Did you know?
According to the National Runaway Switchboard, in every classroom of 35 kids, 7 of them will run away before they are 18. In the U.S. there are more than 1 million homeless street kids. This number will double in the next 10 years. And nearly 35% of these kids will end up in Prison. A Justice Department study found that juveniles charged with adult crimes include some of the most vulnerable teen-agers in the county having suffered abuse and neglect as children. Yet, the criminal justice system sentences youthful offenders to violent, gang-run prisons where they will suffer more abuse. Exactly what constitutes an adult crime though? -- Palm Beach Prosecutor Barry Krischer, the state's attorney charged a 15-year-old child with a learning disability to adult jail for several weeks for stealing $2 from another student.The study also showed that the suicide rate of children in adult jails is 7.7 times higher than that of youth in juvenile detention centers. According to Childhelp, http://www.childhelpusa.org/, U.S. statistics show: 4 children die every day from abuse; every 10 seconds a report of child abuse is made; of the reported rapes of children under 12-years-old, 90% of the victims knew the perpetrator; 36.7% of all women in prison, and 14.5% of all men in prison were abused as children.