We call upon the Indiana legislature to reject Senate Bill 449. Twelve-year-olds do not belong in adult courts! We need to end mass incarceration, not intensify it!
Senate Bill 449, authored by Senators Erin Houchin, Michael Young, and Aaron Freeman, seeks to expand the prosecution of children as young as 12 in adult courts. Despite mandating that “young offenders” be housed in separate jails, the fact remains that the U.S. contains 5% of the total world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. In other words, one out of every four prisoners in the world is in the U.S. We need to drastically decrease that number, not increase it by adding more children!
Acknowledging that the incarceration system as it stands disproportionately targets Black, Latino, and other oppressed communities; that the waiving of children to adult courts further exacerbates existing racial disparities in prosecution and sentencing; and that the School-to Prison-Pipeline routinely funnels our most marginalized youth into the prison-industrial complex, we say no to expanded prosecutorial powers over our children! Reject SB 449!
