I’m A Boy and I’m A Man: What Should We Do With Young Adults in the Justice System?

by Tracy Velázquez

“I'm in the middle without any plans - I'm a boy and I'm a man
I'm eighteen and I don't know what I want […]
I got a baby's brain and an old man's heart, took eighteen years to get this far
Don't always know what I'm talkin' about, feels like I'm livin' in the middle of doubt  
'cause I'm eighteen, I get confused every day – eighteen, I just don't know what to say…”  
- ‘Eighteen’ by Alice Cooper, 1970

Sometimes it takes a while for science to catch up to rock 'n' roll.

More and more research is piling up substantiating that we humans are still maturing well past the legal age of adulthood. And for young adults who experienced trauma or other significant life challenges during their childhood, the delayed maturity can be even more pronounced. This developmental reality is reflected in the behavior of young adults, particularly those under age 25. Young adults take more risks. They often don’t consider consequences. They still have a tendency, like the teenagers some of them still are, to go along with whatever their friends are doing, no matter what. 

For some, these developmental realities translate into engaging in illegal behavior.  The number of young adults who have incurred justice system involvement is substantial. According to the FBI, there were over 1.7 million arrests of 18-21 year olds and 1 million arrests of 22-24 year olds in 2011. And Department of Justice (DOJ) figures show that over 200,000 18-24 year olds were serving sentences of a year or more in state and federal prisons on December 31, 2011, with another 100,000 or more likely incarcerated in local jails. And while young adults from all backgrounds are impacted, some groups are particularly affected. The DOJ reports that young African American adults are fifteen times more likely to be in prison than their white peers, and studies of those who have aged out of the foster care system show they are over ten times more likely to report having been arrested at age 18-19 than young people in the general population. 

Here in the U.S. our justice system possesses few nuances, and the line between juvenile justice and adult criminal justice is bright. Get caught in possession of illegal drugs at 17 years and 11 months, and you likely will be adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile justice system; depending on where you live, your record will be sealed so it cannot be accessed by employers, schools, or landlords, and you may be referred to social and health services that you and your family may need.  Get caught a month later, and you may face time in prison or jail.  And the “collateral consequences” of an arrest or conviction record can affect your ability to get a job, go to school or obtain housing for the rest of your life, even though most people “age out” of engaging in illegal behavior by their late twenties.  

While some may say that this is “just the way it is,” there are serious and lasting social consequences of not addressing this issue, ranging from high rates of victimization among young adults, to increased costs to governments, to the diminished earning potential of justice-involved individuals that spills over negatively on their families and communities. A “third system” of justice for 18 – 24 year olds – one that has different characteristics and consequences than either the juvenile or adult justice systems – may be a way to improve a variety of social outcomes, including public safety, while at the same time providing young people with the supports and services some may need to get their lives on track. 

Can this be done? Absolutely. Already there are isolated programs and policies moving in this direction. Supported by the Kalamazoo (MI) Community Foundation, Kalamazoo is piloting a young adult misdemeanor diversion court which moves away from a punitive model; Douglas County, Nebraska has a similar program for 16-22 year olds arrested for non-violent felonies. Brooklyn’s Common Justice, which is supported by several private foundations, offers youth and young adults ages 16 - 24 charged with felonies an alternative justice process involving both the harmed and offending parties. Michigan, Colorado, and Florida all have “young offender” policies that provide for various degrees of alternative sanctions and increased rehabilitation. And in Europe, there are a number of countries that allow young adults to be “waived down” to the juvenile justice system or that provide different sentencing alternatives for young adults.

What is needed now is a set of principles and core practices that can be piloted in jurisdictions around the country. There’s sufficient rationale for a third system of justice, between the research on brain development showing that young adults are “different” and the costs of doing nothing compared to the potential human and fiscal benefits of new policies and practices that could improve life outcomes for young people.  Hopefully innovative policymakers and practitioners will consider a third system, or a type of “sliding scale justice” that holds those in their late teens and early twenties accountable while at the same time giving them the opportunity to mature into law-abiding, healthy and productive citizens. We all would benefit by a more effective and humane system of justice for those who are still on the cusp of adulthood--  or as Alice Cooper more lyrically put it, both “boy and man.” 

Tracy Velázquez is an independent consultant on juvenile and criminal justice issues. More information on young adult justice is available in her concept paper on this topic. Tracy can be reached at tvelazquez@mcn.net.