Chicago’s Cease Fire Making a Difference in Lives of Youth

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Earlier this week, PBS’s Frontline aired The Interrupters, a documentary by director Steve James. James, best known perhaps for Hoop Dreams, spent a year filming in Chicago. He documented the efforts of Cease Fire, an organization that works to reduce and prevent gang violence in some of the most deadly parts of the city. The film highlights the model developed by Cease Fire. It is an approach to youth violence and crime in general that deserves more attention.

Photographer of Juvenile Detention Centers Featured on PBS NewsHour

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Watch Photographer Captures Young Faces of Juvenile Detention on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour. The PBS Newshour aired an interview Thursday with noted photographer and regular Bokeh contributor Richard Ross. For the last five years, Ross has been visiting youth detention centers across the United States, more than 300 so far, and documenting what he sees. In addition to his photographic work, part of a project he calls Juvenile-in-Justice, Ross has interviewed more than 1,000 detained youth.

Frontline: Juvenile Justice Stories

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Four kids, four crimes.  Two were treated as juveniles, two were sent to adult court.  Read their stories, then you decide. The PBS series Frontline looks at the adult vs. child debate, and talks to judges and lawyers.  They examine the scale of teen crime.  And they ask what makes a 6-year old nearly beat a baby to death.

Is the System Racially Biased?

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A number of recent surveys have shown that there are profound racial disparities in the juvenile justice system, that African-American and Hispanic youth are more likely to be tried as adults. They are more likely to receive longer sentences, they're more likely to be in locked facilities, and on and on and on, even when charged with the same offense as whites. Do you think that that's true?