The Detrimental Effects of Juvenile Incarceration on Child Development

Every one of us has a great childhood, regardless of class, race or origin. Each of us has an awesome childhood even if there will be points in our lives where it was a total slump. But what happens when you rob a child a chance to grow and enjoy this supposedly carefree, experimental, and molding stage of development. And worse locking a child up and depriving him of his needs or getting to enjoy things a normal child does or undergo a normal childhood. There are phases, rituals, rites of passages that a child has to go through to complete his/her development whether it's socially constructed or traditional and also rewarding them with their occasional wants all interweave to a healthy if not suitably normal childhood. But in some states in the country, this is not so wherein a child can be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole or early release, even for petty crimes or being just a mere accessory.
The reason behind such irrevocable decisions is that the very same reason why they shouldn't be given such heavy sentences: they're children. State prosecutors defend that with such age it's unimaginable why they have done the act in the first place and as early now they should stop and remedy the delinquency by lashing out sentences to colossal for a child to handle and it gets more colossal as they age as they can now be charged with a sentence equivalent to an adult. This means putting a definite ultimatum on the child's future, a guaranteed life behind bars from here forward and no chance to pursue one's dreams and passion. Even with a chance of getting cheap jail call services it still puts a dent on motivation and a distorted view of the world and reality and the life they once lived is just now a figment of their past gathering dust.
They would not seek to understand or investigate the psychology, the reasons, the motives behind such case, what we see on TV is a far from what's happening in reality. The one's at court or the higher officials fail to see the capacity of the child doing the crime. Was it self-defense? Did they do the crime without knowing they have done the crime? Were they an unaware accomplice, tricked into assisting in the crime? How about if it was because of a mental dysfunction? Yes they will provide treatment but in a prison that disguises itself as a medical facility. How can they do this? The answer is that the US was the only country who abstained from signing the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives children basic civil rights and not to be treated as a second class citizen. Adult Times for Adult Crimes this is the mantra the country seems to live by and if we don't change this we are tolerating the robbing of childhoods.