Imprisoned as Teens, Speaking Out as Free Men for Change in Juvenile System
|
Incarceration can be difficult for mature adults, but it can be irreversibly traumatic for adolescents.
An 11-year-old denied making a threat and was allowed to return to school. Tennessee police arrested him anyway.
|
In late September, Torri was driving down the highway with her 11-year-old son Junior in the back seat when her phone started ringing.
It was the Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputy who worked at Junior’s middle school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Deputy Arthur Richardson asked Torri where she was. She told him she was on the way to a family birthday dinner at LongHorn Steakhouse.
“He said, ‘Is Junior with you?’” Torri recalled.
Earlier that day, Junior had been accused by other students of making a threat against the school. When Torri had come to pick him up, she’d spoken with Richardson and with administrators, who’d told her he was allowed to return to class the next day. The principal had said she would carry out an investigation then. ProPublica and WPLN are using a nickname for Junior and not including Torri’s last name at the family’s request, to prevent him from being identifiable.
When Richardson called her in the car, Torri immediately felt uneasy. He didn’t say much before hanging up, and she thought about turning around to go home. But she kept driving. When they walked into the restaurant, Torri watched as Junior happily greeted his family.
Soon her phone rang again. It was the deputy. He said he was outside in the strip mall’s parking lot and needed to talk to Junior. Torri called Junior’s stepdad, Kevin Boyer, for extra support, putting him on speaker as she went outside to talk to Richardson. She left Junior with the family, wanting to protect her son for as long as she could ...
A campus shooting spurred her political awakening. Her whole family followed.
TUCSON, Arizona — Adriana Grijalva was getting ready to head to class at the University of Arizona in the fall of 2022 when she got a text message from her cousin telling her to stay put. The cousin, who works in maintenance at the university, had watched law enforcement descend on campus and reached out to make sure she was safe. A former student had just shot a professor 11 times, killing him.
Justice organization announces new youth restorative justice partners
Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) announced October 8 that it will partner with four new communities to build new restorative youth justice diversion programs. Restorative justice includes an accountability process that identifies root causes of youth criminal actions, while providing an opportunity for healing both for the person harmed and the person who has caused harm.
A Louisiana law meant to fight teen violence is sweeping 17-year-olds arrested for lesser crimes into adult court
Louisiana is the only state to pass and then reverse Raise the Age legislation. Louisiana’s criminal justice system now treats all 17-year-olds as adults. Is reversing Raise the Age making a difference in the number of violent crimes by 18-year-olds?
More Headlines
Texas prisons and jails are recruiting more teenagers to shore up guard shortage
5 things to know about how the Parkland shooter’s life was spared
School violence: Mapping incidents in Georgia
As California Concert Tour Ends, Local Work on SchoolsNotPrisons Continues
|
SchoolsNotPrisons, an 11-stop music and arts tour focused on both increasing spending for education and breaking the school-to-prison pipeline in California, wraps up in Stockton, California, on Friday.
Why Asking ‘Where’ Matters When Working with Youth Exposed to Violence
|
The data seem to indicate that youth who are exposed to violence across multiple settings are likely to have few, if any, locations in which they feel safe from violence. Aggressive and violent conduct for these youth may be a manifestation of their trauma.
Understanding the extent of ETV and how violence affects these youth is necessary to target the appropriate population with the appropriate level of care.
Louisiana Bars Virtual Life Sentences for Juveniles
|
One more state court has decided that the equivalent of a life sentence without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional for juvenile offenders.
Next Administration Needs to Close Youth Prisons, Experts Say
|
The next presidential administration should build on the momentum researchers, advocates and policymakers have created to close youth prisons, experts say.
It’s Time to Stop Funneling Youth of Color Into Criminal Court
|
Lawful but awful. This is the phrase that is now commonly used to describe the deadly shootings committed by the police against people of color.
Advocates Working to End Harsh School Discipline That Leads to Dropping Out, Jail
|
Activists concerned about disciplinary policies that force students out of school and into the justice system will gather in cities across the country this week to make their case for reform.
Book Review: Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
|
“Though media and advocacy efforts have largely focused on the extreme and intolerable abuse cases involving Black boys,” begins Monique W. Morris in the introduction to her recently published book, “a growing number of cases involving Black girls have surfaced to reveal what many of us have known for centuries: Black girls are also directly impacted by criminalizing policies and practices that render them vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, dehumanization, and, under the worst circumstances, death.”