S.B. 392, An Act Concerning Statements Made By Juveniles

While Connecticut has made important improvements in reducing the number of young people who are incarcerated, it has concurrently worsened racial and ethnic disparities. In 2015, 79 percent of young people who were incarcerated were kids of color, but in 2019, the proportion rose to 84 percent. Young people who are incarcerated experience widespread sexual abuse, worsened mental health outcomes, greater risk of self-harm, significant and often permanent interruption of education, and long-term damage to employment—with little to no corresponding improvement in community safety.

The ACLU-CT supports Senate Bill 392, which takes steps to protect more kids from entanglement with the criminal legal system. This bill would expand and extend protections concerning statements made to law enforcement officials by a child under eighteen, which children sixteen and under already benefit from. Widening the age to include all children under eighteen is the sensible and just thing to do, and as such, the ACLU-CT urges this Committee to support Senate Bill 392.