“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver on Sunday delivered a scathing takedown of America’s juvenile justice system, which he slammed as an “absolute disgrace” for the way it locks up children at rates far higher than other nations ― and then treats them atrociously after doing so.
Oliver acknowledged that some of the tens of thousands of children who are put behind bars each year have created serious crimes. But many, he noted, are locked up for minor offenses, like truancy or breaking curfew.
In one shocking case, Oliver recalled, a six-year-old was reportedly arrested for picking a tulip from a yard.
Part of the problem, said Oliver, is how the system is shrouded in secrecy and therefore there’s a lack of accountability.
The juvenile justice process is like a game of Plinko because factors beyond a child’s control — like which judge they face — can lead to wildly different outcomes, he said, while youth detention facilities — which are in some cases rebranded as academies, state schools or youth centers — are often prisons in all but name.
The entire system makes “no fucking sense,” he railed.
Oliver urged a radical rethink of how youth offenders are dealt with.
Children “deserve safety, respect, protection and a chance to grow beyond their mistakes,” he added.
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