Here’s my conversation with Cara Drinan, law professor at Catholic University, about her book, “The War On Kids: How American Juvenile Justice Lost Its Way.” Among the topics we discussed:
- What’s wrong with the way our justice system handles cases involving juveniles?
- At what age should a teenager be treated as an adult?
- Were things different in previous generations?
- How much of this is part of the War On Drugs? How much is racial?
- What does she mean when she says in the book there is a subclass of kids in US who we have deemed expendable;
- Are judges hands’ tied by mandatory minimums, or do they have discretion? Do they use it wisely?
- What happens to these kids in adult prison, particularly when they’re in for decades?
- How unlikely is it laws will change for the better when no candidate wants to be seen as soft on crime?
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