Cassie Fleming and Bianca CappelliniInternational Women’s Human Rights Clinic at the City University of New York School of Law
In each of the last five years, more than 90,000 youth were incarcerated in adult jails and prisons in the U.S. Although the practice of incarcerating youth as adults has become increasingly common in the U.S., the rest of the world views the practice as a human rights violation.
On April 5th, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a blistering critique of the United States that should be a wake-up call for Michigan, which is one of the top ten offenders in terms of youth in adult prisons. The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States which promotes respect for human rights in the Western Hemisphere.