By Ashley Smith-Juarez, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 2, 2020

As a society, we owe a special commitment to youth in custody. Incarceration of any kind causes very real trauma and doing so at a time when young people are growing and learning only compounds the trauma. Our juvenile justice system must seek not to punish, but to support these children’s social, emotional and educational development. 

In normal circumstances, our national juvenile justice system does not always serve these children properly. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we are failing our community’s children.

With the current health restrictions around the pandemic, youth in custody have extremely limited or no in-person visitation from family and friends. They’re also increasingly isolated from their peers and staff inside secure facilities to protect their physical health. While this isolation follows guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in facilities that are highly susceptible to outbreaks, it also has serious negative consequences for these children’s mental health and wellbeing.

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