Humans Not For Sale: Federal and State Trafficking Legislation
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Sex trafficking is a global, national and local epidemic.
An 11-year-old denied making a threat and was allowed to return to school. Tennessee police arrested him anyway.
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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?
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Using Mainstream Media to Open Eyes to Human Trafficking
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Reporter Leif Coorlim traveled to Cambodia, Haiti and the Philippines to document the stories of victims of human trafficking – including girls as young as 12 who had been coerced into sex work – who remain trapped by debt and the threat of violence.
Chicago: A National Hub for Human Trafficking
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When Marelyn Garcia met the man who would become her boyfriend, little did she know he would become the trigger to her heroin addiction, and eventually her pimp, after he coerced her into working the streets to fund their addiction. Human trafficking incidents in the U.S. have been increasingly steadily, with a cumulative total of 2,515 known incidents by mid-2010.
OP-ED: Countering the Effects of Violence on Native Children
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Every path to delinquency takes a different course, but the experience of childhood trauma is as close to a common marker as you will find.
One Day Inside a Peer-led Youth Court in Staten Island
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The Staten Island Youth Court is made up of teens and provides an alternative to family or criminal court for kids age 14 to 18.
Illinois Man Sentenced As Teen to Life Without Parole Fights for Release
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CHICAGO — The Illinois Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in the case of Adolfo Davis, a prisoner sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile, who is now seeking re-sentencing. Davis had just turned 14 when he accompanied two other members of Chicago’s Gangsters Disciples to settle the score with a rival gang in a shooting that left two dead. Though Davis never fired his gun, he was charged as an accomplice and sentenced to Illinois’ mandatory minimum sentence — life without parole. That was 1990. After more than two decades in prison, Davis, now 37, is hoping for a second chance.
Federal Grant Funding for State Juvenile Programs Cut
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Juvenile Accountability Block Grants have been eliminated in the 2014 Congressional spending bill.
OP-ED: Celebrating Dr. King the Right Way
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On Martin Luther King Day, let’s not overlook the power of our daily actions both to change ourselves and to change others.