What Is Emerging Adult Justice?

Emerg­ing adult jus­tice focus­es on achiev­ing pos­i­tive out­comes for peo­ple ages 18 to 25 involved in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. Why focus on this age range? Nation­al­ly, peo­ple ages 18 to 25 are overrep­re­sent­ed through­out the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem and have the high­est recidi­vism rates. Too often, the jus­tice sys­tem fails to rec­og­nize or meet the devel­op­men­tal needs of this pop­u­la­tion and treats emerg­ing adults in almost the same man­ner as old­er, ful­ly mature adults.

The age of juris­dic­tion between the juve­nile and adult sys­tems has dif­fered among states over the years, but the vast major­i­ty now set it at age 18. While age 18 was once under­stood to sig­ni­fy devel­op­men­tal matu­ri­ty, recent research sug­gests that brain devel­op­ment con­tin­ues well into our 20s and that devel­op­men­tal mile­stones asso­ci­at­ed with inde­pen­dent, mature adult­hood occur well past the 18^th birth­day for younger generations.

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Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation