OP-ED: Common Sense Leads Us Astray in Education, Juvenile Justice
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It doesn’t make sense that punitive practices can make kids worse, but they do. Zero tolerance policies should deter misbehavior at school, but they don’t.
OP-ED: Cops Crash Kids’ Pool Party, Reinforce Anger
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In a recent video all over the web, a white police officer is witnessed terrorizing a kids’ pool party in an Oscar award-winning fashion.
OP-ED: Biking While Young and Black
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Our little family rarely gets a chance for down time at home so when my son woke up on a summerlike Sunday morning with nothing on his agenda, he told me he wanted to go to the library. You’re thinking, “Wow,” right; the boy wants to spend his weekend at the library. His new fetish is manga comics. Hey — no harm there; he just finished "The Odyssey"; he's up to date for the most part on the classics. So he wants to go to the library, but he doesn’t ask me to take him; he wants to ride his bike a whopping 1.5 miles away.
OP-ED: California Measure Is Step Toward True Justice
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I believe that true justice provides everyone an equal opportunity at a second chance regardless of their past, race and socioeconomic status. SB 261 is a huge and vital step toward reforming our corrupted juvenile and criminal justice systems that will help make our nation and the world a better place.
California Bill Can End Solitary Confinement for Youth
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It is time for California to take leadership on ending the archaic, inhumane practice of solitary confinement, which the United Nations calls a form of torture.
A Few Simple Questions Can End Homelessness and Sex Trafficking Now
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Why are we waiting on the Senate? Doesn’t the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) already have a responsibility to rescue children from these nightmare conditions?
OP-ED: Trying Youth As Adults Defeats Purpose of Juvenile Justice System
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California policymakers are targeting the harmful effects of its Proposition 21 this year through pending legislation that would expand data collection and the fitness criteria process.
OP-ED: Reformers Must Be As Militant As the Purposely Ignorant
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Like the nonresponsive kids, there will always be nonresponsive adults who reject the best practices approach. They suffer from “militant ignorance,” or a conscious disregard of the truth to avoid a universal truth — that everyone sins. To acknowledge this truth is to acknowledge their own imperfection.
OP-ED: Civil Citations Are Smart Justice for Juveniles
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Research has shown that once a juvenile officially enters the criminal justice system he/she is not only more likely to re-enter it, but also less likely to finish school, go to college or become gainfully employed. How do we get and keep these young men and women on track for success?
Obey the Signs or End Up Like Me
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Seventeen years ago, at the age of 16, I sat in a juvenile hall holding cell waiting to be booked in on first-degree murder charges, three attempted murders, a gun and gang enhancement.