We are a program of the W. Haywood Burns Institute that is committed to the empowerment of children, youth, families and communities by promoting the availability of effective, culturally appropriate interventions to detention and incarceration. CJNY identifies, promotes and helps expand the work and capacities of its community-based member organizations that serve children in trouble with the law. CJNY also works to develop and expand its network of 130+ members so that they can effectively influence public policy that adversely impacts youth of color. Our goal: Stop the Rail to Jail!
Report On Disparities and the Criminal Justice System Finds That Lack of Data Leads to Bad Policy
Written by Shadi Rahimi
Thursday, 02 September 2010 15:08
For Immediate Release: September 2, 2010
Contact: Rebecca Farmer, ACLU of Northern California, 415.621.2493,
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Andria Blackmon, W. Haywood Burns Institute, 415.321.4100 x114,
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SAN FRANCISCO—Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the W. Haywood Burns Institute released a report that explores how racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in access to education, employment, and housing impact the contact people will have with the criminal justice system. The report, “Balancing the Scales of Justice,” found that these factors relate to how likely it is someone will be incarcerated, and that lack of data collection hinders the ability to address this problem. The report focused on three California counties: Alameda, Fresno, and Los Angeles counties.
“The lack of meaningful data means that lawmakers are creating policies without fully understanding the racial, ethnic, and gender impact of their decisions,” said Diana Tate Vermeire, Racial Justice Project Director at ACLU-NC, and a co-author of the study. “Yet, those decisions will have a lasting impact on people who do not have access to the basic necessities of a quality education, a job, and adequate housing.”
“We know that children, youth and adults of color are more likely to wind up in jail, and our report indicates that disparities outside the criminal justice system create or reinforce those same disparities within it,” said James Bell, Executive Director of the Burns Institute.
The organizations also interviewed people on probation in the three counties to collect first-hand stories of people’s life experiences before and after contact with police, jails, or prison.
Among the findings:
o Of the people interviewed, those who attended school where police officers regularly patrolled campus had a greater likelihood of being arrested at a young age, expelled, and suspended.
o The number of women – both women of color and white women – in the criminal justice system is increasing at a much faster rate than that of men.
o Nearly two-thirds of the people interviewed reported they had inadequate income at the time of their arrest, and around 20% indicated that they turned to crime to help make ends meet.
o In Alameda County, people on probation were less likely to have graduated high school, compared to the county average.
o In Fresno County, with a county unemployment rate of less than 10%, 29% of men interviewed and 59% of women interviewed were unemployed at the time of their most recent arrest. Nearly 21% of the Black labor force in Fresno County is unemployed, but 64% of Black interviewees were unemployed at the time of their most recent arrest.
Among the report’s recommendations:
o A standardized collection method is needed for county data on education, employment, and housing to allow state and local officials to make data-driven decisions that could improve the effectiveness of policies, as well as reduce racial, ethnic, and gender disparities.
o Additional and more extensive research is needed regarding the connection between access to the basic necessities of a quality education, employment, and housing and the increase in California’s prison population, and the correlating racial, ethnic, gender, and age disparities.
o Social scientists should study the effects of police presence on public school campuses by collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, any future research should include an analysis of alternatives to policing in schools.
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The ACLU of Northern California works to preserve and guarantee the protections of the Constitution's Bill of Rights. http://www.aclunc.org
The W. Haywood Burns Institute (BI) is a San Francisco-based national juvenile justice nonprofit that works to address racial and ethnic disparities in the United States juvenile justice system. http://www.burnsinstitute.org
National Juvenile Justice Week of Action, Dec. 6 – 13, 2010
Written by Shadi Rahimi
Friday, 13 August 2010 09:34
Organizations across the U.S. are calling for a National Juvenile Justice Week of Action, Dec. 6 – 13, 2010!
During this National Week of Action, members of the Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) will host a collective action in Washington D.C. on Monday, Dec 6, 2010. That same day, Community Voices Heard will hold an action in NYC and Tunica Teens in Action will host an action in Tunica, MS. On Dec. 8, Families and Allies of Virginias Youth will host an action. We invite all allied individuals and organizations to participate by hosting an action in your local community. Contact
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for more information.
The Center for Media Justice will assist in this national effort, utilizing social media to share, coordinate and inspire during these actions.
In the year 2000, community leaders working to “Stop the Rail to Jail” established the national network CJNY. Ten years later, our work and unity is more necessary than ever. CJNY is rooted in the power of our people and the relationships that sustain us. It is in this spirit that we invite you to join us for the “CJNY 2010 National Conference and Day of Action.” We are proud to be kicking off the “National Week of Action for Juvenile Justice” (December 6th - 12th 2010) called for at the 2010 United States Social Forum by hosting a National Conference and Day of Action.
