Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Why this couple's wedding registry was devoted to paying off Philly kids' court costs

    A couple created a nonprofit in Philadelphia to make micro grants for those who need small amounts to pay off medical bills or legal fees so they can move on with their lives. The effort garnered modest donations, including through their own wedding registry, and has made about 10 grants, but those have had significant impacts on recipients. The two acknowledge this is more like a bandaid, so they also partnered with a policy organization to work on wider systemic change.

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  • Community works to help children overcome trauma

    Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), have long-term effects on children as they grow up, and children with high ACEs scores often experience serious mental health problems. In Stark County, Ohio, the Stark County Family Council's Trauma and Resiliency Committee works with schools, educators, and children with ACEs to help lower suicide and crime rates among these adolescents.

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  • Youth prisons are standing empty, but are a huge opportunity

    Across the country municipalities are repurposing former juvenile detention centers as juvenile incarceration rates have declined and remaking them as places of healing. Each community is different in its approach, with some even knocking down the buildings to start anew, but the Urban Institute found that successful transitions had several core strategies in common, including seeking input from local community members and from those who had been incarcerated in the facilities.

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  • A Rare Look Inside One of the Only High Schools at an Adult Jail

    A new high school inside the New Orleans jail gives juvenile detainees the opportunity to earn credits toward graduation, not just a GED, and possibly find a different future. It's showing promise, with three people earning diplomas so far and more passing state exams in English and math. But the challenges are many because students are in a violent jail awaiting adjudication that could mean many more years behind bars.

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  • Saving The Future, One Kid At A Time

    A program in Philadelphia created to divert students who get in trouble away from the juvenile justice system is poised to grow into the first Juvenile Justice Hub in the country with help from a competitive grant program through Bloomberg Philanthropies. The hub would be based on successful program created in the city's schools that has cut the number of kids arrested in half and is designed to address students' behavior by understanding the environment in which students live and connecting them to social services.

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  • After Unthinkable Loss

    A healing circle in Chicago brings together women who have lost their children through violence or incarceration to give one another support through the grieving process. It's part of an overall move toward restorative justice in Chicago, but is the only peace circle in the city devoted exclusively to mothers, who were often overlooked in outreach efforts, according to the nun who helped launch it. Many of the women cannot afford therapy and the group helps them avoid isolation.

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  • Bernalillo County partners with South Valley community programs to end racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice

    A program in Albuquerque, New Mexico that successfully diverted young offenders from the criminal justice system still grappled with kids running away while under house arrest. This defeats the purpose of diversion since they can end up in jail, so county officials found another option for kids who might have chaotic home lives. They partnered with a community organization where kids can go if they need a safe space without violating their probation orders and learn skills like gardening and screen printing.

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  • Young Perps: The Costs of Sensationalizing Youth Crime

    Media and public scrutiny as well as the experience of being detained can worsen the outlook for juvenile offenders. Increasing court involvement, keeping the media at bay, and having a juvenile facility can help the circumstances.

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  • What Happens When a School Stops Arresting Kids for Throwing Skittles

    After a school in Jefferson Parish gained national notoriety for having an 8th grader sent to juvenile jail for six days for tossing Skittles on a school bus, the area's schools reformed school discipline by adopting a system of mediation and community conflict resolution based on restorative justice principles. In the first year, one middle school's suspensions have dropped by more than half. Racial disparities in school suspensions or arrests have led many other schools to follow a similar path. Success seems to depend on making restorative justice central to the mission, not just a disciplinary add-on.

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  • What turns some children into criminals? A look into the effects of emotional trauma

    In South Africa, several programs help young people who come from backgrounds of violence and trauma find new ways to engage in the world through sports, or teaching empathy and positive communication. Others focus on parents of young children to teach healthy ways to cope with discipline issues. These are part of a wider policy push in the country to focus on restorative justice and early child development to short-circuit youth crime.

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