Hundreds of Youth, Parents and Advocates Launch Juvenile Justice Week of Action, Declaring in One Voice: Congress and Obama Must Protect Children

12.12.2010– (Washington, D.C., USA) – More than 250 youth, parents and advocates descended on the nation’s capital this past weekend to declare in a unified voice that the U.S. juvenile justice system is unaccountable, expensive, and unsafe – and that Congress and the Obama Administration need to pass legislation that protects children.

“At 13 years old…the first time I was ever locked up and put in a juvenile facility [for a school fight]…I was scared, I was hopeless…I had to check my humanity at the door in order to survive,” said Chino Hardin of the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives at a press conference held Monday in downtown D.C. “Parts of me died that day.”

Chino traveled from New York to join hundreds of other members of the Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) from 19 states for a National Juvenile Justice Conference, which concluded with the launch of a National Week of Action on Monday, Dec. 6. The weekend of activities included 30 workshops, art and performances by youth, and a 10-Year Celebration commemorating the network’s long-term battle to “Stop the Rail to Jail.”

On Monday the network launched its “Week of Action” at a press conference where members rallied before leaving for the Capital to urge to their representatives to support reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA), [S.678 in the Senate], and passage of the Youth PROMISE Act [H.R. 1064/S.435]. More info below in the attached fact sheet.

Eight speakers – who included parents of incarcerated youth, formerly incarcerated young adults, and advocates – told personal stories of abuse by guards, children who committed suicide in adult lock-up, and what alternatives would help youth instead of incarceration or detention.

Vicky Gunderson, of La Crosse County in Wisconsin, lost her son Kirk five years ago. Per Wisconsin state law, the 17-year-old had been locked up in adult prison, where he took his life.

"Today I'm taking action for Kirk's voice," Gunderson said. "Our youth are at stake. They're our children. They're not adults that should be in adult facilities and treated like adults."

Tarsha Jackson of the Texas Families of Incarcerated Youth shared with the crowd how her mentally ill son was locked up at age 11 for breaking a window at a neighborhood pool. He was sent to a facility for nine months, which turned into three-and-a-half years.

"Not only did the system rape my son of his right to live, but he didn't have the opportunity to be a kid," Jackson said. Her son was sexually abused by another youth while locked up.

Rev. Ruben Austria, founder of Community Connections for Youth in the Bronx, spoke as a faith leader when comparing the battle against injustice in the system to biblical struggles.

“I’m concerned about what I see happening in the justice system…thousands of young lives being lost to a system that is overly punitive, motivated by fear, racial bias, is economically exploitative and it’s a system that makes worse those that it purports to rehabilitate,” Austria said.

The national network’s “National Week of Action” is intended put a fresh face on an emergent movement to push for transformation of the juvenile justice system. Approximately 93,000 young people are held in juvenile justice facilities across the U.S. States spend about $5.7 billion each year imprisoning youth, even though the majority are held for nonviolent offenses and could be managed safely in the community, according to the Justice Policy Institute (JPI).

“The midterm elections revealed that the Administration and Congress need our base support,” said Tshaka Barrows, program director of CJNY. “We will let our elected officials know we are willing to support them only if they work to reform this nation’s broken juvenile justice system.”

Some community-based alternatives to detention and incarceration have been shown to reduce recidivism by up to 22 percent, and some have yielded up to $13 in benefits to public safety for every dollar spent. By contrast, 70 percent of incarcerated youth are held in state-funded residential facilities at an average cost of $240.99 per day per youth, according to JPI.

To download photographs of the event, click here: http://tinyurl.com/25wmlaf

*** For follow-up questions, to request audio/photos of the event, or interviews with spokespeople contact Shadi Rahimi, CJNY Communications Director, (415) 321-4100 X102 or at srahimi@burnsinstitute.org ***