How far should society go in punishing young criminals? Recent cases have reignited the discussion over treating juveniles as adults and giving them harsher penalties for serious crimes. For decades, juvenile justice reform has been a pendulum.
Over and over again, the juvenile legal, criminal legal, and family regulation/child welfare systems pull children out of school and then deny them a quality education. Since its founding in 1975, Juvenile Law Center has fought against these harmful practices.
During this Second Chance Month, even as new threats to our rights and freedoms emerge almost daily and the fear of losing hard-earned legal protections from discrimination has become all too real for far too many of us, it is worth taking a moment to consider our system impacted community members for whom discrimination, both public and private, has long been, and continues to be, the norm.
John Lewis taught us that "Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take.”
For youth justice advocates, what does acting for freedom look like right now?
Physical and sexual abuse of youth in Pennsylvania detention and treatment centers is widespread, according to investigations by news organizations and lawsuits. More than 200 suits have been filed in the past year alone, some of which name state-run centers... McEvoy, Hood, and other advocates want the legislature to create an Office of Child Advocate that can independently investigate suspected abuse in state facilities.
Samantha Melamed and Jesse Bunch, The Philadelphia Inquirer •
State regulators revoked the license of Philadelphia’s juvenile detention facility this week — reissuing it on a provisional basis only — after a riot broke out during a boxing event there in January, endangering children, officials said.
A regional push is gaining momentum as leaders from Berks, Dauphin, and Lehigh counties ask the state for $19 million to reopen a youth detention center in Leesport. The plan would bring 30 beds to a renovated facility that’s been closed since 2012.
On a daily basis the actions of the new administration threaten our identities and ideals and challenge our faith in the law.
Though the administration has changed, our values have not. Our resolve to continue to fight for children who are overpoliced, surveilled, separated from their families, and incarcerated has not diminished.
Black Chronicle News Service, The Black Chronicle •
(The Center Square) – House Democrats are once again making the attempt to turn 2021 recommendations from the bipartisan, bicameral Juvenile Justice Task Force into legislative action.
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