Overcriminalization — Juvenile Incarceration — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

The Quiet Rooms

“The spaces have gentle names: The reflection room. The cool-down room. The calming room. The quiet room. But shut inside them, in public schools across the state, children as young as 5 wail for their parents, scream in anger and beg to be let out. The students, most of them with disabilities, scratch the windows or tear at the padded walls. They throw their bodies against locked doors. They wet their pants. Some children spend hours inside these rooms, missing class time. Through it all, adults stay outside the door, writing down what happens.“

ProPublica Illinois

November 19, 2019

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesNovember 19, 2019ProPublica IllinoisComment

More than 30,000 children under age 10 have been arrested in the US since 2013: FBI

“Stunning annual crime statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) show that between 2013 and 2018 (the most recent year for which complete data is available), at least 30,467 children under the age of 10 were arrested in the United States. And the numbers skyrocket for children between the ages of 10 to 12 with 266,321 arrested during the same six-year time span, according to the data.“

ABC News

October 1, 2019

Juvenile Incarceration, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesOctober 1, 2019ABC NewsComment

The Office Who Arrested a 6-Year-Old Was Fired but Don't Expect Much to Change

“Meralyn Kirkland got a call last Thursday about her granddaughter, Kaia Rolle. She was told that the 6-year-old girl had been arrested at her Orlando charter school and was going to be taken to a juvenile facility. She reacted the way one might expect. “I say, ‘What do you mean she was arrested?’ ” Kirkland told WKMG. There was “an incident,” Kirkland was told. Kaia had “kicked somebody and she’s being charged.”“

The Appeal

September 24, 2019

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesSeptember 24, 2019The AppealComment

This County Criminalized Students for Bad Grades – Until Now

“Since 2001, the Riverside County, California probation department has been needlessly funneling young people struggling with grades, behavior, trauma, and mental health into the criminal justice system. This direct line to the criminal system is the product of a partnership between local school districts and the county probation department called the Youth Accountability Team (YAT). “

ACLU

July 25, 2019

Education, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesJuly 25, 2019ACLU, California, Riverside CountyComment

New Orleans Youth Crime: The Epidemic that wasn't

“However, numerous studies have shown that children charged as adults are far more likely to reoffend than those who enter the juvenile system. One 2003 study in Pennsylvania found that children charged as adults were twice as likely to be rearrested within 18 months than children charged in juvenile court.“

The Appeal

June 27, 2019

Juvenile Incarceration, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesJune 27, 2019The Appeal, New OrleansComment

Punishing Kids With Years of Debt

“Across the nation, children and teens who commit crimes are routinely ordered to pay their victims restitution for damaged property, lost wages and medical bills, leaving many saddled with a financial burden that can follow them long into adulthood. Just a half-dozen states cap these payments, which often reach into the tens of thousands of dollars, according to a Marshall Project review of five years of cases in 10 states that collect data on juvenile restitution.“

The Marshall Project

June 11, 2019

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesJune 11, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment

New Orlean's Youth Jail Faces Overcrowding Crisis as D.A. Targets Kids

“Cannizzaro, who has served in the city since 2009, frequently speaks out about what he sees as an increase in violent youth. ‘The revolving door we complain about at the adult jail has nothing on the cartoonish speed of the one spinning at Juvenile Court,’ he said in February. His office opened 735 juvenile felony cases in 2018.“

The Appeal

April 26, 2019

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesApril 26, 2019New Orleans, The AppealComment

Policing the Public Schools: How Schools Are Becoming Even More Like Prisons

“As if schooling was not already jail-like enough, adding armed police officers to the mix confirms the metaphor. In public schools across the country, police officers are increasingly present, costing taxpayers millions of dollars for a vague notion of safety. In fact, some estimates suggest that over two-thirds of high school students currently attend a school with a police officer on site.“

Foundation for Economic Education

April 16, 2019

Overcriminalization, EducationPhillip ReevesApril 16, 2019Foundation for Economic Education, FEEComment

Raising children under suspicion and criminalization

“After removing her son, police charged Headley with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child, obstructing governmental administration and trespassing. Headley was taken in handcuffs from the Brooklyn social services office. She spent five days in jail before being released and all charges were dropped. The New York City Council has since apologized to Headley.“

The Conversation

March 31, 2019

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesMarch 31, 2019The Conversation, New York CityComment

She Ran Away From Foster Care. She Ended Up in Handcuffs and Leg Irons.

