In historic shift, far fewer teens face adult US courts

David Harrington spent a tense eight months in a Philadelphia jail when he was a teenager - the result of a robbery charge in 2014 that automatically sent his case to the adult court system under state law.

Only 16 at the time, he said he got into fights and spent time in isolation. He missed his sophomore year in high school and the birth of his child. He was facing five to 10 years in prison. He was on a path, he said, toward more trouble with the law.

"I think if I would have stayed in the adult system, I would have came home probably a little worse," said Harrington, now 24, who works as an advocate for young offenders. "I would have came home (after) listening to the ways on how to get better at ... certain illegal things, and I would have came home and been doing nonsense."

https://www.startribune.com/in-historic-shift-far-fewer-teens-face-adult-us-courts/600179627/