A New Jersey law that allows prosecutors to unilaterally decide whether children are tried as adults is causing devastating harm, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The law disproportionately affects children of color, yields arbitrary geographic disparities, and prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation. New Jersey lawmakers should end this harmful practice and put in place meaningful judicial oversight to ensure fairer outcomes for children.
The 61-page report, "Kids You Throw Away: New Jersey's Indiscriminate Prosecution of Children as Adults," reveals that prosecutors have near-total discretion to decide whether a child is tried as a child or an adult, known as a "waiver decision," and leads to vastly different outcomes depending on geography and with stark racial disparities. Judges can only intervene if they find that a prosecutor has abused their discretion, a virtually impossible standard to meet. This leaves children vulnerable to arbitrary life-altering decisions, with little to no oversight or recourse.
"With its abusive and arbitrary waiver law, New Jersey has turned its back on the fundamental duty to protect its children," said Amanda Leavell, children's rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "This law doesn't just harm children, it harms their entire communities. Prosecuting children as adults strips them of the rehabilitative support they need and fuels cycles of incarceration and recidivism that New Jersey's neighborhoods ultimately pay for."
New Jersey's practice of prosecuting children as adults also exacerbates the state's ongoing detention center crisis in which pretrial detention facilities across the state are either at capacity or severely understaffed and struggling to accommodate detained youth. While this crisis has garnered widespread attention, officials have overlooked the fact that New Jersey's reliance on waiver decisions has made the situation worse. Youth facing adult prosecution spend significantly longer time in pretrial detention due to lengthy hearings and the reset of trial timelines when their cases are transferred to adult court.
Human Rights Watch interviewed over 80 youth, family members, and advocates, and reviewed court documents, detention center records, and sentencing data. The findings reveal that youth transferred to the adult system often languish in pretrial detention for extended periods.
One young person said they spent nearly two years in detention awaiting trial: "The worst feeling in the world is when they tell you 'remanded'-that you have to go back to that [detention] cell until your next court appearance."
"Tough on crime" adherents assert that adult prison terms are needed for children who commit serious crimes. This claim is unfounded in New Jersey, however, where youth in the state's juvenile system can receive very long sentences, including up to 20 years for first-degree murder, with additional time added for extended terms and consecutive sentencing, similar to adult sentences. The difference is that the juvenile system has the capacity to handle cases involving serious crimes while maintaining a framework designed to rehabilitate rather than merely punish.
"New Jersey gains no benefit from sending youth to the adult system," Laura Cohen, a Rutgers law professor and youth justice expert told Human Rights Watch. "Waiver harms children in innumerable ways and undermines, rather than protects, public safety. The practices described in this report endanger our youth and our communities and must change."
Under international human rights law, children should only be detained as a last resort and for the shortest possible time. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the United States has signed but not ratified, provides clear guidance that children should be treated in a manner that promotes their reintegration and secures accountability within a framework appropriate to their age. New Jersey's waiver practice runs counter to these principles by subjecting children to prolonged detention and adult penalties.
"New Jersey's prosecutorial waiver process fails its children and defies international standards," Leavell said. "Lawmakers should restore judicial oversight and ensure that all children in New Jersey are given a fair chance at rehabilitation and accountability within an age-appropriate system designed to protect their future, not destroy it."
