[PASSED] Protecting Imprisoned Youths

[Goobergunchia]

The World Assembly,

Noting past efforts to improve conditions experienced by prisoners,

Noting the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Further noting that imprisoned youths often face extreme neglect and mistreatment,

Hereby;

1. Defines an imprisoned youth as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of the suspicion of a crime or conviction of a crime,
2. Bans the holding of imprisoned youths with imprisoned adults for any purpose unless informed consent is given by all legal guardians of the minor, without any form of coercion, for them to meet with one or more imprisoned adults for a short period in a manner heavily supervised by prison staff,
3. Requires that all imprisoned youths;
   
   1. are provided access to education, health, and social services equivalent to that of a youth not imprisoned,
   2. are afforded access to legal counsel equivalent to that of imprisoned adults,
4. Urges member states to provide alternatives to imprisonment for youth criminals or to improve the facilities in which imprisoned youths are held.

[Jedinsto]

Draft one- Draft created

[spoiler=The Proposal]The World Assembly,

Recognizing the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons, often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Wishing to prevent such violence targeted at children by adults,

Hereby;

1. Defines an "imprisoned youth" as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of;
   
   1. The suspicion of crime or,
   2. A conviction of a crime,
2. Bans the holding of an imprisoned youth in the same area in which there are imprisoned adults.

Draft two- Changed wording of "area," created clause 3-

The World Assembly,

Recognizing the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons, often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Wishing to prevent such violence targeted at children by adults,

Hereby;

1. Defines an imprisoned youth as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of;
   
   1. The suspicion of a crime or,
   2. A conviction of a crime,
2. Bans the holding of an imprisoned youth in any position in which they may interact in any way with imprisoned individuals who have reached the age of majority and,
3. Requires that all imprisoned youths are provided access to an education and health services equivalent to that of a youth not imprisoned.

Draft three- Once again made significant changes to clause 2-

The World Assembly,

Recognizing the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons, often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Wishing to prevent such violence targeted at children by adults,

Hereby;

1. Defines an imprisoned youth as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of;
   
   1. The suspicion of a crime or,
   2. A conviction of a crime,
2. Bans the holding of imprisoned youths in the same quarters as imprisoned adults unless the informed consent of the imprisoned youth(s) is given to meet with an imprisoned adult for a short period,
3. Requires that all imprisoned youths are provided access to an education and health services equivalent to that of a youth not imprisoned.

Draft four- basically a complete overhaul of the draft-

The World Assembly,

Recognizing that protective confinement can be detrimental to a child's mental health,

Noting the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Further noting that imprisoned youths are often neglected of an education and proper health services,

Wishing to prevent such violence and mistreatment,

Hereby;

1. Defines:
   
   1. An imprisoned youth as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of the suspicion of a crime or conviction of a crime,
      
   2. Protective confinement as the imprisonment of a person with severe or total isolation from other inmates,
2. Prohibits the holding of anyone below the age of majority in protective confinement unless a permission form signed (without any form of coercion) by all legal guardians of the minor is given for the purposes of the protection of that minor from other inmates,
3. Bans the holding of imprisoned youths in the same quarters as imprisoned adults unless a form signed (without any form of coercion) by all legal guardians of the minor for them to meet (in a manner heavily supervised by the prison staff) with one or more imprisoned adults for a short period,
4. Requires that all imprisoned youths;
   
   1. are provided access to education, health, and social services to that of a youth not imprisoned,
   2. are afforded legal rights equivalent to that of imprisoned adults.

