🚨 Philadelphia, like many other cities and states, routinely charges children as adults, incarcerating them in jails and prisons not designed for them.
This practice is harmful, inhumane, and unacceptable. Being charged as an adult makes a child 34% more likely to end up back in the system upon release.
Here’s what you need to know:
❌ Adult jails and prisons are not designed for children. The isolation, violence, and lack of appropriate care cause irreversible harm.
❌ The trauma of adult incarceration compounds the challenges children already face—challenges we as a society have failed to address.
❌ Treating children as adults ignores their capacity for growth, healing, and transformation.
Philadelphia—and cities across the country—must stop charging children as adults. We must build systems that invest in young people’s futures.
Every child deserves support, not punishment. Every child deserves love, not a cell.
It takes all of us—families, communities, schools, advocates—to demand change and stand up for our children. Their lives, their futures, and their dignity depend on it.
