An Adult Jail Is No Place For a Child

Judge Is Right to Call The Practice 'Barbaric'

A 16-year-old girl is being held as an adult in the D.C. jail for alleged involvement in a homicide.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Wendell P. Gardner Jr., quoted in a Post article ["Girl's Jailing Likely Breaks Federal Law, Judge Says," Metro, Sept. 16], called the practice of placing the girl in an adult wing of the jail "barbaric."

We agree. Jailing children is dangerous as well as counterproductive.

Federal law requires states to keep children under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court out of adult jails. But there's a loophole -- the law doesn't apply to children charged as adults.

And jail officials face a Catch-22. Separating children from adult inmates minimizes contact with people who can pose a grave physical and emotional threat to the children. But when a child is separated, he or she is often placed in isolation, which can exacerbate mental health issues and suicidal impulses.

The D.C. jail is not equipped to provide mental health or other services to children.

We believe that the District's juvenile justice agency, the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, is better able to handle detained youth, ideally at the Youth Services Center in Northeast. This is true, we believe, even for those who are charged with serious offenses -- fewer than 5 percent of all youthful offenders, according to the Justice Department.

Research conducted nationally by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice as well as by other organizations underscores our point. Such research has consistently found that:

· Placing children in adult correctional settings does not promote public safety or protect children.

· Children who are prosecuted in adult court are more likely to be rearrested, and for more serious offenses, than children in the juvenile justice system.