Juvenile Offenders and Jobs: Time for CORI Reform

This post first appeared on Beacon Broadside (10/27/10). David Chura, a writer and educator, worked with at-risk youth for many years and shares the voices of young people that he met as a teacher in a New York prison in his new book I Don’t Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup. We highly recommend David’s excellent blog, Kids in the System, and are so grateful to him for letting CfJJ share his post.

At the beginning of my ten years teaching teenagers in a county lockup, years I chronicle in I Don’t Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup (Beacon Press), I was always surprised, and yes, disappointed, when one of my students got rearrested.

Jail’s a sobering place no matter how tough you want to think you are. The deprivation, brutality, and oppression gets your attention especially if you’re 15 years old. So once locked up, many of the kids I taught saw my jailhouse classroom as an opportunity to do something productive. Along with education, some got counseling to deal with their addiction and anger problems; others reconnected with family and church. When they were released, they talked about changing their lives for the better. They were sincere and determined, and I was hopeful that they would do just that.

Reflections on Youth in Gangs: Beyond the Headlines

Speakers at Youth in Gangs: Beyond the Headlines

By: Tristan Walsh, CfJJ Intern

Last week, Citizens for Juvenile Justice hosted a forum at the Boston Bar Association about youth in gangs in Massachusetts.  People from the community and many parts of the juvenile justice system joined in a discussion with a panel consisting of an academic researcher, service providers, and four former gang members.

For me, the forum was an eye-opening experience.  Everything I knew before about gangs came from news stories, tv, and other media.  Among other things, I believed gangs had grown dramatically in recent years and were inextricably linked with the drug trade.

Judges Forced to Revisit Juveniles’ Life Sentences

The Wall Street Journal recently (10/29/10)  featured an article on states’ responses to the Supreme Court’s decision in Graham v. Florida, which ruled life sentences without parole (LWOP) for juveniles to be unconstitutional for non-homicide cases.  Although a number of states are reviewing sentences that fit narrowly into this category, others are examining the larger issue of whether juveniles should ever be sentenced to LWOP.  Massachusetts currently has at least 57 people serving life without parole for crimes committed when they were under 18.

By NATHAN KOPPEL

Judges are grappling with whether it is ever proper to sentence a juvenile to life in prison without parole in light of a Supreme Court decision that such a punishment for non-murderers is cruel and unusual.