A recent incident in San Francisco, coupled with other cases across the country of students being arrested in schools, demonstrate a serious lapse in our juvenile justice system and the way that we overreact to youth misbehavior.

In this particular situation, a 13-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of punching a classmate and stealing 46 cents during an after-school program. For this act, the boy was charged with felony robbery, extortion and assault – and faces deportation plus a bench warrant that will be issued if he fails to attend a March 8 hearing in San Francisco that is 3 days after he and his mother are deported back to Australia.

The news coverage has highlighted the issues of immigration, deportation and the negative impacts that those policies can have on families. It has focused primarily on a politically charged aspect of the incident, the deportation of the undocumented boy and his mother to Australia as a result of his felony charge. At issue in most local coverage is San Francisco’s much debated sanctuary policy, and “whether officials should shield undocumented youths from deportation when they are suspected of a felony crime.”

However, what is missing is one of the most alarming aspects of this particular incident – the charges leveled against the boy. The charges reported are completely unjust given the alleged act, and illustrate the widespread issue in juvenile justice of ramped up charges against young people whose behavior is typical of adolescents their age. In New York recently, a 12-year-old Latino girl was arrested for doodling on her desk. In Florida, an 11-year-old girl was arrested at her school for a scuffle at a bus stop with a classmate three days prior.

According to media reports in San Francisco, the parents of the sixth grader who the 13-year-old boy had bullied had filed a police report. The 13-year-old was arrested after he and his parents spoke to the police officer.

“I think my son was in shock, as I was, “ his stepfather, Charles Washington said in a press conference. “What he actually did, and what the actual charges are, they are universes apart. Back when I was in school, at worst, a bully was sent home for the day, creating problems for them at home, when they explain to their parents why they’ve been sent home.”

It is shocking and puzzling that such charges would be leveled against a 13-year-old boy who allegedly took 46 cents from another boy after punching him - essentially acting as a bully. Why would a rational adult level such serious charges at a boy who was in a schoolyard fight?  What happened to conflict resolution?

The boy’s stepfather said his stepson was held for a week at Juvenile Hall. “We did not understand why this was happening,” Washington, who is a bus driver, said at the press conference. “Kids on my bus get on and do way worse things than he actually did, and the police usually make their presence known, but there is no worry about going to Juvenile Hall.”

Is anyone in the public protected by charging this youth with such felonies? To me this is yet another example of our broken justice system and of prosecutors abusing their power by targeting youth.

In this case and many others across the country, no one is held accountable for their pivotal role in changing the outcome of a youth’s childhood.

By Sarah Covert

On a daily basis, youth call our hotline at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) to talk about the horrors they face in prisons across the state. In the past six months, we’ve received reports of youth who were jumped by other youth, resulting in broken jaws and knocked-out teeth, as well as of guards employing excessive use of force. 

It isn’t often that we are heartened by the moves of our statewide justice system. But, last week the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) announced that a center for the developmentally disabled would be converted in 2011 to a moderate-security juvenile facility. It is the first time that the state of Louisiana is looking to design small therapeutic facilities that are home-like and lack razor wire and cells, a rarity in Missouri.

OJJ should get the credit that they deserve for moving toward the building of this first moderate-security facility and taking one critical step toward the expectations set forth in a 2003 law, Act 1225, which demanded Louisiana’s system be modeled after Missouri’s. That state’s successful juvenile justice system includes residential facilities and fully-funded community-based alternative programs that allow for treatment of delinquent youth in their homes.

We know that new facilities such as the one proposed by the state cannot come in addition to the large, correctional style facilities where youth are currently housed and often face inhumane conditions. They also cannot come at the expense of community-based alternatives to incarceration, which research demonstrates would more effectively serve a significant proportion of the youth currently in the state’s care.

Written by Danny Weil Education Feb 20, 2010

The Daily Censored

The war on youth and the horror of zero-tolerance policies in schools: No Child Left Behind without handcuffs?

CNN) — There was no profanity, no hate. Just the words, “I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 ” scrawled on the classroom desk with a green marker. Alexa Gonzalez, an outgoing 12-year-old who likes to dance and draw, expected a lecture or maybe detention for her doodles earlier this month. Instead, the principal of the Junior High School in Forest Hills, New York, called police, and the seventh-grader was taken across the street to the police precinct. Alexa’s hands were cuffed behind her back, and tears gushed as she was escorted from school in front of teachers and — the worst audience of all for a preadolescent girl — her classmates. “They put the handcuffs on me, and I couldn’t believe it,” Alexa recalled. “I didn’t want them to see me being handcuffed, thinking I’m a bad person.”

Alexa is no longer facing suspension, according a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Education. Still, the case of the doodling preteen is raising concerns about the use of zero tolerance policies in schools. I didn’t want them to see me being handcuffed, thinking I’m a bad person. –Alexa Gonzalez Critics say schools and police have gone too far, overreacting and using well-intended rules for incidents involving nonviolent offenses such as drawing on desks, writing on other school property or talking back to teachers. “We are arresting them at younger and younger ages [in cases] that used to be covered with a trip to the principal’s office, not sending children to jail,” said Emma Jordan-Simpson, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund, a national children’s advocacy group.

There aren’t any national studies documenting how often minors become involved with police for nonviolent crimes in schools. Tracking the incidents depends on how individual schools keep records. Much of the information remains private, since it involves juveniles. But one thing is sure: Alexa’s case isn’t the first in the New York area. One of the first cases to gain national notoriety was that of Chelsea Fraser. In 2007, the 13-year-old wrote “Okay” on her desk, and police handcuffed and arrested her. She was one of several students arrested in the class that day; the others were accused of plastering the walls with stickers. At schools across the country, police are being asked to step in.

by BENJAMIN CHAMBERS

Anyone who has worked in the juvenile justice knows how hard it is to recruit, organize, and train advocates from the community to implement juvenile justice reform. But we also know they're out there. Fortunately, the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) is here to help.

