Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/category/ideas-and-opinions/page/19/)
While serving as a juvenile diversion officer, I had the opportunity to see how we use community service in the juvenile justice system. When I stepped into this juvenile justice role, the county attorney instructed me of some basic requirements he wanted included in the diversion contract.
Shooting deaths of children is a serious problem that needs to be addressed in this country, as does the problem of such deaths for adults. Statistics show...
Florida’s prisons are in crisis, and public safety hangs in the balance. Plagued by years of documented problems in staffing, safety, programming, health...
My name is J for all of you who don’t know me. I’m a transgender male, which means I was born as a female with the female anatomy, but transitioning into a...
As sometimes happens in places plagued by economic hardship, gun violence is also a perennial problem in Philadelphia. In 2017, there were 1,408 shooting victims...
Violence is the only major health epidemic not currently managed by health and public health methods. As a result, many areas throughout the world continue to experience unmanaged violence epidemics, including local epidemics of community violence, domestic violence, hate crimes, mass shootings, belief-inspired violence, violent recruitment and terrorism, group-on-group violence, violence between states and violence against oneself, or suicide.
Conversations about firearms have been historically entrenched in political debate with little regard for gun safety, a life-saving, nonpartisan issue. There’s a serious and immediate need for effective strategies to reduce all forms of gun violence, including mass shootings, “urban gun violence,” suicide and unintentional child shootings.
For the past 30 years, I have worked with girls and young women throughout the state of Florida, and for six years I have led the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, which is a recognized leader in the advancement of the rights of girls, young women and youth who identify as female, especially those impacted by the justice system.
The transition out of the juvenile justice system has considerable consequences for the transitioning youth, for the neighborhood into which the youth is transitioning and for society more broadly. For youth experiencing homelessness and insecure housing, that transition is particularly challenging. A recent study from Chapin Hall showed that nearly half the nation’s youth who have experienced homelessness have been involved in the justice system and that those without stable housing upon release are more likely to be rearrested.
Gun violence touches every community, but those most affected are also disproportionately exposed to poverty, poor education standards and fewer job opportunities. Firearm violence is also defined by startling racial and ethnic disparities. It is no wonder that the national sentiment has become one of frustration, a growing conviction that enough is enough.