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Juvenile offenders often suffer great injustice, dean says

By Kyeland Jackson–

A&S dean Kimberly Kempf-Leonard lectured on the injustice of the juvenile prison system Thursday, saying, “A lot of the criminal justice system is oriented towards punishment and retribution.”

She discussed the history of the juvenile system, and policies structured around it. Some policies make it harder to exit the system, such as an option to be put into the juvenile system by non-police referrals.

One policy hit close to home, as Kempf -Leonard said, “There are 23 states, Kentucky is one of them, that children as young as 7 can be arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated in adult prisons.