Co-authored by Greater Cesnica

Draft five- more edits and changes regarding consent and to go alongside FTP II-

The World Assembly,

Recognizing that protective confinement can be detrimental to a child's mental health,

Further recognizing past efforts to improve conditions of prisons and to regulate the use of protective confinement,

Noting the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Further noting that imprisoned youths are often neglected of an education and proper health services,

Wishing to prevent such violence and mistreatment,

Hereby;

1. Defines:
   
   1. An imprisoned youth as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of the suspicion of a crime or conviction of a crime,
      
   2. Protective confinement as the imprisonment of a person with severe or total isolation from other inmates,
2. Prohibits the holding of anyone below the age of majority in protective confinement unless done to protect the youth from the general prison population, or the youth is medically incapacitated,
3. Bans the holding of imprisoned youths in the same quarters as imprisoned adults unless a form signed (without any form of coercion) by all legal guardians of the minor for them to meet (in a manner heavily supervised by the prison staff) with one or more imprisoned adults for a short period,
4. Requires that all imprisoned youths;
   
   1. are provided access to education, health, and social services to that of a youth not imprisoned,
   2. are afforded access to legal counsel equivalent to that of imprisoned adults,
5. Urges member states to provide alternatives to imprisonment for youth criminals or to improve the facilities in which imprisoned youths are held.

Co-authored by Greater Cesnica

Draft six- Preamble cuts-

The World Assembly,

Noting past efforts to limit the use of protective confinement and improve conditions experienced by prisoners,

Noting the prevalent violence and intimidation within prisons often targeted at those younger or smaller than the aggressor,

Further noting that imprisoned youths often face extreme neglect and mistreatment,

Hereby;

1. Defines:
   
   1. An imprisoned youth as a person below the age of majority held in confinement because of the suspicion of a crime or conviction of a crime,
      
   2. Protective confinement as the imprisonment of a person with severe or total isolation from other inmates,
2. Prohibits the holding of anyone below the age of majority in protective confinement unless done to protect the youth from the general prison population, or the youth is medically incapacitated,
3. Bans the holding of imprisoned youths in the same quarters as imprisoned adults unless a form signed (without any form of coercion) by all legal guardians of the minor for them to meet (in a manner heavily supervised by the prison staff) with one or more imprisoned adults for a short period,
4. Requires that all imprisoned youths;
   
   1. are provided access to education, health, and social services to that of a youth not imprisoned,
   2. are afforded access to legal counsel equivalent to that of imprisoned adults,
5. Urges member states to provide alternatives to imprisonment for youth criminals or to improve the facilities in which imprisoned youths are held.

Co-authored by Greater Cesnica

[Boston Castle]

Just an initial thought, but why not ban the use of solitary confinement if you can find some good research that shows it's harmful to kids?

[Jedinsto]

Just an initial thought, but why not ban the use of solitary confinement if you can find some good research that shows it's harmful to kids?

I thought of some extreme situations where, say the child is an active danger to everyone, because they're insane, and incredibly violent. Basically every unreasonable holding of anyone in protective is already banned, I'm not sure if we should go any further in such an extreme case as above.

Edit: I'm still open to putting something to that effect in place, with certain exceptions, if I can find a good way to do it.

[Araraukar]

OOC: Leave your most recent draft visible in the first post of the thread. Move spoilered older drafts to your reserved post.

IC: "Does the World Assembly even allow minors to be imprisoned? That word is generally not used of cases like mental health closed wards or detention centers where the minors are kept for short period. In fact, "imprisoned" literally means "held in a prison".

[Jedinsto]

OOC: Leave your most recent draft visible in the first post of the thread. Move spoilered older drafts to your reserved post.

IC: "Does the World Assembly even allow minors to be imprisoned? That word is generally not used of cases like mental health closed wards or detention centers where the minors are kept for short period. In fact, "imprisoned" literally means "held in a prison".

OOC: Okay, I'll just put it in a box. Just wanted to make sure the note was read first.

IC: "The World Assembly has never prevented minors from being imprisoned. You bring up an interesting point in sending youths to mental hospitals against their will, this will be considered in the draft."

Edit: I decided to stay away from health services for now, since there is already extant law on patients' rights.

[Araraukar]

IC: "The World Assembly has never prevented minors from being imprisoned."

OOC: I could have sworn there was something to the effect, but too sleepy to go combing through the resolutions right now.

The child abuse ban resolution might have something relevant, and the prisoners' rights one. As off the top of my head. But yeah, sleepytime for me.

As for the note, name the spoiler with the note as READ THIS FIRST.

