Some Floridian prosecutors wake up in the morning and decide to give sixteen-year-olds permanent criminal records; others don’t. Why? I have no idea, and neither does Human Rights Watch:
Surely a civilized society could come up with a better system for deciding whether to permanently damage a child’s future than this?
Addendum: Here is HRW on young people in solitary confinement for weeks or months on end. Yes, in the United States. And here is HRW on the fact that black youths are sent to adult court at (much) higher rates than white youths who committed the same types of crimes.