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City Council fails to properly address gangs; new bill could target Black and Latino teens |
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 09:36 |
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By STEPHON JOHNSON
Amsterdam News Staff
On February 11, the New York City Council voted 38 to 9 in approval of a bill, Intro 1-2010, that would crack down on gang initiation activity and prevent gangs from recruiting new members.
This new legislation creates a Class A misdemeanor penalty for what it dubs “criminal street gang initiation.” Those who are charged would face as much as a year in jail if convicted of initiating a person and if the initiation created a risk of “physical injury.” So what’s the problem with this bill? The New York Police Department and prosecution don’t have to prove with witness testimony that the injury took place during initiation.
Vagueness permeates this bill and it leaves a lot of questions open to a plethora of answers. One question, however, has been asked multiple times since news of the bill’s passing broke: Will this bill unfairly target Black and Latino teenagers in New York City? Two people answered with a resounding “yes” to that question.
Charisa Smith, coordinator of the New York Task Force on Racial Disparities and the Juvenile Justice System, spoke of the myriad of ways in which this bill can be a problem.
“I think it’ll really allow for an undesignated level of restriction without any guidelines,” Smith said. “They can make an assumption as to what a group is going to do. The policies are, if you see this kind of behavior, you must do this. [It] leaves you with a broad range of possibility.
“It’s going to widen the potential load of alleged suspects,” Smith continued. “It’s gonna really confuse young people, because how do you avoid it?”
Smith isn’t the only one who sees holes in this legislation. Marquez Claxton, a former NYPD officer and City Council candidate, thinks the bill could be a good thing with clear regulations and directions, but sees parallels with another NYPD practice.
“The expressed sentiment behind it is a good thing,” Claxton acknowledged. “But the concern would be the application of the law by the police department. The real problem comes with how they enforce it. Will it be equally enforced or will it be targeted enforcement? If this is done the same way as stop and frisk, we have to look at the legislation with a skewed eye.”
Last year, police officers stopped a record 575,000 people under the stop and frisk policy, in which officers stop, detain and/or pat down people in the streets. Almost 90 percent of those who were stopped under the policy were Black or Latino. The NYPD claims that the practice has stopped and prevented crimes, but many groups, including the ACLU, say it unfairly targets ethnic minorities and violates basic civil liberties.
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Juvenile Justice Funding At Risk |
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Written by Karlos Gauna Schmieder
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Wednesday, 24 June 2009 08:55 |
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This Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science is expected to approve legislation that fails to adequately support juvenile justice programs. By maintaining level funding for FY2010, programs serving at-risk youth and juvenile offenders are once again faced to do more with less. Since FY2002, juvenile justice funding has decreased by 56 percent. If the legislation is approved, the full Senate Appropriations committee could vote on these vital programs before the week is out. Each year more than 2.2 million youth are arrested, with 1.7 million of these referred to juvenile detention facilities. On any given night, 100,000 youth are resting within juvenile detention facilities, and 70 percent of this level is for non-violent offenses. Public policy leaders have failed to prioritize initiatives for keeping youth safe and away from negative influences. Advocates are telling their congressional appropriators that they must pay greater attention to the needs of this population. Advocates are contacting their representatives about the importance of these programs in their community. They are asking:
1) Restore funding for Title II Formula grants to the FY2002 level of $89 million;
2) Restore the Title V program to its FY2002 level of $95 million, with no set-asides/earmarks; and
3) Restore funding for Juvenile Accountability Block Grant at the FY2002 level of $250 million.
4) These programs together promote the prevention of juvenile delinquency and provide the appropriate community-based treatment when youth are in trouble.
A full committee listing of the Senate Appropriations committee is available here. |
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Meet the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Task Force on Racial Disparities AKA Da FORCE |
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Tuesday, 19 May 2009 15:13 |
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Who We Are
We are a group of community stakeholders who have come together to demand unprecedented transparency and accountability from the juvenile justice system whose racist policies and practices have devastating outcomes for youth in our state. We are organizing for fair treatment of all youth and less reliance on detention in our state. With training and support from CJNY, Da FORCE has been meeting regularly for over a year.
