Condemning even one child to 50, 60, 70 years behind bars is cruel and unusual. Do we really want to be a society that tosses out the victims of ignorance, poverty and discrimination?

According to the Dallas Morning News, over a period of years several top officials in the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) repeatedly abused juveniles in their facilities. They concealed their crimes by punishing children who tried to complain and by rewarding those who remained silent about their sexual molestation. One of the administrators even held the key to the complaint box so that he knew which of the children had tried to complain about him or the others.

Over a century ago, the U.S. Department of Justice implemented a separate system to handle the administration of justice to juveniles. This movement was guided by the belief that young people, while still responsible for their crimes, are more impressionable and less deserving of the same censure as adult offenders. Even further, studies found that juveniles possess a greater potential for change and rehabilitation. Lewis Powell, a former Supreme Court justice, recognized this potential when he stated in Eddings v. Oklahoma (1982): “’Youth’ is more than a chronological fact. It is a time and condition of life when a person may be most susceptible to influence and to psychological damage…a greater possibility exists that a minor’s character deficiencies will be reformed.”