Massachusetts has long been recognized as a leader in juvenile justice reform. Yet, the latest findings from the Juvenile Justice Policy and Data (JJPAD) Board’s 2024 Annual Report paint a troubling picture: We are backsliding.
Americans believe law enforcement officers are trained and have policies for interacting with youth. For the most part, they have neither. What we have right now is justice by geography. Different law enforcement agencies have different levels of policies and training for encounters with young people. Massachusetts youth deserve better, and so do the police officers tasked with keeping everyone safe. The same can be said for youth and police nationwide.
The Massachusetts JJPAD numbers show the devastating and disproportionate impacts of this reality. In its latest report released in late March, the JJPAD shows that the use of physical custody for youths increased over the previous year—a 17 percent hike in pretrial detention and 7 percent bump in arrests. These increases are not related to spikes in violent crimes committed by young people; they are the result of law enforcement’s decision to arrest young people for misdemeanors—or minor offenses—instead of issuing citations, warnings, or some other informal sanction.
Race also plays a deepening and disturbing role. The JJPAD’s report showed Black youth were nearly 5.5 times more likely to be arrested compared to white youth in Massachusetts, and nearly three times more likely to be issued a summons. Overnight arrest admissions? Those went up by 13 and 16 percent for Black and Latino youth, respectively, while overnight arrest admissions for white youth decreased22 percent.
Study after study proves that even brief encounters with the system can have devastating effects on a young person’s well-being and future. Being a kid is hard, and policing kids is hard. It’s past time that we as a commonwealth take full action to turn the tides toward developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed and equitable training, and policies to ensure best outcomes when law enforcement and youth interact.
The commonwealth has worked hard to promote the use of informal and formal diversion by police, clerk magistrates, district attorneys, and judges. Diversion is especially appropriate for youth who commit low-level offenses. But the data from this report suggests that law enforcement officials are increasingly opting to go the “tough on crime” route with adolescents of color.
The state’s Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement Act, passed in December 2020, set out to achieve clear goals—establishing the nation’s first model law enforcement policies for interactions with youth. The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission continues to develop those vital policies now—juvenile operations standards required for certification of law enforcement agencies.
A clear road map exists. The Cambridge-based national policy and training nonprofit organization Strategies for Youth developed the 12 Model Law Enforcement Policies for Youth Interaction report in 2023, available to any and all law enforcement agencies. Statewide guidance on youth-specific policing policies, including guidance on race and immigration status, use of force, non-custodial interviews, and more, would help position our next generation for better outcomes.
After all, when encounters between police and youth go wrong, we all pay the price.
The JJPAD report is yet another wake-up call. It’s time for Massachusetts to lead in the name of juvenile justice, and for other states to act now as well. A pragmatic, feasible solution is within our grasp; we just need to reach for it.
Lisa Thurau is the founder and executive director of Strategies for Youth, a national policy and training organization based in Cambridge dedicated to improving law enforcement and youth interactions through developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and equitable training. Lisa has advocated for youth as an attorney for more than 20 years.
Larry E. Ellison is a retired Boston Police Department detective and former president of MAMLEO, the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, Inc.
The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.
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