California Should Stop Trying Kids as Adults

New Law Would Keep 14- and 15-Year-Olds in Juvenile System

Montage of young people when they were 14 or 15 years old. California tried some of the youth pictured here as adults who then spent decades in prison for a crime committed when 14 or 15, others were kept in the juvenile justice system where they received age-appropriate education and counseling, and some had no contact with the justice system at all. Those pictured are now probation chiefs, lawyers, leaders in restorative justice, county heads of nongovernmental organizations and among the authors of the report.

Futures Denied: Call to Action

Please call your California assembly member and urge them to vote “yes” on SB 1391 to keep kids out of the adult system.

Miguel carries Jesse’s letter in his wallet, a reminder that his life could have been very different. © 2018 Miguel Garcia
Odds of children being transferred from the juvenile system to adult court (2007–2016)
© 2018 Fernando Zacarias

“I got what I needed to become who I am today. Jesse was no different from me. If he had had that chance, he would have been like me.” — Miguel graduated from University of California at Riverside in June 2018 with a degree in Political Science

Please call your California assembly member and urge them to vote “yes” on SB 1391 to keep kids out of the adult system.

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