Youth Justice Project

At a recent talk I gave on the School-to-Prison Pipeline, a school board member in the audience strongly objected to the metaphor and said he thought it wrongly blamed school boards and school administrators for a whole host of societal problems that weren’t theirs to solve. At one level, I accept his point: schools can’t […]

*Originally published in the News & Observer Incidents of school crime and violence, short- and long-term suspensions, alternative learning program placements and corporal punishment were all down last school year. The Department of Public Instruction and school districts have been quick to tout the progress. Teachers and administrators deserve praise for keeping more students in school […]

The recent horrific police killings of African-American youth in Ferguson, Cleveland, and many other places across the country are a depressing reminder of the urgent need to rethink the ways in which law enforcement officers have come to be present in the vast majority of public middle and high schools in North Carolina. Of course, not all officers assigned […]

The NC Legislature was in session from May 14 through August 20. Major issues in the 2014 legislative session included financing the $445 million state budget shortfall, teacher pay, Medicaid and coal ash ponds. Below are legislative changes that occurred within Justice and Public Safety. HB 725—Young Offenders Rehabilitation Act aka Raise the Age, which raises […]

In the 2012-13 school year, North Carolina students missed more than 750,000 school days due to suspension. Though suspension is the most widely used disciplinary technique in both general and special education, research has raised serious questions about its effects. First, evidence does not support the notion that suspension improves the behavior of the suspended […]

In late 2013 the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued opinions on three juvenile delinquency cases that merit highlighting: • In re J.L.H., 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 1155 • In re G.C., 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 1203 • In re A.F., 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 1316 The cases are notable not only for their immediate impact, but long […]

If advocates, policymakers, and lawmakers hope to plug the school-to-prison pipeline they must embrace policies and programs that are anti-bullying rather than anti-bully. Communities often rightly rush to the side of the victims of bullying, but what of the students who bully? They are not nameless monsters deserving of demonization. Beliefs that students who bully […]

We all want our kids to learn from their mistakes, go to school and get good jobs. Yet, NC remains one of only two states in the nation that automatically prosecutes all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for something as minor as stealing a bag of Doritos from the lunch room cafeteria (yes, it’s a true story). One day […]

In its upcoming legislative session, the North Carolina General Assembly is poised to again take up a Republican-sponsored bill that would expose more youth to criminal prosecution in the adult system. All who care about public safety and fair treatment of youth should oppose this and any other efforts to prosecute more young people in that system. […]

At 7:30 a.m. on a Friday morning, I began to receive a flurry of text messages from Selina, a 17-year-old high school student in Wake County, North Carolina. “Jen, something happened on the school bus. The SRO (School Resource Officer) wants to take me to jail.” Within minutes, I was able to speak with Officer […]

Jasmine, 16, stood behind the defense table in Criminal Courtroom 4-D. She was in line with two dozen “real” adults in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s who faced charges of robbery, selling drugs, home invasions, etc. As the presiding judge, I was conducting the first appearances to make sure each person understood his/her charges. When […]

The State Constitution and U.S. Constitution guarantee students in North Carolina public schools equal protection under of the laws. Moreover, under federal civil rights laws, North Carolina public school students have a right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, and disability. Yet Black students, male students, and students with disabilities are disproportionately pushed […]