Police excessive force children: Young Black teen boy wearing blue polo shirt stands in front of red brick building leaning on metal sidewalk railings

Tiny wrists in cuffs: How police use force against children

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Kids are still an afterthought in reforms championed by lawmakers and pushed by police departments. But in case after case, an Associated Press investigation has found that children as young as 6 have been treated harshly — even brutally — by officers of the law. They've been handcuffed, felled by stun guns, taken down and pinned to the ground by officers often far larger than they were. Departments nationwide have few or no guardrails to prevent such incidents.

Opinion: California juvenile reforms should proceed, despite probation officer lobbying efforts

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As California’s juvenile probation caseloads have plummeted and annual costs of incarcerating a single youth skyrocketed to hundreds of thousands of dollars, juvenile probation departments, nevertheless, have manage to stave off severe budget cuts and layoffs. But that ride seemingly is ending as counties explore less costly alternatives to incarceration and probation.

gun violence killing teens, children: young mother holding picture of dead son

Gun violence claiming more lives of American teens, children

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Gun violence is killing an increasing number of American children, from toddlers caught in crossfires to teenagers gunned down in turf wars, drug squabbles or for posting the wrong thing on social media. Experts say idleness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shares the blame with easy access to guns and disputes that too often end with gunfire.

Returning to pre-pandemic activity raises fears of anti-Asian gun violence: photo of April vigil flowers for those killed

Opinion: Returning to pre-pandemic activity raises Asian American fears of anti-Asian gun violence

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Going on outdoor walks without a mask. Hopping on a Washington, D.C. Metro train without holding my breath. Meeting friends at restaurants and bars … Resuming those and other parts of my pre-pandemic life has been fun. It’s also been scary — and not for reasons related to COVID-19. I’m Asian American, which can make being in public dangerous. 

The FBI reported that, in 2020, the number of hate crimes targeting Asian people rose from 158 to 274, a more than 70% increase. 

Black juvenile detention Tennessee: Black and white illustration of 3 young children holding hands walking surrounded by text quotes form story and geometric forms

Black children were jailed for a crime that doesn’t exist. Almost nothing happened to the adults in charge.

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Among cases referred to juvenile court, the statewide average in Tennessee for how often children were locked up was 5%. In Rutherford County, it was 48%. Judge Donna Scott Davenport says children need consequences. “Being detained in our facility is not a picnic at all,” she says on the radio. “It’s not supposed to be. It’s a consequence for an action.”

New Mexico jail: Michael Brown portrait with short light brown hair and beard smiles into camera sitting in turquoise plastic chair in prisoner visiting room wearing navy blue prison uniform with heavily black tatooed arms on lap and fingers interlaced.

Behind bars since age 16, juvenile lifer watches New Mexico struggle over sentencing reform

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Michael is one of dozens of people in New Mexico who received what juvenile justice reformists call “de-facto life sentences” — sentences so long they will likely never be released — for crimes committed as minors. He is a vocal supporter of youth sentencing reforms that died in the state legislature earlier this year, part of a national movement to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and make them eligible for parole earlier.  

Living Redemption Youth Opportunity Hub youth, including those in the juvenile justice system, boxed up food donations to distribute in in their Harlem neighborhood.

Millions in seized money expanded Harlem youth hub’s “credible messenger” anti-violence project

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Headquartered in the upper rooms of a church on 124th Street, Living Redemption is one five such hubs that, in 2017, received $45.9 million of $250 million that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized from a drug-money laundering European bank. Decade-old Living Redemption got $10.3 million. The windfall expanded the program — even providing providing a paycheck for those mentoring messengers.

Savannah gun violence: close-up of male hands aiming a black, semi-automatic gun off-camera to right of image

Touristy Savannah’s anti-gun violence campaign launches in fits and starts, with parents of the dead taking the lead

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“It is an act of senseless violence that puts innocent families and children in danger,” said Savannah Police Chief Roy Minter, at a press conference about the two 20-somethings murdered and the six others left with wounds that weren’t life-threatening. Savannah’s gun violence has soared, according to WTOC-TV’s May 2021 analysis of Savannah Police Department data, to its highest recent level since 2016.

Savannah gun violence: Neighborhood folks gather at outdoor display tables with items for sale and a large sign with red and black text

Researcher: Trauma and grief-fueled resilience among those who lose someone to gun violence hasn’t been adequately examined

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It’s not uncommon for those traumatized by gun violence to project what outsiders might view as a kind of superwoman or superman persona — one that can melt away at any given moment — whose complexities may not be fully understood. Those who fund scientific research largely have not seen fit to examine the toll on families devastated by gun-violence deaths.