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Children’s rights as a unifying framework to remedy our failing youth justice system

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Fig. 1: Application of a children’s rights framework to inform a pediatric response to youth justice.

Data availability

The human rights treaties analyzed for this article are publicly available and can be found on the United Nations website [https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child; https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights].

References

  1. Barnert, E. S. et al. How does incarcerating young people affect their adult health outcomes? Pediatrics 139, 2016–2624 (2017).

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  2. Human Rights for Kids, Crimes Against Humanity: The Mass Incarceration of Children in the United States. May 2023.

  3. Sayer, W., Wagner P. Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023. Prison Policy Initiative. March 2023.

  4. UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, December 16 1966. United Nations. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights.

  5. Killkelly, U. et al. Annual Report 2021. Oberstown Children Detention Campus. July 2022.

  6. UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child and General Comments, United Nations. http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the youth justice advocacy community for all of their efforts to protect and advance children’s rights.

Funding

E.B. effort was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K23DA045747) and the UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation Institute. The information, content and/or conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by NIH, the U.S. Government, or our institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Elizabeth Barnert

  2. Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Scott Henderson

  3. CEO and Founder of Human Rights for Kids, Washington, DC, USA

    James Dold

  4. Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jonathan Todres

Authors
  1. Elizabeth Barnert
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  2. Scott Henderson
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  3. James Dold
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  4. Jonathan Todres
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Contributions

E.B. and S.H. contributed to the drafting of the article. J.D. and J.T. served as conceptual experts and editors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Barnert.

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Competing interests

E.B. volunteers on the Board of Directors of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) and on the Advisory Board of Human Rights for Kids. J.D. is the Founder & CEO of Human Rights for Kids. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

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Barnert, E., Henderson, S., Dold, J. et al. Children’s rights as a unifying framework to remedy our failing youth justice system. Pediatr Res 94, 1874–1877 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-023-02752-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-023-02752-6

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