SC juvenile prison: Several workers in black pants and blue uniform shirts hold hand-printed signs and stand in protest of poor working conditions

South Carolina Juvenile Prison Workers Walk Out In Protest

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — About two dozen correctional officers and teachers at South Carolina's beleaguered juvenile justice agency joined an impromptu walkout Friday, protesting what they describe as low staffing, poor pay and mismanagement. The walkout from the agency's Broad River Road complex in Columbia follows weeks of legislative scrutiny into the agency after an  audit released in April found an uptick in violence, a failure to maintain adequate security staffing and many other deep-rooted problems.

Police in Chicago, where homicides have soared recently, as they investigated a fatal shooting in May 2014 of a man in the 5700 block of South LaSalle Street.

A Pistol Bought in Mississippi Killed a Teen in Chicago

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Malcolm Stuckey was pulling up in a burgundy Pontiac Grand Prix to his friend’s birthday party in Chicago’s once-prosperous Englewood neighborhood when a bullet fired from a gun, bought 840 miles away in Mississippi, tore into his brain. His killing in 2014 placed the 19-year-old college student, college basketball player and museum janitor among 2,581 people shot in Chicago, which recorded 4,133 shootings in 2020. The city has counted more than 1,100 shootings already this year.

Mississippi gun trafficking: Gun Display Stands. Pistols for sale in the store.

Few Barriers Prevent Gun Trafficking from Mississippi

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The near-stagnant pace of federal gun law reform and lack of gun possession restrictions in Mississippi make it easy to get a gun in the Magnolia State — and for hundreds of them to end up on Chicago streets every year. Police stated that they don’t even bother arresting gun traffickers in some cases because weak laws reduce such arrests to petty crimes.

Immigrant children left at border: Woman with long, dark hair in red top sits at table crying with hands folded on table.

Watchdog: US Forced Deported Parents to Leave Kids Behind

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog says the Trump administration, under its practice of separating families at the border, forced migrant parents to leave the U.S. without their children, contradicting claims by officials that parents were willingly leaving them behind. 

NY mental health school budget cuts: Ypung, dark-haired girl in light blue shirt wearing mask, sits at desk with head on arms

Mental Health Cuts in Poorest New York City Schools Amid Pandemic

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As the pandemic raged across New York City in spring 2020, Jose Rivera trekked from the Bronx to Coney Island, Brooklyn to Far Rockaway, Queens, dropping off 100 computer tablets and dozens of food vouchers to public school students, including undocumented Yemenis and Bangladeshis and their families. 

South Carolina's juvenile prisons director: Sitting wearing dark suit, white shirt and glasses, South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Director Freddie Pough testifies in front of state lawmakers in Columbia, S.C.

Lawmakers Grill South Carolina’s Juvenile Prisons Director

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina legislators are pushing to replace the director of the state’s embattled juvenile prisons, who stumbled through more than three hours of questioning last week.

New Mexico Second Chance Law Fails: New Mexico State Capitol tan adobe building front exterior, Santa Fe, NM

Ban On Juvenile Life Without Parole Fails In New Mexico

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A bill that would have prohibited life sentences and mandated earlier probation eligibility for juveniles has failed to become law in New Mexico, exposing deep rifts between those seeking judicial reform and victim advocates. 

COVID19 Analysis-Record high blacks and low of white in juvenile facilities

Covid-19 Analysis: Record High of Blacks, Low of Whites in Juvenile Facilities

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The tally of Black youth detained in juvenile facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic reached a record high last January, while the same count for white youth was the second lowest since the Annie E. Casey Foundation started tracking that data. The foundation’s most recent monthly analysis showed that, as of Feb. 1, whites had spent less time in detention than Blacks, who also were incarcerated for longer periods than they’d been detained before the pandemic started. Aimed at measuring the pandemic’s impact on 144 juvenile justice systems across 33 states, the Casey Foundation survey started in March 2020. 

By its most recent count, during January 2021, there was a:

6% decline in the population of non-Latinx white youth in juvenile detention. 2% uptick in the population of Latinx youth in juvenile detention.

wi-fi Homeless shelters: Teen boy in mask wearing dark hoodie sits at table facing open laptop

Court: New York City Must Give All Homeless Shelters Wi-Fi

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New York City must finish installing Wi-Fi in shelters for homeless families and domestic violence victims by Aug. 31, according to a settlement reached this week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The order will benefit more than 11,000 homeless children living in some of the 240 family shelters across the city’s five boroughs -- which count a total of 110,000 homeless students -- who’ve struggled with remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

police: Protesters hold signs that say police-free schools now

Opinion: We Are Terrified Police in Our Schools Will Harm Us

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Every day, I walk into school greeted with silencing stares from armed police officers. They’re not facing the windows or the doors looking out for a stranger who could walk in and hurt my friends and me. Their eyes are on us, not some external threat. We walk past them silently, afraid that anything we do or say will be perceived as a “threat” that will lead to suspension, arrest or worse, physical harm. 

Our schools have normalized this fear by allowing officers to patrol our hallways and criminalize us. In my county, a police officer was celebrated for tasing a Black freshman girl three times inside her school cafeteria.