Stories

Overview / The ununited state of juvenile justice in America

By Katherine Sypher and Anthony J. Wallace

As a child in the United States, justice depends on where you live, the color of your skin, which police officer arrests you, or which judge, prosecutor or probation officer happens to be involved in the case. Juvenile courts across the country processed nearly 750,000 in 2018 and about 200,000 of these were removed from home and locked away.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and two data visualizations

Employee misconduct / Employee misconduct: The abuse and mistreatment of juveniles in lockup

By Franco LaTona and Victoria Traxler

Last year in Maine, a mother settled a lawsuit for $250,000, claiming a guard knocked out her son’s teeth by bashing his face into a metal bed frame, then refused to seek dental care for him. In 2017, a Texas judge sentenced a former juvenile detention staff member to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting three male inmates. And this year, staff at Lakeside Academy, a boy’s reform school in Kalamazoo, Michigan, were charged with manslaughter for improperly restraining a teen who died of restraint asphyxia.

Mini-documentary
From inmate to foster daughter: A family grows between bars, Produced by Victoria Traxler

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Facility conditions / Aging and neglected facilities endanger some youth, critics say

By Morgan Wallace, James Wooldridge and Ike Somanas

Aging and neglected juvenile detention facilities across the nation continue to endanger some youth and hamper rehabilitation, leaving offenders in prisonlike conditions that often are cramped, unsanitary, archaic and poorly ventilated. More than 48,000 juveniles are confined on any given day in the United States, some in juvenile correctional centers that resemble jails and prisons meant for adults.

Includes archival images

Private centers / ‘I can’t breathe’: Hidden abuse in some private detention centers

By Franco LaTona and Jos Fox

In the video, Cornelius Fredericks is no match for the seven grown men piled on him. As the 16-year-old struggles to lift his left leg, one of the men immediately presses it back to the floor. They remain on top of him for nearly 12 minutes until his body is limp on the floor. One day later, he is dead. His death is the latest controversy surrounding Sequel Youth and Family Services, a for-profit company that provides rehabilitative services to kids in the juvenile justice system.

Animated explainer video
The business of private facilities, Produced by Jos Fox and Franco LaTona

Surveillance video
Cornelius Fredericks

Includes archival images and a data visualization

Policing / ‘A disjointed system’: Policing policies fuel criminalization of youth

By Kimberly Rapanut, Brody Ford, Morgan Wallace, Kelsey Collesi and Jeff Uveino

The history of police in America is a story of repeated promises to change from its gatekeepers, yet people of color, adolescents and other vulnerable populations say they continuously bear the brunt of its shortcomings.Youth in America are criminalized every day, with racial and socioeconomic disparities further increasing their likelihood of being arrested or killed by law enforcement.

Surveillance video
Isiah Murrietta-Golding

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and two data visualizations

COVID / Juvenile COVID-19 cases found in dozens of states

By Gabriela Szymanowska, Gretchen Lasso, Delia C. Johnson and Chloe Johnson

More than 1,500 incarcerated children across the country have tested positive for COVID-19 as of mid-August, according to data from a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy center. Josh Rovner, a researcher for the Sentencing Project, said many cases likely are unreported. No one in the United States was sufficiently prepared,” said Robert Morris, chairman of the board of directors for the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and two data visualizations

Racial disparities / Youth of color disproportionately represented in the justice system

By Mikhayla Hughes-Shaw, Nicole Sroka and Victoria Traxler

Teenagers and youth across the country commit the same types of crimes – carrying a weapon, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and fighting – but even as the number of incarcerated youth has declined, disparities affecting young people of color have continued to grow. This overrepresentation of minority youth is only half of the picture.

Mini-documentary
Target on my back: How youth experience racial disparities in the justice system, Produced by Victoria Traxler

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and one data visualization

Native Americans / Native youth navigate complex, contradictory jurisdictions

By Calah Schlabach, José-Ignacio Castañeda Perez, Matthew Hendley and Layne Dowdall

Generations of historical trauma and increased exposure to violence make young Native Americans more vulnerable to the complicated, often contradictory clutches of the juvenile justice system. Native children become lost in a jurisdictional web and a federal system that has no proper place for them.

