OP-ED: ‘Unlikely’ Alliance Promotes De-incarceration of Young People
|
Closing facilities is an important step, but quality educational opportunities and adequate preparation for employment are still needed.
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
Lubow: State of JDAI ‘Robust’ But Big Challenges Lie Ahead
|
“In a word, I would say the state of the initiative is ‘robust.’ It is big and still growing."
Manhattan DA: Young Defendants Hurt by Broken Prosecution System
|
NEW YORK — In a spirited and candid discussion Tuesday morning between elected officials and researchers at a conference on incarceration reform at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said that the business model of how his office operates “does not make sense” and that it fails young, minor offenders who pile up misdemeanors until they face serious consequences in the criminal justice system.
“I think in almost in every prosecution office I know of, at least state prosecutors, as a business model we don’t make sense, because we put our youngest assistants, and not the most resources on the largest number of cases we deal with,” he said.
OP-ED: The Makings of a Good Juvenile Probation Officer
|
What happens when a probation officer begins to behave as a police officer?
OP-ED: JDAI Results: We Can Lock Up Fewer Youth and Have Safer Communities
|
JDAI shows that by using a commonsense approach to solving problems in our juvenile justice systems, we can improve public safety.
Revised JDAI Standards Call for End to Unnecessary Solitary Confinement
|
Amid growing outcry over solitary confinement of juveniles, the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation is calling for an end to the practice except as a short-term response to behavior that threatens a youth or others.
Author Nell Bernstein Talks About ‘Burning Down the House’ and Abolishing Juvenile Prisons
|
Author Nell Bernstein on the horrors of juvenile prison documented in her new book.
OP-ED: What About the Girls?
|
Adolescent girls are getting into trouble with the law at a rate much higher than their mothers' generation or even that of their older sisters.