There are many problems plaguing the youth justice system, including faults in the probation system, high levels of recidivism and lack of access to resources for low-income and minority youth. However, one problem that is seldom discussed and has a significant impact on youth is the use of detention centers. The Juvenile Justice Advocates at Howard University are an excellent example of how advocacy can make a difference in the lives of detained youth.
For our final interview for Youth Justice Action Month, Emily Fromke spoke with Iliana Pujols, the policy advisor at the Connecticut Justice Alliance. In this interview, she shares her story going through the youth justice system as a teenager and how she uses her experience to help current youth.
Texas alone cannot address the issues contributing to the violent behaviors of youth landing them in correctional facilities and the recidivism that results when they return to the same social groups and environments where they developed these behaviors. Families, communities and churches all have contributions to make.
Dr. Tracee Perryman, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Center of Hope Family Services in Toledo, Ohio, joins Emily Fromke in a discussion about juvenile justice advocacy, diversion programs in Ohio and hope for the future.
Chattanooga, located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, made national headlines in late May after a deadly shooting occurred in the city’s downtown riverfront area. The most disturbing detail of this shooting, without a doubt, is that it was a victimization of the city’s youth, by the city’s youth. Six teens were shot and two were sent to the ICU at the hands of their peers. Regrettably, this would not be the last tragedy of the summer: three months later, in mid-August, a sixteen-year-old was shot and killed — again, by one of his peers. Even more regrettably, these shootings find themselves lost within a larger narrative — one which tells a story of a city where gun violence, gang violence, and crime plague its youth. But there is hope, still. The story has yet to end because the city refuses to abandon its youth to this epidemic.
There are many problems plaguing the youth justice system, including faults in the probation system, high levels of recidivism and lack of access to resources for low-income and minority youth. However, one problem that is seldom discussed and has a significant impact on youth is the use of detention centers. The Juvenile Justice Advocates at Howard University are an excellent example of how advocacy can make a difference in the lives of detained youth.
From 2022 Hatfield Prize recipient Rachel Smith: “Walking alongside those who are struggling by supporting them through what they are experiencing is a way to demonstrate care and concern. Ensuring refugees have resources to access much-needed child care for their families is just a small way we can offer support that will make a lasting impact.”
From 2022 Hatfield Prize Recipient Kyle Chu: “Juvenile probation relies too heavily on mechanisms of fear in order to correct youth misbehavior. Fear will never free young people to live their best lives. Only restoration based on love will honor the humanity of youth and set them up for success as they get older.”
Texas alone cannot address the issues contributing to the violent behaviors of youth landing them in correctional facilities and the recidivism that results when they return to the same social groups and environments where they developed these behaviors. Families, communities and churches all have contributions to make.
Chattanooga, located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, made national headlines in late May after a deadly shooting occurred in the city’s downtown riverfront area. The most disturbing detail of this shooting, without a doubt, is that it was a victimization of the city’s youth, by the city’s youth. Six teens were shot and two were sent to the ICU at the hands of their peers. Regrettably, this would not be the last tragedy of the summer: three months later, in mid-August, a sixteen-year-old was shot and killed — again, by one of his peers. Even more regrettably, these shootings find themselves lost within a larger narrative — one which tells a story of a city where gun violence, gang violence, and crime plague its youth. But there is hope, still. The story has yet to end because the city refuses to abandon its youth to this epidemic.
Walking around downtown, in the shadows of the Independent and the Austonian — the two tallest residential skyscrapers west of the Mississippi — and among the Teslas and Porsches that lined the streets, I gawked in wonder at the how these incarnations of vast wealth could exist right beside evidence of great poverty. I watched as groups of homeless people sat unmoving under awnings and in alleys, sleeping or quietly speaking among themselves, while well-dressed couples and families debated where along Congress Avenue to get a nice Sunday brunch.
Do you know your neighbors? Do you really know them? If you were asked to write down the names of the people who live on every side of you, how many of them would you be able to name? This is the question, posed during a church service, that sparked Mark Ferguson’s journey to get to know his neighbors better and to think beyond ordinary definitions of what it means to love one’s neighbor as oneself.
Young people who exist at the intersection of the child welfare system and the juvenile justice system are more vulnerable to deeper system involvement. This article offers Credible Message Mentoring as a tool to help these young people, describing the Christian's duty to adopt a holistic approach to provide support for those who are vulnerable.
Reimagining the juvenile justice system requires listening to developmental research and acquiring a public justice perspective that values young people. One promising diversion program, Credible Messenger Mentoring, offers transformative relationships that facilitate the healing and flourishing of justice-involved youth and their communities.
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