Juvenile-in-Justice

Juvenile-In-Justice

One of our first tasks for the Fall semester of 2015 is to learn more about photographer, Richard Ross.  The photograph featured on the cover of Nell Bernstein's Burning Down the House, The End of Juvenile Prison text was taken by Richard Ross.   You can learn more about Ross and the Juvenile-In-Justice project documenting the incarceration of children in the United States at juvenile-in-justice.com

At the website you can also purchase the text and learn about other books as well.  This week we watched the program Conversations from Penn State, hosted by Patty Satalia interviewing Ross about the Juvenile-In-Justice project.  Click here to check it out.

In thinking about the work of other social justice photographers such Joseph Rodriguez, it has me thinking about a course that studies juvenile justice through the lens.  There are several other photographers who've captured the justice system through photo.  I'd call the class something like Photo Justice...

Keywords + Tag = Richard Ross | Nell Bernstein | Juvenile-In-Justice | Burning Down the House, The End of Juvenile Prison | photography | incarceration | juvenile justice | photo justice | Joseph Rodriguez | lens | Patty Satalia | Conversations from Penn State | #TBW2015cj

Day 1 August 19, 2015 @nmsu #TBWSyllabi2015

Day 1 August 19, 2015 @nmsu

#TBWSyllabi2015

Attorney General Remarks Convening on School Discipline

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Delivers Remarks 

at White House Convening on School Discipline

"As you know, today, far too many young people – disproportionately children of color and children with disabilities – are suspended, expelled or even arrested as a result of unnecessarily harsh school discipline policies and practices that essentially criminalize minor infractions.  Far too many young people spend precious time during their formative years excluded from social interactions, denied learning opportunities and deprived of the kind of encouragement and understanding that they need to progress and improve.  And far too often, zero-tolerance school discipline policies serve as a tripwire that sends young people stumbling into a vicious cycle of criminality and incarceration."

Read the full remark transcription: click here

Keywords + Tag = Loretta E. Lynch | Attorney General | Department of Justice | DOJ | White House | school discipline | zero tolerance | suspension | disparity | children | criminalization | minor infractions | school suspension | social interaction | youth outreach | juvenile justice | school to prison pipeline | vicious cycle

Kids for Ca$h the Movie

 

Kids for Ca$h

The Movie

In 2013 as I prepared for the following Spring semester 2014, I searched for a text that I thought would compliment our reading of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.  I was looking for something that revolved around juvenile justice when I stumbled upon another New Press title by William Ecenbarger through an email blast about his book Kids for Cash: Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.6 Million Kickback Scheme.  I felt this text would fit the focus of history we get from Alexander's text connecting mass incarceration to the roots of slavery and the modern day practice of zero tolerance and an American juvenile justice system in Luzerne County Pennsylvania that fed off the vulnerabilities of American children cycling them into an unnecessary costly detention binge. 

Over the course of the semester I had no idea a film would reveal itself based on the Kids for Cash scheme.  I finally got the chance to watch Kids for Cash the movie on Netflix and encourage everyone, especially CJ students, justice professionals, educators, policy people, etc. to watch and continue to pass the word on this film, especially the text.  It's an informative and detailed account not only of the Luzerne County story, but how it reflects a much bigger problem nationwide when it comes to both adult and juvenile incarceration.

This film puts a face to injustice unlike any documentary film I've ever seen.  By the end I wondered who's face sat behind the bench when Kalief Browder was remanded without bail having to endure three years on Riker's Island. 

For more information on the film visit kidsforcashthemovie.com

The film is available as DVD and stream from Netflix.  You can access Netflix through the app and watch on any mobile device.  You can also purchase your own copy through Amazon click here.

Keywords + Tag = Kids for Cash | William Ecenbarger | Robert May | Mark Ciavarella | Michael Conahan | Juvenile Law Center | Kalief Browder | Riker's Island | juvenile justice | The New Press | documentary | prison | incarceration | corruption | Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas | Pennsylvania | VBW classroom | criminal justice