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Quick Take
When Vice President Kamala Harris was the attorney general of California in 2014, she announced a program to help young people transitioning out of the criminal justice system. She glibly referred to the 18-24 age group as “stupid,” saying people that age “make really bad decisions.” But social media posts have taken her words out of context.
Full Story
Now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, online posts have begun to focus on comments she has made in various settings over the years.
One popular video clip that’s been circulating came from a 2014 speech Harris gave at a symposium hosted by the Ford Foundation. At the time, Harris was California’s attorney general, and she was announcing a new program, “Back on Track,” aimed at reducing recidivism among young, nonviolent offenders.
Harris described it as “a new approach to criminal justice policy.” The program was based, in part, on an initiative she had implemented in 2005 as the district attorney in San Francisco. In explaining that initiative, she pointed out the difference in how young people who go to college are characterized compared with how young people in the criminal justice system are characterized.
“When I was at Howard University,” Harris said, “we were 18 through 24 and you know what we were called? College kids. But when you turn 18 and you’re in the [criminal justice] system, you are considered an adult — period — without any regard to the fact that that is the very phase of life in which we have invested billions of dollars in colleges and universities knowing that is the prime phase of life during which we mold and shape and direct someone to become a productive adult.”
Harris continued, “What’s the other thing we know about this population? And it’s a specific phase of life — remember, age is more than a chronological fact. What else do we know about this population, 18 through 24? They are stupid.” The audience laughed, and Harris continued, “That is why we put them in dormitories and they have a resident assistant! They make really bad decisions.”
She then explained how the San Francisco initiative had worked — bringing in social workers and financial literacy teachers to help direct young offenders who were leaving prison toward jobs as a way to keep them from reoffending.
But social media posts have used clips of Harris’ speech that include only the last paragraph above and highlight the phrase, “They are stupid,” suggesting that she was insulting the intelligence of that age group as a whole.
Not only do those posts take her words out of context, but they also ignore an underlying issue reflected in Harris’ remarks — brain development isn’t complete until around age 24. Young people may continue to need some guidance until then.
“The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health. “The part of the brain behind the forehead, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last parts to mature. This area is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and making good decisions.”
So, Harris may have been a little glib in her 2014 speech. But she was addressing the fact that young people who are in the criminal justice system are still developing, and she was advocating programs that would help them develop responsible skills. The posts circulating online take her words out of context and miss the larger point she was making.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Ford Foundation. “California State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on the importance of prison education.” 8 May 2014.
California Office of the Attorney General. Press release. “Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Los Angeles Recidivism Reduction Pilot Program.” 8 May 2014.
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance. “Back on Track: A Problem-Solving Reentry Court.” Sep 2009.
Sawyer, Susan, et al. “The age of adolescence.” Lancet, Child & Adolescent Health. 17 Jan 2018.
Garner, Andrew. “What’s Going On in the Teenage Brain?” American Academy of Pediatrics. Updated 27 Sep 2023.
National Institute of Mental Health. The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know. Accessed 25 Jul 2024.