Report: The Rising Cost of the City's Juvenile Justice System

On December 17, 2007, the Independent Budget Office of the City of New York released a 13 page fiscal brief detailing the rising cost of New York City's juvenile justice system. The report details each stage of processing juveniles through the system, and the costs associated with each phase of juvenile justice processing. "Overall," says the report "the total cost of providing juvenile justice has increased from $202 million in 2003 to more than $251 million estimated for the current fiscal year - a rise of 24 percent." Access the report at www.ibo.nyc.ny.us or download the report here. The Rising Cost of the City’s Juvenile Justice System

NYC Department of Juvenile Justice announces Release-to-Parent initiative

On November 1, 2007, the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) announced a plan to release certain youth admitted to DJJ to parental custody following arrest and police admission. According to advocates, DJJ has always had the prerogative to release police admits from their custody, but in the past had not exercised that option. The Release-to-Parent initiative is potentially significant as police admits currently account for nearly two-thirds of detention admissions. The announcement was made at a forum for faith and community leaders convened by Rev. Alfonso Wyatt at the Crossroads Juvenile Detention Center in Brooklyn.

OCFS Commissioner Gladys Carrion meets with faith and community leaders in the Bronx

On Monday, November 26 OCFS Commissioner Gladys Carrion met with faith and community leaders to discuss her vision for juvenile justice reform in New York State. The event, “What Faith and Community have to do with the Crisis of Children & Families of Color" was held at the Latino Pastoral Action Center in the Bronx. Commissioner Carrion spoke frankly about the immense task of effectively serving the children for whom she is responsible. She asked for help from faith and community leaders to address the vast needs of children in OCFS custody. She also asked them to hold her accountable and to continue to advocate for reform.

The God of Second Chances

The God of Second Chances This article by Francine Lange, published in the Winter 2004 edition of the American Bible Society's magazine The Record, profiles BronxConnect , a faith and community based alternative-to-incarceration program for Bronx court involved youth. BronxConnect is one of several programs operated by grassroots faith and community-based organization that serve as the inspiration for Community Connections.

Connecticut raises the age of juvenile court jurisduction

CT: Governor Signs Bill to Raise of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction from 16 to 18. On June 29, 2007, Connecticut raised the age at which juveniles are automatically tried as adults from 16 to 18 years old. Youth ages 16 and 17 will now be under juvenile court jurisdiction instead of being charged and tried as adults. This leaves New York and North Carolina as the only states in the nation that still try 16 year olds automatically as adults. This post from the Real Cost of Prisons weblog discusses the process that led to the change in policy.

Cover Story: How Can You Distinguish a Budding Pedophile From a Kid With Real Boundary Problems?

This cover story from the New York Times Magazine (7/22/07) discusses the problem of treating juvenile sex offenders as adults. Many juveniles accused of sex offenses are being tried as adults, added to sex offender registries, and mandated to sex offender treatment programs developed for use with the adult population. Researchers, however, are questioning whether juveniles who engage in sexual behavior with younger children are actually future pedophiles, or simply engaging in inappropriate sexual experimentation. Can you tell the difference? "It can be difficult," reads the tagline, "but research is showing that when it comes to sex crimes, youths are not just little adults. So why does the law tend to treat them that way?" I believe this is indicative of a common pattern in U.S. juvenile justice policy over the last several decades: a) A serious issue involving juveniles comes to light (gang involvement, sexual misconduct); b) Media coverage ignites public fear and alarm over the issues; c) Politicians move swiftly, and often hastily, to create laws to respond; d) A juvenile or criminal justice response to the problem is developed with the worst case offender in mind, but is written in such a way that it draws in far too many youth only present a marginal risk to society. Read the full text of the article here.