“In Family Court hearings every month, the A.C.S. is quietly being granted arrest warrants to detain foster children like Nevayah, whose only transgression is leaving the agency’s care. The unusually draconian strategy has little precedent in any state’s foster care system, and it is unclear if the A.C.S. even has the authority to use such warrants under New York State law. “

New York Times

December 6, 2018

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesDecember 6, 2018New York Times, New york, Foster CareComment

“It’s a dragnet”: Denver police far more likely to cite Latino kids for violating curfew

“Doleac, the researcher, contends that even a well-intended program can be especially burdensome for low-income parents and kids who work hourly jobs. They often don’t have paid time off to deal with the court system.“

Denver Post

November 18, 2018

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesNovember 18, 2018Denver PostComment

13-Year-Olds Who Trick or Treat in Chesapeake, Virginia, Face Fines, Possible Jail Time

“These rules are turning a holiday that used to celebrate childhood independence—out they went, on their own, to get to know their neighbors, to get brave by facing the dark, to get goodies by being bold and ringing doorbells—into an orgy of adult supervision, regulation, and anxiety. The time frame gets shorter as the rules grow, all seemingly based on the idea that anyone above age 12 is a potential hooligan, anyone under age 12 is a potential victim, and any semblance of fun must be thrown out faster than a Kit Kat bar with a slightly torn wrapper.“

Reason Magazine

October 8, 2018

OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesOctober 8, 2018Reason Magazine, VirginiaComment

The Curfew Myth

"Juveniles commit crime at rates lower than men in their 40s or 50s, so 'ignoring the juvenile crime rates and continuing to enforce curfew laws makes absolutely no sense. Juveniles are not predisposed to commit crime, they don’t have to be feared'."

The Marshall Project

July 31, 2018

Report: Since Parkland School Shooting, Arrests for Texas Students Surge

"A new report from several organizations, including Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas, found that there’s been a 156 percent increase in referrals to juvenile probation for terroristic threats. The data from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department also revealed a 600 percent increase in referrals for exhibition of firearms"

Houston Public Media

July 17, 2018

How one California county is criminalizing bad grades

"The lawsuit over the YAT program speaks to broader issues that students, particularly students of color, face when it comes to discipline in schools. Collectively, this disparity fuels what has been called the “school-to-prison pipeline,” a systemic bias that civil rights advocates say pushes children and young adults of color out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system."

Vox

July 17, 2018

Education, OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018Vox, California

California County Law Enforcement Puts Kids on Probation for Bad Grades

"The YAT program was created in 2001 to identify “at-risk” youth and intervene before they got into more serious trouble. But teachers, school administrators, and law enforcement officials use the program as a form of school discipline, the lawsuit asserts."

The Appeal

July 10, 2018

Education, OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018The Appeal, California, Riverside County

Targeted: A Family and the Quest to Stop the Next School Shooter

"To protect student confidentiality, those formal threat assessments are highly secret. But one Oregon family agreed to allow an unfettered view into their case as it unfolded. The family provided documents and records of meetings with school officials and allowed a reporter into their home for extended periods over several months. They did this, they said, because they hoped making visible the experience of undergoing a threat assessment would inform the debate about how to keep students safe. What happened to their son sheds light on how the desire to thwart a shooting can have unintended consequences."

The Oregonian

June 24, 2018

The tragedy of Pennsylvania's newest prison | Opinion

"In 2011, sweeping cuts were announced to public education, general assistance, and other critical social services. Despite massive movements demanding that the state fund schools, not prison expansion, politicians refused to stop construction."

Philadelphia Inquirer

June 5, 2018

The corrosive cult of compliance in our schools

"Kayleb Moon-Robinson is a 12-year-old boy who lives in Virginia....When the school resource officer (SRO) arrived to take him to the principal’s office for disobedience, Kayleb reportedly struggled and swore. The officer allegedly slammed the boy down on a desk and handcuffed him. Kayleb is now being charged with felony assault on a police officer, and his future is very much in doubt."

Al Jazeera

April 22, 2015

Juvenile Incarceration

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