The CJNY National Conference will be a space for families, youth and community members to creatively share our love for our communities, strengthen relationships, gain skills and impact federal and local juvenile justice reform efforts. On Saturday, Dec. 4 and on Sunday, Dec. 5, we will work to build the movement our people deserve through workshops, strategy sessions, cultural performances and a dance party. On December 6, conference participants will meet with local representatives to impact current legislation, such as the Youth Promise Act and the Dream Act, as well as impact localized reform efforts to “Stop the Rail to Jail.” Throughout the conference, all participants will be trained on the skill sets needed when meeting with representatives.
Conference registration forms are below in the "Read More" link or you can request it by email to
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. REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 15, 2010.
Video & Photos: Working for Justice DVD Screening!
Written by Shadi Rahimi
Monday, 02 August 2010 17:21
On June 15 we held an event exploring transformation of the juvenile justice system: "There is a Better Way: Ending Our Addiction to Incarceration." The event included a screening of our promotional DVD, "Working for Justice," a performance by the Destiny Arts Center and a panel discussion with experts in the field of juvenile justice and civil rights.
We honored W. Haywood Burns, who would have celebrated his 70th birthday that day, and thanked his cousin, Dr. Ernest Bates, for helping fund the BI’s DVD, “Working for Justice.” BI board member Bernardine Dohrn hosted an esteemed panel: Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas, former civil rights attorney Angelah Oh, and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Lateefah Simon.
This short film of our event was produced by Yoram Savion / YAKfilms.com
Where I’m from boys don’t become men, they become inmates — lifers whose development is stifled by institutionalization. Girls don’t mature to womanhood, they become baby-momma’s who steal and prostitute their adult lives away, their growth strangled by the byproducts of institutionalization.
Mother’s don’t stick around to watch their children grow. They abandon them at birth and escape their responsibility to return to the call of the crack-rock. Fathers don’t exist. It’s on the promise of hope that our aging grandmothers attempt to raise children 50 years their younger in their “golden years.” Then, you have the institutions that feed off this prevalent despair.
I have witnessed this all.
My nephew was a recent victim of systemic racism at the hands of an unethical judicial system. From the point of his arrest, he was treated as if he were guilty of a crime he had not committed. Yes, he is Black. And yes, he was with two Black boys the night of a robbery that took place near my mother’s house. Yes, it was late into the night. But it was wrong for his White accuser – who was driven around in a San Francisco police car hours later for the sole purpose of identifying the assailants – to accuse them with the line, “Those must be them, the guys that robbed us, what other three Black guys are out this time?” For the last three months, my nephew has been locked up for a crime he did not commit.
When he thinks back to his 21st birthday, my nephew’s memories won’t be of family, friends, a night with his girlfriend, or even a hangover like most celebrating their first taste of adulthood. His memory will be of a cold cell, trapped night after night in the company of strangers, fighting for his freedom to be restored. This is all because a White man wanted so badly to accuse someone of robbing him and his girlfriend allegedly at gunpoint as they left a Haight Street bar.
You’re probably feeling conflicted, because human nature leads us to sympathize with the alleged victim. I’m sorry this man and his girlfriend were allegedly robbed of her purse containing medicinal marijuana, but the fact that there was no gun found, no purse found, and nothing at all that connected my nephew and his friends to the robbery should have been enough to force a further investigation of the alleged crime. But that’s not what happened. A White couple had been allegedly robbed by three Black boys and someone had to pay! Because my nephew “fit the description” – Black in the wrong place at the wrong time – he had his first experience fighting the labyrinth of the criminal justice system.
Over the past three months, the prosecuting attorney tried to coerce my nephew and his two friends to admit guilt. They refused. At each court date, the prosecutor tried to push a deal, and each time the deal got sweeter. Each time my nephew and his two friends refused to deal. “I’m innocent,” my nephew would say, over and over. He insisted he had an ATM receipt in his jean pocket the night of the arrest that would serve as his alibi. Finally, the prosecutor agreed to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. This offer came July 22; four days shy of three months from their arrest.
On the evening of this final offer, on the ride from San Francisco County Jail back to San Bruno County Jail, the youngest of the three boys, just 18-years-old, agreed he would accept the deal in exchange for all three to be released from prison — a place they should not have been in the first place. The system of bureaucracy had successfully broken his spirit. A warrior nonetheless, he was agreeing to sacrifice a bit of his future in order for his friends to be freed.
But every dog has their day. The next day, before the 18-year-old could accept the deal, the case was suddenly dismissed. There was no official explanation. Or, an apology for the hell my nephew, his friends and our families have had to live for three months.
