Abstract
The use and recruitment of child soldiers in situations of armed conflict has been widely documented over the past century, discussed in the media and in academia, and condemned by prominent members of the international community. Beginning in the 20th century, international legal frameworks were developed to protect children in vulnerable communities across the globe and punish those responsible for their recruitment in regions of armed conflict. While the international community and the United States have taken great strides to protect children from recruitment and militarization, the United States lacks any effective domestic laws to protect vulnerable children on American soil. At this moment, there is no legal framework in the United States to protect children from recruitment into criminal street gangs. This Note analyzes the approaches taken by the United States and the international community in establishing legal frameworks to combat the child soldier problem, in an attempt to introduce a similar approach to the problem of juvenile gang recruitment in the United States. Specifically, this Note proposes that the United States adopt comprehensive legislation to criminalize the recruitment of minors into gangs, using the Child Soldiers Accountability Act and the existing international response to the use of child soldiers as a blueprint.
Recommended Citation
Chandler Marshall,
A PSA on the CSAA: How the Child Soldiers Accountability Act Should Guide the United States’ Approach to Criminalizing the Recruitment of Minors into Gangs,
30 Wash. & Lee J. Civ. Rts. & Soc. Just. 529
(2024).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol30/iss2/14
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