Right on Crime and the Conservative Focus on Juvenile Justice

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For years, many people have considered juvenile justice reform a dyed-blue plank in the liberal platform. However, deep in the heart of the red state of Texas, one conservative organization has adopted the issue as a major policy concern heading into the 2012 election season. “The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a free-market, state-based think tank,” said Marc A. Levin, Director of the organization’s Center for Effective Justice. The Austin-based organization [texaspolicy.com], originally founded in 1989, implemented a criminal justice emphasis in 2005. In 2010, the organization began its Right On Crime campaign, which Levin considers “a national platform for reform.” Several prominent conservative politicians and analysts -- among them, Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush and William J. Bennett -- have all signed onto the campaign’s statement of principles.

Texas Under Rick Perry Makes Strides in Juvenile Justice Reform, say Advocates

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Under Gov. Rick Perry, Texas’ juvenile justice system has seen a dramatic transformation from a system plagued by a sexual abuse scandal to one of the most progressive systems in the nation, say long-time advocates in the state. Texas, one of the country’s most conservative states, succeeded in reforming the system by finding a common goal for both the left and the right, even if they took different paths to get there. “In Texas,” said Deborah Fowler, deputy director of Texas Appleseed, “we have been lucky to have a very conservative organization,” the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), “advocate for many of the same juvenile justice reforms that organizations like

Mark Levin of Right on Crime Speaks About Juvenile Justice Reform

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WASHINGTON — Mark Levin, a conservative activist for juvenile justice reform, is using a “tough and smart approach” to build coalitions between the Left and Right. Levin is Director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and his “Right on Crime” initiative brings the two sides together for an effective reform system. Listen in as he speaks with JJIE about juvenile justice reform at the Coalition for Juvenile Justice Annual Spring Conference.