JULY 7^th – National Juvenile Justice Call-In Day

Action Alert:  July 7^th is National Juvenile Justice Call-In Day—Call your Congressional Representatives and Ask Them to Make Juvenile Justice a Priority This Year!

For too long, “tough on crime” political rhetoric has resulted in juvenile justice laws that are bad for youth and that ultimately increase crime. Research has proven time and time again that there are better, more effective ways to deal with juvenile offenders, and it is time for Congress to act to improve our nation’s juvenile justice system.

Time is running out– if we don’t act now, juvenile justice reform will not happen this year!! We need you to let Congress know that voters care about juvenile justice!

Although there are many items on the agenda for Congress to do this year, three major juvenile justice initiatives remained stalled:

• Reauthorizing the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which is currently three years overdue for reauthorization.  The JJDPA, first enacted in 1974, promotes the use of effective community-based alternatives to detention, keeps youth out of adult facilities, reduces the disproportionate involvement of youth of color in the system, and promotes other research-driven best practices in the juvenile justice system. Call on Congress to reauthorize the bill now!

• Increasing appropriations for juvenile justice programs, which were the only category of children’s programs that received a significant decrease in funding in the President’s proposed budget.  In order for the States to make positive changes, they must receive the federal support they need to prevent youth crime and rehabilitate juvenile offenders. We have seen a sharp decline in funding for juvenile justice programs as a whole since FY 2002. Ask Congress to preserve and increase juvenile justice appropriations for the coming fiscal year!

• Passing the Youth PROMISE Act to promote proven, cost-effective prevention-based strategies to reduce youth crime. Under Youth PROMISE, representatives from the communities facing the greatest juvenile crime challenges will be able to develop a comprehensive plan to prevent youth crime through a coordinated prevention and intervention response.

Action item: We need your help!  On July 7^th, contact your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. House Representative and ask them to make juvenile justice a priority in the 111^th Congress by:

• Reauthorizing the JJDPA;
• Increasing juvenile justice appropriations; and
• Passing the Youth PROMISE Act

To contact your Congressional Representative and Senators, visit http://sparkaction.org/content/national-juvenile-justice-call-day and enter your zip code.  The numbers for your representatives will appear along with talking points and a feedback form to report on the response you received.

Thank you for your help!

Download:

National Call-in Day Talking Points – 6.24.10-3

By Tom Hayden, The Nation

LOS ANGELES. Jan. 13. U.S. Judge Manuel Real granted Alex Sanchez bail after a closed ninety-minute session with law enforcement and civic officials today. The former gang member and founder of Homies Unidos is expected to be freed in ten days after posting $2 million property and sureties.

A beaming Oscar Sanchez, the younger brother of Alex Sanchez, praised the ruling by Real, which he said “underlines the judge’s finding that Alex is not a danger to the community nor a flight risk. We believe he is in fact a great asset to communities like ours across the country.”

Supporters of Sanchez, organized as wearealex.org, were jubilant in many cities where pressure campaigns have been mounted. The decision was seen as a victory for gang intervention workers, many of whom have attended the LA proceedings since June.  Read more…

By Dennis Romero – LA Weekly

Police Cheif Beck calls intervention “the primary thing” that “will eventually be the solution to gang violence that gets exported out of L.A.”

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck was asked if one of the reasons gang crime was low in the city because gang members are getting too old to get down. He didn’t think so, telling a town-hall gathering of listeners of KPCC (89.3 FM) that “gang membership is not down — gang violence is down.”

Beck said police were targeting trouble-makers, not necessarily gangs themselves. And he gave an endorsement for the city’s new, $200,000 gang intervention training academy. He called intervention “the primary thing” that “will eventually be the solution to gang violence that gets exported out of L.A.”

Beck made the comments on-air Thursday on Patt Morrison’s “Ask The Chief” segment, which aired before a live audience.

Beck is banking on gang intervention in part because he has a limited number of officers, and the city budget doesn’t seem to bode well for an increase in the number of badges at the department. Also, the state has been ordered to release 40,000 prisoners to relieve overcrowding. A plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to meet the federal order was recently approved, but it’s not clear when the convicts will reach the streets.

Experts believe that many of those released will end up in Los Angeles County, and that many are gang members. Beck has said if the community does not reintegrate them in a constructive way, gangs will take them in in a more-destructive way.