Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/page/237/)
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 ...
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.
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.
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?
As children we often dreamed that we would become household names and be featured on television and in newspapers. And in 2009, my brother made his newspaper debut. His name would be listed in bold, mentioned several times in one setting and spoken by powerful people. It was: by the judge, the county prosecutor and the jurors.
We’ve selected the very best work of the year from our reporters, photographers, videographers and editors. We hope you enjoy it until we return on Jan. 5, 2015.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s ruthless killing of officers Rafael Ramos, a 40-year-old father of two, and Wenjian Liu, a 32-year-old newlywed, plunged the city into what one mourner described as a “dark place.”
NEW YORK — The savage killing of two police officers has done nothing to ease the tension between protesters and the city and police department they hope to reform. In fact, divisions between the two sides appear to only have deepened. And with more protests planned for New Year’s Eve, the stand-off shows no sign of letting up.
NEW YORK — It has been more than 20 years since the day Nicholas Heyward Jr. was shot by a police officer while he was playing cops and robbers as a 13-year-old with his friends in the stairwell of the Gowanus Houses in Brooklyn.
NEW YORK — Each story is unique in its own way. A phone call before work. One last football game before heading out of town. A bachelor party before a wedding. Then a call or a knock on the door and life would no longer be the same.
No adult is the same person he was when he was a teenager. In my mid-30s, I am thankful I am not the impulsive maker of bad decisions I was at 15. We all deserve the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and grow up.
“Stickup Kid” tells an ugly story. The PBS “Frontline” episode explores the world of juvenile crime, zero tolerance laws, kids in adult prisons, the psychological consequences of isolating prisoners and the ongoing challenges they face when released.