Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/california/page/4/)
The good news: California’s arrests of youths plunged another 17% in 2018 to the lowest levels ever recorded. The bad news: An arrested youth’s odds of being formally sentenced by a juvenile or adult court (rather than receiving informal sanctions) and of being incarcerated are rising rapidly. What underlies these trends?
Leaders across the United States agonize over recent mass shootings as Americans fear more to come. Perhaps we can learn from youth in two mega-cities...
California is often viewed as having taken some of the most progressive steps toward reforming parole for people sentenced to life in prison as juveniles. But do those steps go far enough?
Youth homelessness is a tragedy, not a crime. But in cities across the country, homeless youth face civil and even criminal penalties for unavoidable human activities like standing, sitting and sleeping in the very streets where they’re trying to survive.
California is in the midst of an unprecedented shrinking of its juvenile justice system. Over the past several decades, youth arrests have fallen precipitously, driving down court and probation caseloads and emptying juvenile facilities.
I’ve argued that notions demeaning the “teenage brain,” “adolescent risk,” and “crime-prone youth” are just simplistic adult prejudices with no scientific basis that hamper understanding of the root conditions and individual situations that drive challenges affecting youth. However, youths do deserve singular considerations in the justice system.
Relly Brown was so destitute in 2016 they could not even get a room in the abandoned house on the corner of Fountain Avenue and Cherokee Avenue in Los Angeles. They had to settle for the porch.
San Francisco could be the first urban area in California to eliminate its county-run juvenile hall. This month, San Francisco supervisors introduced legislation that would outline the timeline for the facility’s closure.
The fight against youth homelessness drags on and on. It is not that the fighters are no match for a seemingly intractable issue that has haunted the nation for decades.
If people lack a sense of connection to a social issue, it is unlikely they will aid in the fight for change. For this reason, when it comes to vulnerable and underrepresented communities, the need for authentic storytelling and a platform to share their stories is heightened. It is an essential and yet, oftentimes overlooked, step in the process of reform and social change.