© Copyright Human Rights for Kids 2025
Millions of children have experienced human rights violations in the U.S. criminal justice system over the past 50 years. This includes the more than 32,000 children – now adults – who remain incarcerated in prisons across the country.
Nearly 80% are children of color. America incarcerates more people for crimes they committed as children than the total number of people incarcerated in 80% of the rest of the world.
The mass incarceration of children as adults is one of the largest government-sanctioned human rights abuses in the world today.
We can and must do better.
The Human Rights Abuses Children Suffer
The severe harms that children face when placed in adult jails and prisons have been well-documented. They include physical and sexual violence, solitary confinement, lack of mental health treatment, lack of educational programming, and isolation from family. These forms of child abuse are human rights abuses and frequently follow children as they age and become adults in prison.
What makes these abuses all the more tragic is the fact that they are inflicted upon the most abused and neglected children in society. Research conducted by HRFK has found that more than 70% of children tried as adults were physically and emotionally abused and nearly 40% were sexually abused prior to their incarceration. More than 80% of these youth come from broken homes where they often witnessed domestic violence (50%), substance abuse (75%), and family incarceration (70%). If you care about victimized and abused children, you must care about the youth in the justice system because that’s where they end up when every other system fails them.
Hear the stories of the abuse and neglect experienced by people incarcerated since childhood.
Publications
Disposable Children: The Prevalence of Child Abuse and Trauma Among Children Prosecuted As Adults in Maryland
This report details the results of a first-of-its-kind study on the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and childhood trauma among people incarcerated in state prisons for crimes they committed as children. Additionally, the report highlights the experiences of this population when they first entered the system and the ways the system failed to protect them as children. Finally, the report summarizes the reform efforts in Maryland, successful and unsuccessful, the legal landscape, and the work left to do to protect the human rights of children in Maryland.
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