Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/author/jjie-org/page/39/)
At Crossroads Juvenile Detention Center in Brooklyn, barbed wire and tall unclimbable fences enclose the housing building, basketball courts and outdoor areas, like in every jail or prison. Detention hardware and security cameras are all over the place, like in every jail or prison.
When 15-year-old Luis Cruz joined the Latin Kings in 1991, he was a child by almost any measure: He couldn’t legally drive, drop out of school or buy a beer. But was he still a child a few years later when — just months after he turned 18 — he murdered two people on the orders of gang leaders?
When a young person experiences trauma, there is no single answer regarding how that experience may impact them in their later years. Two 12-year-olds experiencing the exact same kind of trauma, for example, may have two very different responses — one crumbles and the other rises. One processes it deeply and the other suppresses it. One becomes a powerful force for change in the community and the other struggles to make their place in the world.
In July, a group of advocates from across California met in Sacramento, just blocks from the State Capitol, for the Next Generation Fellowship, a six-day leadership development and policy advocacy training for emerging community leaders. Amid differences in age, race/ethnicity and gender, each of the 15 fellows share a powerful connection: They have been directly impacted by the justice system.
The notion that a noble mission and a track record of good deeds can shield an organization and its brand from crisis is a myth.
Criticism is nothing new to people in the news business.
If you have spent more than a day gathering it, writing it, reporting it, printing it or posting it, you have experienced it. Readers need the news, but they don’t always like what they read. When they don’t like it, they let you know.
In all but 10 states, the families of children charged with crimes can be assessed fees to use attorneys appointed to represent them or billed for the cost of that representation, according to a new report.
People often talk about the art and science of fundraising. And they’re right. Raising money, especially gifts from individuals, takes a strategic mix of savvy relationship building and effective implementation of the right processes, plans and metrics. But there’s a third piece of the puzzle that we don’t talk as much about … attitude. Attitude dictates our level of confidence to engage donors, it impacts whether we approach our work with an abundance mentality or a scarcity mentality, and it infuses all the training and tools we’ve been given over the years with the organizational will to finally put them to use.
The current attempt to amend the felony murder rule in California has been a multiyear effort. This work, like all our work, was borne out of our personal experiences with clients, incarcerated individuals and family members with loved ones serving life sentences under this antiquated doctrine. This rule represented to us an injustice that deserved a remedy.
The toughest issue facing advocates working to abolish youth prisons may be what replaces them. It’s both an obstacle to change and a practical question that follows success.