Teen Life Sentence Unjust: Life Without Parole text overlay on white hallway lined with barred prison cells

Opinion: High Court’s Recent Juvenile Lifer Ruling is Barbaric

The U.S. Supreme Court last month affirmed that lifetime imprisonment without the possibility of parole is just punishment for Brett Jones, who was convicted in 2005 of murdering his grandfather, a tragedy that the then 15-year-old said was an act of self-defense. 

trauma: 3 men talk outside.

Youth Caught in Crosshairs of Cycles of Gun Violence. Is Anybody Listening?

Cassio Batteast, a community advocate in Jackson, recently sat down with 20 of the students in the local school district who were causing the most trouble.
Over weekly meetings, they gradually opened up to him. “I learned that 10 of the 20 had fathers who had been murdered or fathers who had murdered someone. Half,” he said.

Stressed african-american man holding his head, sitting alone on stairs with notebook and pen.

Making Sense of an Utterly Senseless World

As I try to grapple with the effects of PTSD and other effects of trauma I wanted to paint a very vivid picture of what a soul on fire looks like and feels like. Through poetry I am able to do this, so far after the actual experience of living in hell and chaos.

TV Series Brings Neighbors Together to Help Family in Crisis

Back in the fall of 2011, kids bullied Alycin Mabry so severely that her mom decided to home school the Atlanta 14-year-old. At the time, her mom Annise Mabry saw homeschooling as the shining answer the family needed. But today, Mabry says, it’s clear that their struggle was far from over. “Maybe two or three months into the online school, Ali started to become more and more isolated,” Mabry said. “I just couldn’t get her out of the room.

Lisa Thurau: Why Police Need to Understand Trauma

The girl is maybe 15 years old? She is standing in the back of a building, or maybe it’s an alley way.  She has her arms wrapped around her body and her teeth are chattering.  When the officer approaches and tells her to leave the alley way she shakes her head and refuses.  The officer moves in closer and reiterates his order to leave. Suddenly the girl is lunging at him, screaming, “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! Get away from me!”  She is pushing her hands out at him, then pointing her finger at the officer, ordering him to keep his distance.