Nationally, on any given night, approximately 81,000 youth are confined to juvenile facilities and 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons. Approximately 1 in 10 young male high school dropouts is incarcerated or in juvenile detention. For African Americans, that number is 1 in 4. Research shows that just over two million youth under the age of 18 were arrested in 2008. Of these two million, about 95 percent had not been accused of violent crimes. In 2010, of the nearly 100,000 youth under the age of 18 who were serving time in a juvenile residential placement facility, 26 percent had been convicted of property crimes only, such as burglary, arson, or theft. Access to education both stems the tide of incarceration and improves inmates chances of re-acclimating to society after their release.
“At this juvenile hall, young people can take classes taught by community college instructors from nearby College of San Mateo through a program called Project Change. It’s one of only a handful of programs of its kind in the state, and it was one of the very first. Some California lawmakers have taken note. Now they’re pushing to bring college classes to juvenile detention facilities around the state.“
Capital Public Radio
August 21, 2019
Read More“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
Read More“Only the barbed wire encircling the area showed the difference. The frequent use of the pool, built along with the facility in 1963, is now part of a series of progressive, rehabilitative programs that contributed to the 2018 Barbara Allen-Hagen Award, which recognizes youth detention centers that display a heightened focus on positive outcomes rather than punishment.“
Sacramento Bee
July 4, 2019
Read More“Fonda has teamed up with Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, a youth program aimed at providing hope, training, and support to ex-cons and former gang members. Activists say the programs interrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline and reduce the number of young people in the criminal justice systems. Governor Newsom has vowed to end juvenile imprisonment in California as it stands.“
KSRO Sonoma County
June 21, 2019
Read More“The most recent suit, filed in 2003 by a woman whose nephew was a ward of the state, led to 13 years of court-ordered monitoring to document and address systemic abuse and dangerous conditions at DJJ facilities. The lawsuit was settled by consent decree in 2016, suggesting that problems had been solved and the system was on the path to improvement. But in the nearly three years since, the CJCJ report says, conditions haven’t changed — and some things have gotten worse.“
Huffington Post
February 19, 2019
Read More“Before 2009, L.A. County’s Probation Department regularly charged parents and guardians of juvenile delinquents fees for some of the costs associated with their child’s detention. At the time, the fee was $23.63 a day for juvenile halls and $11.94 a day for probation camps. Collection efforts included intercepting state tax refunds, putting liens on property and, in some cases, garnishing wages.“
LA Times
October 9, 2018
Read More"As the law now stands, teens aged 14 and older who are charged with certain serious offenses can be sent to adult court for adjudication at the behest of a judge via what’s called a transfer hearing. Young teens charged with murder and some sexual offenses are automatically transferred to adult court."
Chronicle of Social Change
August 14, 2018
Read More"Instead of linking children to services or out-of-home placements through juvenile court adjudication, Senate Bill (SB) 439 would instead direct counties in the state to develop the “least restrictive” alternatives to the juvenile justice system. That could mean a greater reliance on the dependency court system, where child protective services agencies are tasked with providing services to vulnerable children and families."
The Appeal
July 17, 2018
Read More"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
Read More"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
Read More"Almost two-thirds of young people who come in contact with law enforcement in Santa Cruz County are diverted away from the formal juvenile justice system and connected to the education, counseling or mental health services that they need. Santa Cruz prioritizes this individual approach because it works, it’s better for youth and it saves taxpayers money."
Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 10, 2018
Read More