What We Do Da FORCE is focusing on two main goals at this time. • Education: We are committed to exposing the racism of the juvenile justice system to youth and families in our communities. Da FORCE has built on curriculum created by CJNY and made it fit the realities of Massachusetts. We offer workshops on myths and facts about the system, history of the juvenile justice system, navigating the system, and the importance of data collection to create real change. We hope that through popular education, we can build a base of people who are armed with knowledge and strategies to take on the system. • Data Collection: Data is the key to creating positive, measurable change in the juvenile justice system. Right now, the state of MA doesn’t even know how many youth were arrested last year. What we do know is youth of color make up 20% of the state population but 60% of population in juvenile detention. We demand mandated data collection and reporting at every decision point of the justice system so that we can attack racial disparities everywhere they are happening. These are our youth trapped in a system that we pay for. This data belongs to the people, and we will use it to identify policies that are harming youth or color and fight to change them. |
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ACT NOW! 35th Anniversary of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act |
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Thursday, 30 April 2009 12:02 |
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Time to Renew Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act For 35 years, the JJDPA has provided direction and support for juvenile justice system improvements and has significantly contributed to the reduction of juvenile crime and delinquency. The JJDPA sets out federal standards for the custody and care of youth in the juvenile justice system.
Reauthorizing the JJDPA this year will protect children from the dangers of adult jails, improve safety for youth in custody, and increase fairness by requiring states to take steps to reduce racial and ethnic disparities. The continuing success of effective juvenile crime prevention and deterrence depends on Congress strengthening both the provisions of the JJDPA, as well as the funding resources needed for states and localities to implement the law.
1. Ask your member of Congress to support a strong reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) during the 111th Congress. Visit this link to send them your message.
2. Request your "Join the Movement Action Kit! from our allies the Campaign for Youth Justice who is spearheading this effort! To request your kit, please email them at
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. Please specify how many kits you would like and the address you would like them sent to.
3. Join the Campaign for Youth Justice on facebook to get updates on activities related to the reauthorization of the JJDPA. Their group name is Campaign for Youth Justice.
For more information about how you or your organization can offer support for the reauthorization of the JJDPA generally, please contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. For more information about JJDPA and how you can send a letter or contact your congressional representative, please visit ACT4JJ.org. |
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AB 999 creates an incentive program for youth in the Division of Juvenile Facilities |
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Written by Shadi Rahimi
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Thursday, 30 April 2009 11:11 |
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AB 999 creates an incentive program for youth in the Division of Juvenile Facilities and eliminates the use of "time adds" as a disciplinary measure. Books Not Bars and Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner have introduced the bill, which would specifically: (1) Allow youth to receive day for day "program credits" that would advance a youth's parole consideration hearing date accordingly. Program credits could be earned for participation in educational, vocational, and other rehabilitative programs. (2) Remove the authority of the DJJ to extend the parole consideration dates of youth in the DJF. AB 999 aims to bring youth prisons in line with adult prisons, where individuals may earn time credits for desired behaviors. The incentive-based system will encourage youth using positive reinforcements rather than punitive practices, which studies have discredited as ineffective. Youth in DJJ currently spend an average of nearly three years behind bars. Over a third of that time is due to “time adds." Time adds are a disciplinary sanction that delays a youth’s eligibility to appear before the Parole board. While an appearance before the Board does not guarantee release, AB 999 will provide youth with more opportunities to demonstrate their readiness for release.
DJJ’s misuse of time adds is a primary reason that California has the longest average period of incarceration for youth in the nation. California holds a young person longer in the state prisons than do other states for comparable offenses. This results in long separations from work and family for the youth, and enormous costs to taxpayers. Longer periods of lockup in our state’s failed youth prisons do not result in increased public safety or better outcomes for youth.
Currently, DJJ spends $234,000 per youth, per year, and has an extraordinary recidivism rate of 72%. In this economic climate, time adds are a costly and harmful practice that just does not make sense. AB 999 is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Public Safety Committee later this month. Fax letter of support to Assemblymember Jose Solorio Chair, Public Safety Committee fax: (916) 319-2169. Or click here to ask your Assemblymember to co-sponsor AB 999. |
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