Much of the United States’ sentencing and imprisonment of children is a human rights violation according to international and constitutional law, and the current regulations and enforcement mechanisms further fail to support rehabilitation efforts properly. As a result, the United States continues to fail all incarcerated youth. The United States has an obligation to provide alternative rehabilitation to minors, including community-based support systems, restorative justice interventions, and holistic therapy practices.
The failing system
The United States remains the only nation in the world to permit the sentencing of minors to life in prison without the possibility of parole. While youth incarceration rates are declining worldwide, the United States has the highest youth incarceration rate of any country.
Beyond the scope of legal regulations regarding minors, the lack of oversight and accountability for penal institutions permits gross injustices and human rights violations against incarcerated youth. In August 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported unconstitutional conditions in all five Texan juvenile detention facilities, including exposure to excessive force, discrimination against those with disabilities, and failure to protect youth from sexual abuse. These conditions disproportionately impact those from marginalized groups, as 80% of these children were Black or Latino, and 65% were found to have “significant mental health issues.” This example of juvenile detention conditions is alarmingly representative of juvenile facilities across the country.
Youth imprisonment results in various kinds of harm, including but not limited to physical, emotional, psychological, economic, and social trauma. It is a significant determinant of health, resulting in higher morbidity and mortality rates than the general youth population. Neglect of physical and mental health needs, engagement in high-risk behavior, and exposure to violence and injury contribute to the disproportionate level of risk incarcerated youth experience.
Exacerbating this issue is youth imprisonment in adult facilities. While the “sight and sound separation” statute mandates a separation between children and adults, ostensibly protecting children from sexual and physical violence, the implementation often results in solitary confinement and substantial psychological harm, including anxiety, paranoia, and increased suicide risk.
According to a study conducted by Brown and MIT academics, youth incarceration resulted in significantly lower high school completion rates and higher adult recidivism rates, including for violent crimes. Not only does youth incarceration increase violence and decrease health outcomes for these children, but it continues to impact their success and well-being in adulthood.
Suppose the purpose of the penal system is to punish and prevent crime. In that case, the increased recidivism rate highlights the system’s failure of both young people and the entire nation, which relies upon the penal system for rehabilitation and protection.
Human rights implications
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), youth incarceration is a human rights violation. The UNCRC, signed by the United States in 1995, recognizes that “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.” Additionally, any detention or imprisonment of a child is allowed only “as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.” Currently, the United States is in direct violation of Articles 34, 37, and 40 through their treatment of juvenile prisoners.
While the United States has not ratified the UNCRC and, therefore, has no legal obligation to uphold these principles, as a signatory to the convention, it is obligated to refrain from acts that defeat the object of the treaty. Additionally, the United States continually asserts its commitment to advancing human rights domestically, including promoting the rights of people with disabilities, combating forms of racism, and upholding international obligations to “prevent torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The United States fails to uphold this commitment on multiple fronts. The rights of people with disabilities are continuously violated in the penal system, as highlighted in the DOJ report on Texan facilities. The disproportionate percentage of children of color who are incarcerated reflects institutional racism, and the conditions of these institutions across the country are characterized by cruel and “degrading treatment or punishment.”
The United States is further bound by the US Constitution, which the DOJ determined was violated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD). The TJJD was found to have violated the 8th Amendment and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These human rights and legal violations extend beyond Texas’ juvenile facilities and require continuous and enforceable oversight of staff conduct and facility maintenance. However, the current structure does not provide the resources and staffing necessary to conduct this oversight properly and, therefore, requires more dedicated adjustments at the federal level.
Proposals for reform
To begin to address the harms of youth incarceration, the United States must uphold its dedication to advancing human rights treaties, as stated by the US Department of State. It must take immediate action to ratify the UNCRC—noting that the United States remains the only UN member that has failed to ratify the convention—and the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
Simultaneously, the most pressing atrocities of the current youth incarceration system must be stopped. Ending this injustice would involve immediately removing all minors from adult facilities, halting the use of solitary confinement, and mandating all minors be prosecuted as children, not adults. These three practices would contribute most significantly to the alarming mental health and suicide risk rates for incarcerated youth.
Other reforms should address current harms in the youth justice system while developing new practices for future implementation.
First, programs that encourage community support over isolation, including youth mentoring and advocacy programs, would help build relationships between incarcerated young people and their mentors. This practice would facilitate increased behavioral therapy access for those in youth detention facilities, and comprehensive rehabilitation programs could connect young people with occupational and educational opportunities upon release.
Second, courts should adopt practices identifying opportunities for rehabilitation instead of incarceration. These would include holistic restorative justice interventions that address the crime and victim justice on a case-by-case basis. When applicable, implementing functional family therapy programs will help to identify and reduce risk factors for recidivism.
All these recommendations are community and behaviorally based interventions to address current human rights violations in youth incarceration and to reduce future harm. These recommendations are necessary, but only a first step—more work will be needed to ultimately eradicate youth incarceration in the United States.