Protecting America’s Children: Why an Executive Order Banning Juvenile Solitary Confinement Is Not Enough

Abstract

This Comment posits that solitary confinement of juveniles within United States correctional facilities violates the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause, and, as such, President Obama's recent Executive Order banning juvenile solitary confinement is simply not a powerful enough solution. Part II discusses how broadly and to what degree solitary confinement is used in juvenile correctional facilities across the United States. Part III addresses President Barrack Obama's executive order banning juvenile solitary confinement in federal prisons, the nature of presidential unilateral action, and why his executive order must be paired with Congressional legislation or Supreme Court jurisprudence to have a lasting effect. Part IV then details the Supreme Court's two-part tests which must be satisfied in order to establish an Eighth Amendment violation. Additionally, Part IV relates the current case law and public policy considerations that support Eighth Amendment protection of juveniles from solitary confinement. Next, Part V posits that juvenile isolation is deserving of Eighth Amendment protection under the Constitution because of its devastating psychological, physical, and developmental effects on juveniles. Finally, Part VI explains the positive impact that would result from Eighth Amendment protection against juvenile solitary confinement, including bringing the United States in compliance with the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, both of which the U.S. is currently in violation.