THE ISSUES
How many youth are living on our streets? What dangers do they face?
Learn the issues - from foster care to child trafficking - that impact and drive youth homelessness.
Justice System Involvement
Youth homelessness and justice system involvement intersect in various ways and, in fact, can intertwine to form a harmful downward spiral for young people. These experiences, together and separately, can traumatize a young person and negatively impact their chances for employment, education, good physical and mental health, and economic stability later in life. They also may increase the chances that a young person will repeatedly face homelessness and detention as an adult.
The U.S.-based Coalition for Juvenile Justice notes in a 2016 brief that youth homelessness and justice system involvement “are not two distinct problems. There are specific ways in which homelessness can lead to involvement with the juvenile justice system, and vice versa.” And those who are most at risk of juvenile detention are the same young people who are most at risk of homelessness: Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ youth. The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness also reported in a 2013 publication that young people experiencing homelessness are at risk of becoming involved in criminal activities, highlighting that there is also a strong link between certain types of childhood abuse and crime.
When young people leave home for whatever reason — including violence, dysfunction, or neglect — they may find themselves couch surfing, living on the streets, or lured into a situation of trafficking or exploitation. They may commit “survival crimes,” like stealing food when they’re hungry, unlawfully trespassing to take shelter in harsh weather, or staying past dark in a public park. In the U.S., for example, 74% of youth experiencing homelessness don’t know where to go to find a safe place to sleep and will sleep wherever and whenever they can.
Most young people living homeless will commit a quality of life offense, and if they can’t pay a fine, they may face arrest or even jail. When a minor runs away from home, by legal definition they already have committed a status offense, a type of offense that can only be committed by a minor. Skipping school is another example. Generally, this kind of offense is not punishable by secure detention, but there are exceptions.
Without positive intervention, the spiral of homelessness and detention can cause lasting harm to a young person whose only crime may be the fact that they have no safe place to call home. Covenant House Florida helps youth sort through their legal issues and provides a safe place where young people can grow into free and independent adults.