Mini-documentary
Native background, non-Native rules: Isaac’s story of incarceration, Produced by Matthew Hendley, Layne Dowdall

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

School-to-prison pipeline / Forced out: Schools feed the juvenile prison population

By Daja E. Henry, Patrick Linehan, Gabriela Szymanowska, Chloe Jones and Brody Ford

Black students were suspended from school at 3½ times more often than white students during the 2018-19 school year, according to a News21 analysis of 11 sample states and New York City, which collectively serve about half of all U.S. students. Despite making up just 15% of the sample student population, Black students received 32% of the 1.6 million suspensions analyzed by News21.

Animated explainer video
More than police: How the school-to-prison pipeline really works (Brody Ford, Chloe Jones, Gabi Szymanowska)

Surveillance video
Michael Blanchette

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and three data visualizations

Disabilities / ‘Hit twice as hard’: Children with disabilities face onslaught of challenges in and out of detention

By Daja E. Henry and Kimberly Rapanut

For students who are already vulnerable to exposure to the juvenile justice system, a disability, especially when coupled up with other factors such as race or socioeconomic status, adds to their likelihood of incarceration. Despite federal protections, advocates argue that disabled students’ needs aren’t being met.

Includes archival images and virtually-photographed images

Foster care pipeline / Judged by two systems: 60% of incarcerated kids have child welfare background

By Chloe Jones, Calah Schlabach and Daja E. Henry

Already the victims of physical abuse, neglect and drug-addicted parents, children in America’s foster care systems are more likely to collide with juvenile justice authorities, according to national experts.  A total of 60% of kids in the juvenile justice system have had contact with the child welfare system.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Sexual assault / ‘It’s never OK’: Sexual abuse persists in juvenile facilities despite years of reform

By Jana Allen, Layne Dowdall, Haillie Parker and Chloe Johnson

Young people in detention are vulnerable to sexual abuse depending on gender identity, sexual orientation, the culture with a facility and previous abuse.  Data shows a decline in juvenile facility sexual assaults since 2012, but the number of incidents that go unreported make experts wonder whether enough is being done.

Includes archival images and one data visualization

Solitary / Use of solitary confinement often arbitrary and ‘all to common’

By Layne Dowdall, Jos Fox and Chloe Johnson

Isolation. Timeout. Lockdown. The hole. Solitary confinement goes by many names, and it can be employed as arbitrarily as the language used to define it.  Experts say solitary confinement or seclusion for youth can cause serious psychological, physical, and developmental harm, result in persistent mental health problems or, worse, suicide.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Youth tried as adults / ‘Super-predator’ legacy: How children end up in the adult justice system

By Delia C. Johnson and Jill Ryan

Tens of thousands of children, mostly teens, are prosecuted as adults every year, and some serve out their sentences in prisons where most of the inmates are adults. Nationally, no single organization tracks the number of young people tried and sentenced as adults because each state uses an array of  laws and variables to decide which kids should be treated as adults.

Includes archival images and three data visualizations

Darren / Released juvenile lifer learns to live after 26 years in prison

By Morgan Wallace, Ike Somanas and James Wooldridge

Darren McCracken, a 14-year-old boy sat with his back to the jury in the Gosper County courtroom and sketched in a notebook with colored pencils. He barely remembers listening during the trial. He was was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting his mother, 34-year-old Vicky Bray. “The gunshot actually surprised me,” he said.