[Jedinsto]

IC: "The World Assembly has never prevented minors from being imprisoned."

OOC: I could have sworn there was something to the effect, but too sleepy to go combing through the resolutions right now.

The child abuse ban resolution might have something relevant, and the prisoners' rights one. As off the top of my head. But yeah, sleepytime for me.

As for the note, name the spoiler with the note as READ THIS FIRST.

For the first thing, there may be, I am not 100% sure, but from what I can remember, I seriously doubt it. For the child abuse ban, I'll look into it, the fair treatment of prisoners was already considered heavily here.

[Jedinsto]

I expanded the scope a bit, I couldn't think of any potential problems with the new clause 3.

[Niveusium]

Just an initial thought, but why not ban the use of solitary confinement if you can find some good research that shows it's harmful to kids?

I thought of some extreme situations where, say the child is an active danger to everyone, because they're insane, and incredibly violent. Basically every unreasonable holding of anyone in protective is already banned, I'm not sure if we should go any further in such an extreme case as above.

Edit: I'm still open to putting something to that effect in place, with certain exceptions, if I can find a good way to do it.

In my opinion, solitary confinement is not a proper response for kids that are actively violent. There are better ways to handle a violent kid. Tossing them into solitary confinement, which has proven to be extremely detrimental to the human brain, let alone one that is still developing, you'll just be adding fuel to the fire. I propose a ban on solitary confinement for minors here if you want to be consistent.

[Jedinsto]

I thought of some extreme situations where, say the child is an active danger to everyone, because they're insane, and incredibly violent. Basically every unreasonable holding of anyone in protective is already banned, I'm not sure if we should go any further in such an extreme case as above.

Edit: I'm still open to putting something to that effect in place, with certain exceptions, if I can find a good way to do it.

In my opinion, solitary confinement is not a proper response for kids that are actively violent. There are better ways to handle a violent kid. Tossing them into solitary confinement, which has proven to be extremely detrimental to the human brain, let alone one that is still developing, you'll just be adding fuel to the fire. I propose a ban on solitary confinement for minors here if you want to be consistent.

After thinking about this for a bit, and how I could implement it, I've decided on a course of action. If governments want to force an insane kid into mental help, it is much better handled than placing them in protective confinement under "fair treatment of prisoners." A ban on minors in solitary will be implemented tomorrow.

[Jedinsto]

That change has been made. I renumbered the clauses a little bit.

[Tinhampton]

NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT- THE DEFINITION OF PROTECTIVE CONFINEMENT IS IN FACT COPY-PASTED FROM "FAIR TREATMENT OF PRISONERS." THIS WAS DONE WITH THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION. I don't know where I need to provide necessary proof of this, so if anyone here knows, please let me know...

Ask GC if you can cite him as a co-author of your proposal? (Maowi did the same regarding Article 4 of GA#486; see also Article 1 of GA#472.)

[Jedinsto]

NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT- THE DEFINITION OF PROTECTIVE CONFINEMENT IS IN FACT COPY-PASTED FROM "FAIR TREATMENT OF PRISONERS." THIS WAS DONE WITH THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION. I don't know where I need to provide necessary proof of this, so if anyone here knows, please let me know...

Ask GC if you can cite him as a co-author of your proposal? (Maowi did the same regarding Article 4 of GA#486; see also Article 1 of GA#472.)

Thanks, will do.

[Niveusium]

Problem with clause 2. Children often cannot make informed consent. They are minors. Doesn't matter if they are able to withdraw, children often cannot make reasonable decisions without an adult. They still have legal guardians, and even providing the "informed consent" part, this can put governments under a lot of legal issues.

[Jedinsto]

Ask GC if you can cite him as a co-author of your proposal?

He gave permission, and he has been cited.

Problem with clause 2. Children often cannot make informed consent. They are minors. Doesn't matter if they are able to withdraw, children often cannot make reasonable decisions without an adult. They still have legal guardians, and even providing the "informed consent" part, this can put governments under a lot of legal issues.

