excerpts/highlights:
Etymologically, the term "emerging adulthood" was coined by American psychologist Jeffrey Arnett in 2000 as the period when youth do not identify as adolescents, but do not see themselves entirely as adults either. It is a period of tremendous growth and change.
The other terms often used -- "young adult, "transition-age youth," and "late adolescent" -- do not, in our opinion, provide as useful a way to invoke the distinct and ongoing developmental process experienced by youth between the ages of 18 and 25.
"A more nuanced, non-punitive vocabulary demonstrates that people within the system are multifaceted, still developing, and more than the crimes that they have committed. Embracing the term "emerging adult" in the criminal justice field opens up the opportunity for youth to be provided with the resources necessary for their transition into adulthood, desistance from crime, and most importantly, life as productive members of our society."
The article offers two caveats:
(a) "While emerging adult justice seems to be the best term for describing and shaping the practice and policy innovations recently being considered in justice systems around the country, it may not be the most effective terms to use in certain contexts. For example, a public policy advocate supporting legislation to raise the upper age range of juvenile jurisdiction from the 18th to 21st birthday may find that using the term "late adolescents" is more persuasive to legislators and, potentially, voters as well."
(b) "Also, people within this age group will have their own preferences on the terms used to describe them, and honoring those preferences will be critical to the success of this movement."
"For now, consensus is building on the terminology at the same time as this new field is growing. We have chosen "emerging adult justice" as the most appropriate fit and will watch closely to see how it all shakes out and emerges." We hope you will too.
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Seeking Community Feedback |
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Racial Justice and Abolition Democracy
A Questionnaire Informing A Special Concentration Curriculum
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The Columbia University Justice Lab's Square One team is building a curriculum on Racial Justice and Abolition Democracy with the aim of sharing it upon completion with colleges and universities, including those operating college-in-prison programs, as well as community-based organizations. The intention of creating and sharing this curriculum will be to help reimagine justice for the future and to better understand the ways systems were put in place to oppress Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.
Understanding the violence and dehumanization that comprise much of what is American racism, as well as the power of reckoning and change, requires a diversity of perspectives and experiences. We believe that input from people who are directly impacted is an invaluable part of the curriculum development process.
This is where we hope you and your networks can help us: we invite you and members of your community to answer this questionnaire. It should take less than five minutes and you can share how your communities can be better supported, what you and others want to learn, and what you think others need to learn. THANK YOU!
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Expanding Youth Justice in New York |
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Director of Youth Justice & Child Welfare at the Children's Defense Fund New York, Julia Davis and Director of Policy & Strategic Initiatives at Youth Represent, Kate Rubin, call for the creation of a new "youth adult status" for 18- to 25-year-olds in New York, in hopes that the designation could increase the use of alternatives to incarceration, limit maximum prison sentences, and allow more young people to avoid the collateral consequences and harm typically caused by an adult conviction.
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Cases Challenge No-Parole Terms for Young Adult Killers (WCVB - ABC)
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Joshua Miller, Director of both the Georgetown Pivot Program and Education for the Prisons and Justice Initiative, along with Tyrone Walker, Director of Reentry Services for the Georgetown Prisons and Justice Initiative, wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post advocating for an alternative to the current parole process in Washington D.C. The authors point to the "Second Look" legislation, which allows judges to review and reduce long or indeterminate prison sentences for offenses committed before age 25 as a useful and effective model. "A Second Look Approach reflects the true intention of parole: to be an evaluation of rehabilitation and to work toward a criminal justice system that is correctional rather than merely retributive. Punishment is - and must be - predicated on the idea that the perpetrator, like the victim, is a member of our community who will have the opportunity to be restored to full membership."
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More than 200 people are serving automatic life without parole sentences in Massachusetts for murders committed as 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds. A new court case supported by Suffolk County's former District Attorney and current United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Rachael Rollins, involves two young people eight months apart in age who were convicted of the same crime but sentenced differently because of their age at the time of the crime (one being 17-years-old and the other eighteen-years old). The Washington State Supreme Court recently held in In the Matter of Personal Restraint of Monschke that automatic life without parole sentences for crimes committed under age 21 violates the state and federal constitutions. We will be watching closely to see if Massachusetts follows Washington's lead.
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Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence
March 3 - 5, 2022
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Thematically organized around the idea of redefining possibilities and amplifying marginalized voices, participants at the biennial meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence sought to center otherwise peripheral voices as key informants for the advancement of adolescent developmental science. Of special note, members of the EAJP Developmental Framework Steering Committee, Derrell Frazier, Felipe Franco, Francis Guzman, Lael Chester, Mark Courtney, and Naoka Carey, participated in an engaging panel discussion on the opportunities, challenges, and lessons to be learned, as jurisdictions consider more developmentally appropriate models for emerging adults involved in the criminal legal system. For the first time, the EAJP shared its newly created developmental framework for justice system-involved youth.
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Neuroscience and Criminal Law Webinar
February 9, 2022
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Last month, Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center brought together the Honorable (Ret.) Jay Blitzman, Lael Chester, and Stephanie Tabashneck for a discussion on the landscape of criminal law for emerging adults in light of the 2021 SCOTUS decision in Jones v. Mississippi. Its ruling, a follow-up to the landmark 2005 Roper v. Simmons case that barred executions for crimes committed prior to the age of 18, appears to signal a shift of focus from federal constitutional cases to innovative state legislative proposals. Panelists reviewed ways in which contributions from the field of neuroscience could inform future developmentally appropriate jurisprudence for emerging adults. Watch a recording of the event and find correlating presentation materials here.
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Colorado Emerging Adult Justice Summit
October 28, 2021
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The EAJP held a virtual summit on Colorado's Youthful Offender System (YOS). The YOS was established in 1993 as a special sentencing option for individuals convicted of violent crimes under the jurisdiction, direction, and control of the state's Department of Corrections, separate from its general adult prison system. Summit participants considered ways to improve youth outcomes and increase safety and discussed such topics as respect, community engagement, physical/mental health, and employment. Read an event summary here.
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