Youth In Adult Prisons: young black prisoner with back to camera in orange prison uniform looking at white wall of doors and interior windows

Human rights group urges resentencing of tens of thousands who, convicted in their teens, have spent decades behind bars

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While locked in a California prison for juveniles, Paul Bocenegra got his first shave, sprouted his first patch of chest hair and, he said, learned to fight at that facility, dubbed "gladiator school" because of its levels of violence. "I was condemned to prison to die in a cage at 17 years old," said Bocanegra, now 48, who was tried as an adult in 1992 and served 25 years of what was supposed to be a life-without-parole prison sentence.

Native American rituals: Native American relder man with long gray hair ho,ding plate of smoking dage and using eagle feather to disperse the smoke

Following Native American rituals, hoping to put youthful offenders on a straight path

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Behavioral health researchers, often, used to routinely dismiss using cultural rituals to help alter people’s actions, including as a tool to steer at-risk youth away from criminality. For the Photojournalist Alex Milan Tracy captured an Indigenous drumming circle at that state’s Tillamook Youth Correctional Facility.

Juvenile solitary: Small, brightly lit room with no windows and a metal wall urinal next to a green plastic sleeping pad in the corner on the floor.

Against changing tide, 11 states haven’t limited solitary confinement of juveniles

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“Solitary confinement tried to break my soul and whatever was left of me after my childhood trauma,” said Harlem, New York, native Guzman, now 30 and the executive director of America on Trial, a New York group that advocates for incarcerated people.

While in solitary, corrections officers sometimes refused to let him shower or made him forego being fed whenever he wasn’t at the opening of the doorway of his solitary cell when a meal arrived, added Guzman.

Uvalde families plead for languishing Texas gun bills: group of people in black shirts stand next to someone speaking at podium

Uvalde families plead for languishing Texas gun bills

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Parents whose children were killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre made sobbing pleads for stricter gun laws before legislators early Wednesday on languishing proposals that appeared headed to stall in the face of a Republican majority.

Sexual assault juvenile detention: Long, empty hallwat with cement fllor and vlorescent lighting, painted beige, lined with closed doors

Federal bureau releases new data on reported sexual assault and harassment in juvenile facilities

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“These incidents could have had multiple victims or multiple perpetrators, which could result in more persons involved than the total number of incidents,” wrote researchers, who collect that data to meet mandates of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Most of the victims were boys, who, as a group, outnumber incarcerated girls, analysts found.

Gun injury increase: Close up of a black and silver handgun lies next to a box of nearly 100 bullets on a table

Gun injuries in US surged during pandemic, CDC study shows

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For every American killed by gunfire, an estimated two or more survive, often with terrible injuries. A new government study highlights just how violent America's recent past has been by showing a surge in gunfire injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of people fatally shooting each other — and themselves -- also increased.

Jared's Heart: Headshot of Black, young adult with short black hair on field of medium blue and txt, "In Loving Memory, 7/29/1991 to 7/11/2015.

Honoring a son caught in the crossfire, Jared’s Heart aims to curb Atlanta’s gun violence

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Their nightmare started with a note the coroner left on the front door of their home while Sharmaine Brown and her husband, James, were away from home: “Call the medical examiner’s office regarding the following case number … ” Over a $30 dispute that didn’t involve him, their 23-year-old son had been killed when a gunman sprayed bullets at a weekend cookout.