I just removed "informed" and added "without any form of coercion," so this should solve that issue while keeping the effect I was going for.

[Greater Cesnica]

"I can confirm that Ambassador DuBois has my full permission to use wording from my prior World Assembly legislation."

[Araraukar]

"Why do you want to create situations where other juvenile inmates must be given the opportunity to harm, hurt or harass one in their midst? Protective confinement goes both ways; it is not only done to protect the many from the one, but also to protect the one from the many."

OOC: And if you think teenagers or even children don't "harm, hurt and harass" one another even outside of situations where they are forced to close quarters with one another and where every single one of them has some issues that warranted them being put there, then hooboy you've got a lot of reading to do...

[Jedinsto]

"I have made changes to this draft to address these concerns. Prisons will still be forced to find a better way of dealing with a violent kid, as throwing them in solitary will only make their mental health worse, and thus make them more violent. I hope the prison system will look towards a more rehabilitative standpoint in the future. Endangered youth prisoners may be put in protective for well, their own protection as long as they agree to it."

OOC: I'm well aware of the violence that goes on in juvenile detention centers. It's quite sad, honestly.

[Araraukar]

"I have made changes to this draft to address these concerns. Prisons will still be forced to find a better way of dealing with a violent kid, as throwing them in solitary will only make their mental health worse, and thus make them more violent. I hope the prison system will look towards a more rehabilitative standpoint in the future. Endangered youth prisoners may be put in protective for well, their own protection as long as they agree to it."

"But minors can't make such decisions. They are not legally competent. And you must be aware of how a youth may be intimidated by non-obvious coercion from other youths or due to more general peer pressure to take actions or make decisions that are not always good to them, even if it got them away from an abusive situation. I think you need to involve the legal guardians or leave it up to the prison staff. Or you could require juvenile detention to have social workers at hand to advocate for the protection of the harassed minors."

OOC: Why does #3 exist? You should absolutely require such meetings to he monitored. #4 definitely needs addition of social services. Also drop the "an" when you're using "services".

You might also want to guarantee the youths be afforded at the very least the same rights as adult prisoners (right to meet with a lawyer comes to mind, probably right to keep in contact with their loved ones, etc. or guarantee those rights separately)

[Jedinsto]

"I have made changes to this draft to address these concerns. Prisons will still be forced to find a better way of dealing with a violent kid, as throwing them in solitary will only make their mental health worse, and thus make them more violent. I hope the prison system will look towards a more rehabilitative standpoint in the future. Endangered youth prisoners may be put in protective for well, their own protection as long as they agree to it."

"But minors can't make such decisions. They are not legally competent. And you must be aware of how a youth may be intimidated by non-obvious coercion from other youths or due to more general peer pressure to take actions or make decisions that are not always good to them, even if it got them away from an abusive situation. I think you need to involve the legal guardians or leave it up to the prison staff. Or you could require juvenile detention to have social workers at hand to advocate for the protection of the harassed minors."

OOC: Why does #3 exist? You should absolutely require such meetings to he monitored. #4 definitely needs addition of social services. Also drop the "an" when you're using "services".

You might also want to guarantee the youths be afforded at the very least the same rights as adult prisoners (right to meet with a lawyer comes to mind, probably right to keep in contact with their loved ones, etc. or guarantee those rights separately)

"Changes have been made to leave all forms of permission to the legal guardians of the minor."

OOC: I believe you misread #3 originally, I changed the wording and added a mandate specifically to require supervision. All other suggestions have been taken, thank you!

[Jedinsto]

Combined clauses 4 and 5. Also, bump.

[Tinhampton]

"Requires that all imprisoned youths requires that all imprisoned youths are afforded legal rights equivalent to that of imprisoned adults" is not a sentence.

[Jedinsto]

No idea how I missed that, but thank you.

[COOPDAWGG]

In COOPDAWG, youth individuals will receive the help and counseling they need in substitute for going to prison. We believe that life is sometimes unfair and showing youth a path in the right direction is much better than setting their life up for trouble by placing them in prison.