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.
“A critical resource in this equation was a credible messenger -- a community-rooted, transformative mentor who shares similar life experiences with the youth they engage. Credible messengers build trusting relationships with youth and families as they guide them through a process of growth, taking accountability for harm caused, and redemption.“
Governing Institute
August 16, 2019
Read More“Prosecutors here in Washington, D.C., are trying a new approach to handling kids who get on the wrong side of the law. They have launched a program called Restorative Justice. It connects young people with their victims in order to find a way forward. The idea is that justice doesn't always have to involve punishment or retribution. And if the process works, the juvenile offender walks away with a clean criminal record. But as NPR's Carrie Johnson reports, it is not always easy.“
NPR
July 2, 2019
Read More“Included in the bill are four core standards for state juvenile justice practice: not jailing youth for committing age-based status offenses like truancy and curfew violations; removing juvenile offenders from adult jails and prisons; ensuring sight and sound separation in the exception of any juveniles incarcerated in adult facilities; and committing to address disproportional minority contact (DMC) in the juvenile justice system.“
Sojourners
December 13, 2018
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