This summer, the NJJN is offering its first ever Juvenile Justice Leadership Development Institute. They want to create the foundation for a more effective juvenile justice reform movement by developing a strong base of well prepared and well trained advocates and organizers who reflect the communities most affected by juvenile justice system practices and policies, with a particular focus on cultivating and supporting leaders of color, youth and family members.

The Institute will be held in New Orleans July 11-16, and will include a year of distance learning and being mentored.  Applications are due March 12, 2010. NJJN will pay transportation to and from New Orleans for those who get accepted to the program.

Here's a little more about what they're looking for:

The Institute seeks to reach emerging advocates and organizers with proven leadership potential who have a passion and demonstrated promise for transformation of the juvenile justice system. Applications will be accepted from:

• People of color;

• Youth with direct system experience; and

• Family members with direct system experience.
  

The instructions also specify that "each applicant must be supported by two nominators who can speak to the applicant’s experience as an advocate for social justice reform."

What're you waiting for? You can learn more about the Juvenile Justice Leadership Development Institute here <http://njjn.org/media/resources/public/resource_1412.pdf> , or download the application <http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/sites/blog.reclaimingfutures.org/files/userfiles/NJJN-JJ-Leadership-Institute-app-2010.doc> .

TAMPA - From Tallahassee to Tampa, governments are under a lot of pressure to trim their budgets and
Florida's criminal justice system is becoming a big focus of attention.

Cost-cutting experimental juvenile justice reforms aimed at keeping non-violent kids out of the system are already underway in Tampa.

A program that may be under the axe is one that gives civil citations to teens in trouble, instead of placing them under arrest.

Ben Beller, 15, got a second chance through that program. He was headed for trouble at a young age: he'd gotten in a fight, and faced arrest.

"He was scared", said School Resource Officer Betty Williams of TPD. "He knew it was his first time in the criminal justice system per say, dealing with me, the police."

But instead of being arrested, Ben got a civil citation through the experimental program aimed at giving kids a second chance the first time they get into a brush with the law.

To avoid a criminal record that could keep him out of college or military service, Ben had to do community service hours, and take anger management classes.

By Julia Dahl, The Crime Report

The system is failing thousands of our most vulnerable youth. Is it time for reform?

The U.S. spends $5 billion a year on juvenile courts, but it’s hard to argue that taxpayers are getting what they paid for.  Many criminologists already agree that the country’s criminal justice system is overdue for reform; but no area seems more in need of urgent attention than juvenile justice.

Statistics suggest that the huge investment is failing those most in need of help. In New York State, for example, a longitudinal study beginning in the early 1990s found that 85 percent of boys and 65 percent of girls who are incarcerated go on to be convicted of a felony as adults, according to Gladys Carrión, Commissioner of New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services. Seventy percent of adult prisoners in California were once in foster care.

According to Carrión, the system allows these these young people to be treated like “throw-aways.”

“We obviously don’t value them,” she charges.  “We incarcerate them and these are their lives’ future outcomes.”

This year "Get On The Bus" will take more than 1500 children on 60 buses all around the state of California to visit their incarcerated parents. The program started 11 years ago with one bus, 9 families and 17 children going to Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, CA. In addition to running buses to all state women's prison for Mother's Day on Friday, May 7, 2010, we will also be operating in four different men's prisons: California Men's Colony on Saturday, June 12, 2010, Correctional Training Facility, Salinas Valley State Prison and California State Prison on Saturday, June 19, 2010.

Get On The Bus provides children and their guardians with free transportation and an unforgettable day, but also with personal support in preparing for a visit. Children and caregivers receive meals for the day, a t shirt, things to do on the way up to the trip, a 4 hour visit with their parent, ways to stay connected with their parent, a teddy bear and a letter from their parent and an unforgettable family photo.

We are currently seeking a bus coordinator and sponsoring agency for our bus departing from Santa Rosa going to California Men's Colony on June 12, 2010. Although this is months away the Get On the Bus Program takes advanced planning and support starting with our January 30th Training Day in LA. Your community has the very special opportunity to join our GOTB family and become part of the mission. We have several families in the Santa Rosa area that need your help. Please share this information with your networks today.

Please contact Tara Regan 617-869-4539, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

In the worst facilities surveyed — in Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina and Texas — more than 30% of youths reported they had been sexually victimized. The study, the first of its kind, shows a rate of sexual assault more than seven times higher than that indicated by a 2008 Justice Department report that collected sexual abuse claims to juvenile facility administrators. It is also higher than a similar study of adult prisons because of the "very high rate of staff sexual misconduct," said Allen Beck, who directed the survey for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The survey of 9,198 youths ages 13 to 21 — all in custody by order of a juvenile court — included methods to eliminate interviews considered unreliable. The survey covered 195 facilities, at least one in each state. Approximately 26,550 juveniles — 91% of them boys — are held in more than 500 such facilities around the country.

The survey showed that 10.3% of youths reported the sexual contact was with staff, compared with 2.6% who reported sexual victimization by other youths. In nearly half the incidents with staff, youths reported having sexual contact as a result of force.

The study sets a wider definition of sexual contact than rape, Beck said. Nonetheless, "these are all things that in the outside world would be considered violent or, by definition in law, they are illegal," he said.