The children of Washington, D.C., deserve better from their president. The same goes for Chicago’s children. And Los Angeles’. And Baltimore’s. And beyond.
President Donald Trump‘s claim that the National Guard is needed to control “roving mobs of wild youth” undermines decades of progress in juvenile justice, putting young people and their families at risk.
In a recent op-ed, U.S. attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro wrote of her desire to change the laws “so that if you commit any violent crime, I have jurisdiction to prosecute you where you belong — in adult court.”
Do kids belong in adult court? This rhetoric recalls the harmful “super-predator” language of the 1990s. Those fear and race-driven narratives led to the disproportionate targeting of youth in communities of color for arrest, detention, and incarceration—as well as transfer at ages as young as 10, to adult prison.
History shows that these aggressive, performative displays of “strength” end up harming the very communities they claim to protect, not to mention the legitimacy of the law enforcement agencies that used them.
The “tough on crime” and three-strike policies of the 1990s led to a generation of damage that’s taken 30 years to recover from. The argument for returning to those mass incarceration-causing policies is based in fear and disinformation.
“You tell these [victims’] families, ‘Crime has dropped,’” Pirro said in response to a journalist’s question during a news conference. Her response was a red herring.
Two things can be true at the same time: First, nobody should be the victim of a violent crime and support should be given to those victims and their loved ones. Second, we should not look at all young people in Washington, D.C., or any American city, with militarized suspicion as a result. That’s not the way to reach at-risk youth or reduce crime.
When crimes occur—and when law enforcement interacts with youth—safe and effective policing demands developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and equitable training.
At a time when cities, including Washington, D.C., and Chicago, are seeing declining overall juvenile crime rates, we have a rare opportunity to invest in what truly keeps communities safe: expanding educational opportunities, reducing childhood poverty, and ensuring young people understand their rights and responsibilities under the law.
Our work at Strategies for Youth, a national training and policy nonprofit where I’ve served on the board for six years, reveals a troubling gap: Most teenagers don’t know the basics about how to navigate encounters with police. In our Juvenile Justice Jeopardy program, which reaches youth across the country, roughly 80 percent of participants reported that at least half of what they learn is brand new to them. If we want safer, fairer communities, we must make sure every young person is equipped with this knowledge before they need it.
Training and policies for police officers that understand and account for the age and brain development of juveniles helps ensure productive and safe outcomes when interacting with them. Most police officers still lack this training. The National Guard has none.
Deploying them into this role puts both the National Guard and the communities from which they were recruited at risk, making it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs effectively.
Militarizing police also damages the local police department’s credibility and standing in the communities they serve. Progress is made in local police department practices by remaining accountable to their communities.
The city’s police department—when backed with proper training, policies, and resources—remains best positioned to safely police that city’s youth.
The Trump administration’s approach to handling youth will not make us safer. It will put our communities, and our young people, at greater risk. Our nation’s children deserve better.
Geordie McClelland is board co-chair of Strategies for Youth, a national policy and training organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dedicated to improving law enforcement and youth interactions through developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and equitable training.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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