Advocates and other stakeholders have been working together to reduce Wyoming’s over-reliance on incarceration for juvenile offenders. As part of this effort, NCYL and the Wyoming chapter of the ACLU have issued a new report focusing on the widespread use of adult courts to prosecute children for minor offenses. The new report, “A Call to Stop Child Prosecutions in Wyoming Adult Courts,” is based on information and data about the use of adult courts in Wyoming to punish children for minor misconduct.
In addition to producing this report, NCYL has also been working with local stakeholders and others interested in juvenile justice reform to draft a model juvenile code addressing many of the problems identified in the report.
In most states, children who have not committed serious crimes are usually handled in juvenile courts that focus on rehabilitation and treatment. In Wyoming, however, most children are prosecuted as adult criminals for common adolescent behavior such as smoking in school, skateboarding in a prohibited area, or drinking alcohol at a weekend party. These children end up with criminal records that may later prevent them from getting student loans for college or securing good jobs. It is estimated that approximately 85 percent of youth in trouble in Wyoming are prosecuted in adult courts
Authors of the report, issued July 1, notes that it is impossible to achieve the comprehensive, systemic reform that Wyoming needs without eliminating the use of adult courts as the primary intervention for youthful transgressions. To this end, they call on leadership in Wyoming to make substantial changes to the court processes and laws that encourage costly child prosecutions. In addition, the report identifies the lack of uniform data collection related to adult prosecutions as a significant problem.
To compensate for the lack of data on the prosecution of juveniles in adult courts, NCYL and the ACLU spent months traveling around the state observing circuit and municipal court processes, reviewing court records, and interviewing stakeholders. Judges, prosecutors, and public defenders in six counties were interviewed, as were youth prosecuted in adult courts. Youths’ parents were also interviewed.
In addition to documenting the widespread use of criminal prosecutions for offenses such as smoking, truancy, and curfew violations, the report discloses a number of troubling legal issues that arose during the authors’ site visits. The report suggests that the criminal prosecution of status offenses inflicts cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. It also questions the legality of the routine shackling of juvenile defendants in at least one judicial district, and cites inadequate procedures for appointment of counsel.
“We hope this report inspires a dialogue about the ideal vision for youth justice in Wyoming and provokes a closer look at the need for court reform as part of the state’s efforts to improve juvenile justice,” said NCYL Senior Attorney Pat Arthur, a primary author of the report.