Video diary
Diaries of re-entry: A search for purpose, Produced by Ike Somanas and James Wooldridge

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Terrence / A murder victim’s mother finds forgiveness after 27 years

By Jill Ryan

In a suburb near Austin, Texas, a very popular and athletic 13-year-old girl named Kelly Brumbelow was found dead in a pile of firewood. Her 12-year-old friend and neighbor Terrence Sampson had stabbed her 97 times in the head and face. But after 27 years, Judy Dutcher, Kelly’s mother, chose forgiveness. And Sampson, at 41, was paroled early last year.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Steps to incarceration / How thousands of jurisdictions determine a young offender’s fate

By Sorell Grow, Delia C. Johnson, Mikhayla Hughes-Shaw, Jill Ryan, Ike Somanas and Gretchen Lasso

Warren Williams and his father were watching “Survivor” in their living room one night when Williams got up, retrieved his father’s 9mm pistol and returned to shoot him twice. He as 14, tried for murder as an adult, convicted and sentenced to 20.5 years. He lived in Escambia County, where young offenders were four times as likely to be tried as adults than if their cases were tried in Miami-Dade County.

Includes archival images and three data visualizations

LGBTQ / LGBTQ youth face inconsistent, unreliable patterns of incarceration

By Molly Kruse, Braela Kwan, Abigail Hall and Jana Allen

LGBTQ youth are inconsistently protected in the juvenile justice system –– and sometimes, not at all – because of vague and inconsistent regulations.  Up to 20% of youth detained identify as LGBTQ, compared with 4% to 6% of the general youth population. The majority of LGBTQ youth in detention are kids of color. Experts say transgender and gender-nonconforming kids are especially at risk of ill-treatment.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and one data visualization

Gangs / Street love: Why kids join gangs despite the risks

By José-Ignacio Castañeda Perez, Matthew Hendley, Byron Mason II and Braela Kwan

Ruben Saldaña was 12 when he joined a gang after moving Homestead, Florida in a neighborhood he called a ghetto. By 13, he was leading his “junior gang.” Many at-risk children across the United States are exposed to a variety of factors that increase their likelihood of joining a gang, including a lack of supervision, poverty and gang-affiliated families.

Mini-documentary
Growing up gang-affiliated, Produced by Byron Mason II and Braela Kwan

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Education / Patchwork education system in juvenile centers often falls short

By Kimberly Rapanut, Patrick Linehan, Gabriela Szymanowska, Brody Ford and Kelsey Collesi

Children in the justice system face towering impediments to their legal right to education, often hindering the development of thousands of the nation’s most vulnerable and underserved students.The lack of consistent and uniform policies, along with a dearth of available data, conceal how — and if — young people learn in juvenile detention.

Mini video diaries
School in juvie: Two biscuits and a movie, Produced by Brody Ford
School in juvie: ‘I taught myself geometry’, Produced by Gabi Szymanowska
School in juvie: System of control, Produced by Brody Ford
School in juvie: A different experience, Produced by Gabi Szymanowska

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and one data visualization

Impact on families / Forgotten families: Detention causes emotional, psychological and financial burdens

By Lindsey Nichols, Michele Abercrombie, Jos Fox and Anthony Wallace

For families with incarcerated children, the burdens are overwhelming: financial, psychological and emotional. All are exacerbated by court fees and fines, travel costs and loss of employment or educational opportunities.  One in three families with imprisoned children may have to choose between buying food and court costs, according to a report by Justice for Families.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images

Mental health / Nearly three-quarters of youth behind bars suffer from mental health issues

By Lindsey Nichols, Haillie Parker and Molly Kruse

Most kids entering juvenile detention have been disadvantaged by poverty and lack of resources, and more than 70% have mental health disorders that often go unseen and untreated, experts say. But many treatment programs in the juvenile justice system often fail to address the root causes of behavior, said Stephanie Covington, co-director of the Institute for Relational Development and the Center for Gender and Justice in La Jolla, California.

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images and one data visualization

Life after incarceration / ‘A lifelong trajectory’: Three men navigate reentry after incarceration

By Sorell Grow, Jeff Uveino, Nicole Sroka and James Wooldridge

Edwin Debrow, now 41, was 12 when he was convicted of murder and locked up. In August 2019, he was released from a Texas state prison after almost 28. He spent nearly 70% of his life behind bars for a crime he committed while in middle school, but today he’s living free. More than 600,000 people are released from juvenile detention centers and prisons every year.

Video diary
Diaries of re-entry: Leaning on family, Produced by James Wooldridge

Includes archival and virtually-photographed images