TALLAHASSEE, April 10 (RIA Novosti) – The rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch published a report Thursday slamming the US state of Florida for practices leading to the prosecution of hundreds of children as adults even for low-level offences.
The extensive report expressed concern about “giving prosecutors full discretion to decide which children to prosecute in adult courts,” which results in lifelong consequences for the juveniles tried and possibly convicted as felons on minor offences.
The alarming implications cited in the report explain that Florida’s stance “produces higher recidivism rates for these offenders than for those who are kept in the juvenile justice system.”
The author of the report, Alba Morales, said in a press release that children in Florida cannot legally vote, drink, or buy cigarettes, “yet they can be tried as adults with no judge evaluating that decision, and branded as felons for life.”
The state’s criminal justice system supports systemic injustice, where children with limited rights and civil liberties on account of their young age face adult punishment, the report alleges.
According to organization's figures, some 60 percent of the children tried in adult court in Florida in the past two years were accused of nonviolent offenses, leaving them with a criminal record for life rather than attempting to correct their social behavior.
The report condemns Florida for refusing to recognize the capacity of children to change, concluding that children’s accountability for their actions should not come at such a harsh cost.
