06
Mar
0
OP-ED: We Can Do More to Ensure Equitable Treatment of LGBTQ Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
By Marie Williams, JD, Executive Director, Coalition for Juvenile Justice & Ellen Khan, M.S.S., Director, Children, Youth and Families Program, Human Rights Campaign
We need to do a much better job ensuring that teens who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) are treated equitably by the juvenile justice system. A report from the Equity Project, tells us that LGBTQ youth are more likely than their heterosexual peers to be placed in a juvenile detention facility. Additionally, Dr. Angela Irvine has found that LGBTQ youth are detained at nearly double the rate of heterosexual teens for status offenses, like skipping school and running away from home. Status offenses are behaviors that constitute a crime merely because the person who engaged in them is not an adult.
