Rethinking Justice for the Youngest: Why Development Matters in Ohio's Juvenile Law

Quick Note: ATSA has released a new Policy Brief: Protecting Ohio’s Youth: A Developmentally Informed Approach to Juvenile Justice Reform. Our members flagged this case two weeks ago, and we moved quickly to synthesize the evidence for advocates, providers, and the public. If this is useful, please share the brief with colleagues, local officials, and anyone shaping the conversation.

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By Aniss Benelmouffok, Director of Public Affairs, ATSA

"What does justice look like when the accused are in elementary school?" David Gambino and Lucas Daprile pose this question in their insightful coverage of the case involving a 9-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl accused of the attempted murder and rape of an autistic girl in Ohio. 

Our members highlighted this case as it's coverage resonated with the public and it focused attention to Ohio's juvenile justice system. Local media has captured the compelling and emotional call of a parent seeking justice and accountability for her daughter. The community response has been significant; a GoFundMe campaign is nearing its $180,000 dollar goal, and a change.org petition is over 80% toward its goal of 100,000 signatures. This attention offers a unique opportunity for policy change—one that protects Ohio's youth. 

Current Ohio law prohibits transferring youth to adult court until at least the age of 14. ATSA members were alarmed by calls to lower this age in the name of accountability. This is not a loophole. There’s a reason current Ohio law draws a bright line at transferring youth to adult court at age 14 and older: development matters to due process and to public safety. 

Treatment is public safety. 

The justice system faces the extraordinary challenge of ensuring safety and providing a meaningful response when harm occurs.  Children deserve responses that cater to their developmental stage, allowing them to understand, react, and change.

   

Accountability for children isn’t adult time. It’s concrete, comprehensible, and supervised. As our policy brief states: 

When young children exhibit violent or harmful behavior, the response should be one of evaluation, treatment, and family-based intervention, not adult-style prosecution or incarceration. Harmful behavior from children often signals their own exposure to/experience of trauma that should not be negated. Holding young people accountable should mean helping them understand the impact of their actions — not subjecting them to retribution.

Justice and accountability when children cause sexual harm requires understanding, intervention, and prevention. Ohio now stands at a crossroads: it can choose to respond with fear-based policies or to adopt  reforms grounded in science and evidence. Protecting Ohio’s youth means ensuring that our laws reflect what we know about how children grow, learn, change and why they cause harm. For children to comprehend our response to their actions, development must be the foundation for holding them accountable. 

Reflecting on the ATSA 2025 Conference

By Arliss Kurtz MSW, RSW, RYT 

“United we stand. Divided we fall.” Winston Churchill 

Defined by Oxford Languages, Unity is the state of being united or joined as a whole. Equanimity is the ability to maintain mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation. These are foundations of social work and yoga practice, and values that led me to travel from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Orlando, Florida to speak at the ATSA 2025 Conference, “Year of the Changemaker.” 

I reflected on unity and equanimity often over the last year leading up to the conference. From deciding to submit a proposal, to feeling conflicted on whether I would travel to Florida after it was accepted, to listening to the opinions of others who were making their own personal decisions of whether to attend. For many, storms of unrest swirled around politics, ethical dilemmas, global unrest, and safety concerns that swelled anger, fear, disgust. 

I also felt this way. I was angry that political chaos could interfere with my ability to gather and learn with my ATSA colleagues and friends. I feared the possibilities of interrogation when crossing the border and Florida hurricanes. Disgusting news cast images of violence and humanitarian crises deepened feelings of fear and anger. 

My anger turned to determination to not allow events outside my control to interfere with my professional development or separate me from my international network. Unity. I still felt fear crossing the Canadian–US border, my jelly-like limbs and pounding heart attested to that. To not spiral in anxiety, I practiced what I preach, in therapy and yoga. Face the fear. Breathe. Relax the body to ease the mind. Visualize a positive outcome. Be carefully truthful. Be mindful of the stressors of others. Smile. Show kindness. Equanimity. In the end, I crossed the border without issue, was treated very well in Florida, witnessed only polite and friendly interactions, and was grateful for occasional rainfall that relieved the hot, sunny days. 

At the venue, I discovered I had not been alone in my pre-conference angst. As attendees reunited or met for the first time, there were hugs, smiles, and laughter as there always are, yet also apologies for the state of current political affairs that led to our collective concerns. The conference delivered as expected with cutting edge learning opportunities, fantastic culinary experiences, and warm social gatherings. The hybrid format provided opportunity for people who chose not to travel to be able to attend from the safety of their home countries. They were missed and respected for their decisions not to travel. 

Now, more than ever, it is important that those of us who do the work of assessing, treating, and preventing sexual harm, remain united and equanimous. As we anticipate the ATSA 2026 conference in Detroit, Michigan, whether we attend in-person or virtually, may we remain calm, cool, and connected through this era of the political hurricane against which we all brace, face, and manage with grace. 

Inspired by the words of Mahatma Gandhi. “be the ‘changemaker’ you wish to see in the world.”