It made me think about what the system sees in us. It’s obvious we’re “throw-aways” in their eyes. Adult boys dependent on government assistance and adult girls relying on welfare for income because their skills aren’t marketable in the workforce. Poverty only trained them to hustle for food, run errands to keep a roof over their head and pounce on opportunity when it comes their way. An essential skill they can’t market is staying alive. Dodging stray bullets, avoiding gangs and saying “no” to drugs aren’t prerequisites for working in retail. In fact, if you’re born poor in the hood, you don’t see a mall or a food court until you’re old enough to venture beyond your hood, which, to be safe, you most likely won’t.
I’m speaking to depravity many can’t fathom unless they’ve witnessed it, like I have. Most people never ask what’s going to happen to the “crack-baby” or the young boy or girl who ages-out of foster care. Many end up in jail or homeless. We live in a nation that believes if you are separated from poverty, then the symptoms of poverty won’t affect you. But violence perpetuates violence and the predatory design of this country perpetuates violence upon the vulnerable through its institutions. I’ve experienced incarceration as a crime against humanity. Homeless are arrested for sleeping on the streets. People of color are arrested for hanging on their block with friends. Children in poor communities are arrested for horse-playing at school while their counterparts in affluent communities get detention.
What rational being believes you can cage a human being – made of the same flesh and blood but merely cut from a different cloth – and expect to produce an individual capable of love, respect, loyalty and independence? Our criminal and juvenile justice systems are irrational. It is not a fair expectation to throw back into society someone you’ve treated worse than a stray animal, without education or love, and expect them to then stay out of the system. The punitive origin of the institution of incarceration cannot serve anything but pain and suffering. Especially when the foundation of the institution has been replaced by backdoor deals and under the table exchanges.
In my eight years working in the juvenile and criminal justice field, I’ve heard the stories, I’ve cried with the families. I’ve attended the rallies and I’ve marched in the streets to fight human rights abuses. But it was not until this incident did I realize, I cannot and I will NOT fight injustice alone. We must to tell our stories and unite through our pain. A victory is in the near future. Even through my tears I can see it.
For the people who awake everyday to families torn apart by institutionalization, our journey is young but our fight is old. We must find our strength in the footprints of our creator.
FAST 4 FREEDOM STATEWIDE ACTION IN THE BAY AREA
Written by Shadi Rahimi
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 10:05
FRIDAY AUGUST 6TH – FAST all day* and Rally
11:30am - 1pm
State Building in San Francisco Bring your music, drums, and poetry or words to share! * People will be fasting in front of the State Building from 10am- 4pm.
"Because so many are starving for FREEDOM" (from the call by family members of prisoners)
Fast 4 Freedom is a STATEWIDEday of fasting and solidarity actions on Friday, August 6th initiated by family members and loved ones of prisoners locked up across California. The Bay Area CURB Alliance will be organizing a rally on August 6th from 11:30am- 1pm at the State Building in San Francisco - 350 McAllister St (at Polk) - where Mark Leno, Senate Public Safety Committee, Tom Ammiano, Assembly Public Safety Committee and Fiona Ma, Assemblywoman from San Francisco, all have their local offices. Are you going to be fasting? Let us know so we can get an accurate count of fasters! Drop us a line at
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. We will be spreading awareness about the many extreme injustices currently faced by prisoners, their families and their communities. Our demands include:
End Three Strikes Reduce the Prison Population NOW Release Prisoners Eligible for Parole Release Sick, Aged and Terminally Ill prisoners Family Visits for All Prisoners End the Death Penalty Education Not Incarceration Stop All New Prison Construction including New "Mental Health" Cages being built in Chino and Vacaville Justice for Oscar Grant and all targets of racist police brutality
JOIN US ON TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE ON THIS IMPORTANT DATE!
August 6th is also the 65th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and events marking this horrendous date will be occurring around the Bay Area.
CURB ALLIANCE (Member organizations include Critical Resistance, All of Us Or None, Families to Amend California's Three Strikes,California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Youth Justice Coalition, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, American Friends Service Committee and many more....)
National Juvenile Justice Week of Action December 6 - 13
Written by Shadi Rahimi
Monday, 26 July 2010 11:05
Organizations across the U.S. are calling for a National Juvenile Justice Week of ActionDecember 6 - 13 2010.
During the National Week of Action: Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) members will host a collective action in Washington D.C. on Dec 6. Community Voices Heard will lead an action in NYC. Tunica Teens in Action will lead an action in Tunica, MS. Families and Allies of Virginias Youth will host an additional action on Dec. 8.
We invite all allied individuals and organizations to participate by hosting an action in your local community. The Center for Media Justice will assist in this national effort, utilizing social media to share, coordinate and inspire us in these actions.
For more information contact Tshaka Barrows tbarrows[at]burnsinstitute.org.
