JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It was drizzling steadily on June 6 when one of the largest civil rights protests in Jacksonville history began amassing in front of the courthouse. The rain stopped by the time protesters took to the streets, flanked by peacekeepers and organizers with bullhorns leading chants of “Hey hey, ho ho, racist cops have got to go,” “No justice, no peace” and the like. Organizers say up to an estimated 10,000 people marched for racial equality and police reform that day. The crowd skewed young, but all ages were represented; demographics ran the gamut.
In mid-March, everything changed because of COVID-19. One mom said her life changed in 24 hours. Her teenage son had been arraigned for his first offense. He was in detention, though not found guilty, with no option to be heard in court. The schools had closed, daycare closed and the juvenile courts were closed.
The past five months are a window into what several juvenile justice experts say could be next: a long-overdue remodeling of the juvenile justice system that could include reforms in youth detention centers and family courts. Those experts are calling for a smaller juvenile justice system and a shift in the role of probation officers from punishment toward mentorship. Avik Das, director and chief probation officer in Cook County, Illinois’ juvenile justice system, said the youth justice system should be a “last-resort” option for high-risk youth. “I believe my home court, the oldest juvenile court in the nation, is being called on to reinvent itself,” he said. “Otherwise it is at risk of being declared obsolete at best.
Fresh shell casings are still scattered in the streets. Multiple sets of dice are still rolling like rocks in an avalanche. Bottles of liquor are still wet. Broken hearts with painful memories of gunshot victims remain fresh. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, the hood is still the hood.
The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice convened critically important virtual conferences with juvenile justice leaders and practitioners in late June to start in King County (Seattle) and advance in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) our collaborative partnerships to address youth justice transformation on behalf of the youth and communities in those jurisdictions. Among other positive outcomes, these partnerships will provide excellent opportunities to measurably affect the over-representation of minority children and youth through real policy, practice and systemic change. During the pandemic, we have initiated or continued our dynamic, field-based, system transformation partnerships with 15 additional state or county jurisdictions across the United States and the territory of Guam — and we are making a real difference on behalf of youth, families and their communities. These include: Milwaukee County, Wis.; Cobb County, Ga.; Dutchess County, N.Y.; Clark County, Nev. (Las Vegas); and, Lancaster County, Neb.
CORTLAND, N.Y. — As the Black Lives Matter movement here looks to turn its public support into political momentum, local libertarians are making a late push to align themselves with the movement that nationally was sparked by youth activism. The Libertarian Party in Cortland County — or the group of people trying to form it — has been slow to publicize its support for Black Lives Matter. At the center of this is state Assembly candidate Matthew McIntyre, who has actively reached out to the leaders of Black Lives Matter organizers in Cortland. He sees systemic police brutality against Black residents as a product of government overreach, the free market as an avenue for leveling the playing field and recent Black Lives Matters protests cut from the same cloth as “Reopen New York” protests, which Libertarians supported.
Many libertarians, including McIntyre, advocate for the decriminalization of nonviolent, victimless drug offenses and an end to the war on drugs. They also call for less government regulation on business, particularly business licensing.
Black Lives Matter organizers here are concerned about whether the libertarian support will be genuine in the long term, after the spotlight on protests and police reforms dims. Melissa Kiser and Steve Williams, two organizers of Black Lives Matter in Cortland, have spent the past few weeks educating themselves on libertarianism, how their views align and if a partnership will result in what Williams calls “piggyback protesting” — when movements and organizations use momentum from Black Lives Matter to advance their own agendas.
It’s a concern that national leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have about the Democratic Party.
NEW YORK — The Surrogate's Court in Lower Manhattan received a fresh coat of paint — albeit an unprompted one, after graffiti, as colorful in its language as it was in its incandescence, was scrawled across the building by anti-police protesters. Nearby, an elevator shaft for the City Hall 4/5/6 train was covered in scraps of cardboard etched with messages memorializing the lives of Black Americans killed by police. Demonstrators had encamped in the area around City Hall for days while inside city officials dealt with one of the most significant political issues of their time — how to effect massive reforms to the nation's largest police department without sacrificing public safety. The solution from city leaders, much to the consternation of some protesters who envisioned a wholesale removal of police altogether, has been to enact a massive shift in funding away from the New York Police Department (NYPD), to the tune of nearly $1 billion, and reinvest it into communities of color. After midnight this morning the City Council voted on a budget that includes deep cuts to NYPD personnel and shifts millions to other city agencies.
NEW YORK — After weeks of protest across New York, state and local elected officials are still scrambling to develop plans to divert funding from police departments, and deciding to reallocate the funds toward youth-based social services.
On Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order stating funding will be withheld if any local police department — including the New York Police Department — does not implement plans that reinvent and modernize police strategies and programs based on community input, the statement said. In a joint statement released late Friday afternoon, New York City Council leaders, including the co-chairs of the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus and Speaker Corey Johnson, announced their intentions to “cut over $1 billion dollars, including reducing uniform headcount through attrition, cutting overtime, shifting responsibilities away from the NYPD, finding efficiencies and savings in OTPS [Other Than Personal Service, or nonsalary] spending, and lowering associated fringe expenses.”
Johnson had indicated his willingness to support reforms earlier in the week, and expressed frustration that initial budget cuts forced by coronavirus were not sufficient. “As we have said, a less than one percent cut to the NYPD and a 32% cut to Department of Youth and Community Development is not representative of our values and the City Council will not approve a budget that fails to significantly reduce the NYPD budget and start us on a path to bringing structural change and transformational reforms to the police department,” a statement from Johnson’s office said Wednesday. Reallocating the funding is expected to produce a raucous debate among city officials, no matter how much money is taken from the department, with no clear sense of where the money should go. In a statement, the president of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) predicted that if the city moved forward with its plan to cut funding, crime could increase as a result.
“For decades, every time a city agency failed at its task, the city’s answer was to take the job away and give it to the NYPD.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Pressure is mounting on city lawmakers to change how the Syracuse Police Department operates: The state passed two sets of state-mandated police reforms this week that Syracuse will implement. A still-unresolved contract between the city and the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association will likely head to arbitration. Protest organizers have vowed to march across the city for 40 days, part of the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd.
On Friday afternoon, day 14 of the protests, another group mounted its pressure. Organizing under the name Cuse Youth Black Lives Matter (CuseYouthBLM), a set of 10 organizers from a local high school had pushed three specific demands from city hall. One would give the Citizens Review Board power by reforming its structure; another would increase transparency in SPD’s new officer hiring process.