On child detainees

I am writing to express my support for the Coalition to Stop Child Detention through Restorative Justice.

The Coalition, according to reports that I have been reading in your newspaper, seeks to stop the jailing of young children for petty and victimless crimes.

Around the world, everyone understands that putting children in the company of serious criminal only serves, at best, to turn the children into hardened criminals. At worst, the children are raped, otherwise traumatized, or die.

Restorative Justice, a philosophy that seeks to hold criminals accountable for their behavior while repairing the harm done by crime is a preferable approach to the punitive practice of jailing your children. - THOMAS RUSSELL,

 trussell@law.du.edu