Conference info and registration forms, and information on the Week of Action will be posted soon!
Youth Rescued from Entry into System!
Friday, 23 July 2010 14:15
This week a young man by the name of Adam Hernandez was rescued from an unnecessary entry into the criminal justice system. On March 30th, Adam, a freshman at Shorewood High School was given a school lunch by another student who was fasting and did not want it. Adam was accused by a cafeteria worker of stealing the lunch consisting of 4 chicken nuggets. The assistant principal was immediately notified of the "theft". Before approaching Adam to “investigate”, the assistant principal informed the Shorewood police officer stationed at the school, who requested another police squad to intervene.
Adam, who had no prior criminal history or Shorewood School District disciplinary history, was handcuffed and arrested at school during lunch. He was booked, fingerprinted and issued a citation for theft which states "defendant took and consumed a school lunch without paying and without consent."
Though Shorewood assistant principal notified police about the "theft of Shorewood school lunch", the police are pressing the charges and not the school. Shorewood High School administrators and the Shorewood superintendent stated that the matter did not involve the school and that they would NOT be making any recommendation for dismissal of the charges. Despite Shorewood School District's alleged "hands-off approach", the Shorewood High School assistant principal attended Adam's pre-trial hearing, spoke with the prosecutor and allegedly insisted on Adam's guilt, resulting in the continued prosecution of Adam for theft of the school lunch valued at $2.60.
After 4 months of unsuccessful attempts to vindicate her brother, Ava Hernandez, Adam's guardian, came to Urban Underground for help. Members of Urban Underground immediately sprang into action developing a strategy, conducting research, and implementing a youth-led social media effort to raise awareness and support for Adam's case. Groups and individuals including the Educators Network for Social Justice and Voces De La Frontera came together to rally for the charges against Adam to be dropped. A rally was scheduled for his trial set for Tuesday, July 20, 2010.
On the eve of Adams trial Shorewood authorities issued a written public statement that they would be dropping all charges against Adam! The scheduled rally turned into a victory celebration and call to action on an issue that impacts all of us.
Adam's case is a prime example of the school-to-prison pipeline. Young people in general and young men of color in particular are being criminally charged for minor, non-violent offenses that could easlily be addressed within the school system. The involvement of law enforcement in school-based infractions are leading to an unprecedented increase in young people entering the criminal justice system at an early age.
Urban Underground is committed to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. We stand in solidarity with groups and individuals throughout the country like CJNY that are working to reverse policies and practices that contribute to extreme drop out rates and mass incarceration of young people of color.
As we celebrate 10 years of supporting youth-led social change in Milwaukee we invite you to continue to support our organizing efforts in the areas of health, education, public safety, juvenile justice, and education reform.
Bikes 4 Life will be having it's 3rd Annual Peace Bike Ride from Lake Merritt to West Oakland. This year the ride will be a NIGHT RIDE that will be followed with an outside BIKE-IN drive-in style movie. The movie will be a classic flick. If interested Please Save The Date. Saturday July, 24th 7:30pm From Lake Merritt Playground Area/ Bird Sanctuary
We're still looking for cool bicycle lighting companies that may want to give their products added exposure during this event. For more info contact:
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. ALL POWER TO THE CYCLIST!
Meet at 468 Perkins St. in front of the Bird Sanctuary at Lake Merritt.
The CJNY's primary function is to be a support network for organizers and practitioners who are on the ground working with youth who are at risk or already involved in juvenile justice systems. We are also on:
The Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) is a program of the W. Haywood Burns Institute. This program is comprised of community-based programs, grassroots organizations, service-providing agencies, residential facilities and advocacy groups that focus their work on youth of color.
Where I’m from boys don’t become men, they become inmates — lifers whose development is stifled by institutionalization. Girls don’t mature to womanhood, they become baby-momma’s who steal and prostitute their adult lives away, their growth strangled by the byproducts of institutionalization.
This week a young man by the name of Adam Hernandez was rescued from an unnecessary entry into the criminal justice system. On March 30th, Adam, a freshman at Shorewood High School was given a school lunch by another student who was fasting and did not want it. Adam was accused by a cafeteria worker of stealing the lunch consisting of 4 chicken nuggets. The assistant principal was immediately notified of the "theft". Before approaching Adam to “investigate”, the assistant principal informed the Shorewood police officer stationed at the school, who requested another police squad to intervene.
After 4 months of unsuccessful attempts to vindicate her brother, Ava Hernandez, Adam's guardian, came to Urban Underground for help. Members of Urban Underground immediately sprang into action developing a strategy, conducting research, and implementing a youth-led social media effort to raise awareness and support for Adam's case. Groups and individuals including the Educators Network for Social Justice and Voces De La Frontera came together to rally for the charges against Adam to be dropped.