Editorial: The Wrong Approach to Gangs, NY Times July 19 2007

This piece from the NY Times Op/Ed page raises concerns over the nation's current approach to gangs, citing a study by the Justice Policy Institute which shows that "police dragnets that criminalize whole communities and land large numbers of nonviolent children in jail don’t reduce gang involvement or gang violence." Rather, efforts aimed at prevention and promoting positive youth development for youth who are at risk of gang involvement have a greater chance of improving public safety. Read the full NY Times editorial here: The Wrong Approach to Gangs

Towards a Movement: Uniting Organizers and Direct Service Providers in a Movement for Juvenile Justice Reform

Ruben Austria's article, first published in the Spring 2006 edition of the journal Afterschool Matters, explores critical incidents in the New York City movement for juvenile justice reform and reflects on how the principles of youth organizing can help bridge the gap between the goals of social justice and individual youth development.To read the full text of the article, click here: Toward a Movement: Uniting Organizers and Direct Service Providers in a Movement for Juvenile Justice Reform

Press Release: Community Connections receives support from the Open Society Institute

Over $1 Million Awarded to Visionary Leaders in Criminal Justice

Adapted from http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/news/justice_20070221

Eighteen Soros Justice Fellows Selected from Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, D.C.

Press Release
February 20, 2007

Contact:

Amy Weil aweil@sorosny.org 1-212-548-0381

 

 

NEW YORK—A lawyer working to unite children in foster care with their incarcerated parents and an investigative journalist exposing how justice is dispensed in Guantanamo Bay are among this year’s Open Society Institute Soros Justice Fellows.

The 18 outstanding scholars, advocates, reporters and attorneys will receive a 12-18 month stipend to implement creative projects to assist communities that are marginalized by criminal justice policies. Fellows’ stipends range between $45,000 and $71,250, and tackle issues such as racial profiling, prison reform, immigrants’ rights, and public safety.

“The Open Society Institute is proud to support these innovative leaders who are working to create a stronger, more equitable justice system,” said Antonio Maciel, director of OSI’s U.S. Justice Fund. “The fellowship program not only complements and deepens OSI’s justice reform work, but helps to challenge and expose pervasive inequalities in America.”

The 2007 Soros Justice Fellowships, which amount to $1,075,750 in grants, support work on local, state, and national levels. The Fellows come from 10 states and the District of Columbia.

This is the tenth consecutive year that OSI has offered grants to Soros Justice Fellows—part of a wider effort to strengthen justice in the United States and around the world. Since 1997, OSI has awarded over $12 million to 234 Soros Justice Fellows whose projects have helped to ensure that the criminal justice system in America does not ignore the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized people.

The Open Society Institute over the past decade has spent almost $796 million in the U.S. to support human rights, access to justice, education, palliative care, and the inclusion of all citizens in the democratic process.

2007 Soros Justice Fellows

Ruben Austria, advocate
W. Haywood Burns Institute
Bronx, NY Ruben Austria will launch Community Connections, which will work to reduce the harmful consequences of incarcerating young people, particularly poor youth of color. The project will foster effective, cost-efficient alternatives to detention that are rooted in the communities where the young people live. Austria is the founder of BronxConnect, a community-based alternative-to-incarceration program for court-involved youth in the Bronx. Austria sits on the Regional Organizing Council of the national Community Justice Network for Youth, and on the Steering Committee of the New York City Juvenile Justice Coalition. He has been the recipient of the Mentoring Award from the National Mentoring Partnership and the Esther House Prison Ministries Award. Austria has guest lectured at Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, New York Theological Seminary, and Yale University. He is a founding member and elder of The Promised Land Church in the South Bronx, dedicated to bringing liberation to socially and economically marginalized people. In 2005 he was invited to the White House in honor of his work with young people. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell, and is also a graduate of Columbia’s Institute for Non-Profit Management.

###

The Open Society Institute, a private operating and grantmaking foundation, is part of the network of foundations, created and funded by George Soros, and is active in more than 60 countries around the world.OSI's U.S. Programs seeks to strengthen democracy in the United States by addressing barriers to opportunity and justice, broadening public discussion about such barriers, and assisting marginalized groups to participate equally in civil society and to make their voices heard. U.S. Programs challenges over-reliance on the market by advocating appropriate government responsibility for human needs and promoting public interest and service values. U.S. Programs supports initiatives in a range of areas including access to justice for low and moderate income people; judicial independence; ending the death penalty; over-reliance on incarceration; drug policy reform; inner-city education and youth programs; fair treatment of immigrants; and reproductive health and choice.