We are so excited for this year’s Youth Justice Awareness Month (YJAM)!

Every October, youth, families, and advocates from all over the nation come together to host YJAM events to expose the consequences of children being prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system and incarcerated in adult jails and prisons. Together, we build collective action to launch and support local campaigns that work towards fair, humane, and effective reform.

This post is part of the JJDPA Mattersblog, a project of the Act4JJ Campaign with help from SparkAction. The JJDPA, the nation's landmark juvenile justice law, turns 40 this September. Each month leading up to this anniversary, Act4JJ member organizations and allies will post blogs on issues related to the JJDPA.  To learn more and take action in support of JJDPA, visit the Act4JJ JJDPA MattersAction Center, powered by SparkAction.

On July 1st, the Interfaith Criminal Justice Coalition held Lessons from the Field: Protecting Youth and Stopping the Cycle of Incarceration. The event focused on the importance of rehabilitation in the criminal justice system. The speaker was Father Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries, an organization that provides wraparound services for former gang members.Homeboy Industries is the biggest program of its kind in the world.

This week, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the REDEEM Act (The Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act) which addresses several problematic areas of America’s current criminal justice system.

On Thursday, June 26, Judge Our Youth (JOY) Campaign advocates - Campaign for Youth Justice, DC Lawyers for Youth, and other allies, joined Black Youth Project 100, the DC chapter of the Black Youth Project, for a peaceful demonstration at the District's Central Detention Facility. The event focused on raising awareness of the criminalization of black youth in DC and is part of BYP’s larger campaign, the #CriminalizedLives Project, which seeks to collect stories from people that have been impacted by the criminal justice system, and specifically, the experiences of youth with law enforcement.

A new report shows that Latino voters support less incarceration and more rehabilitation. This week the Californians for Safety and Justice released a report, Latino Voices: The Impacts of Crime and Criminal Justice Policies on Latinos. The new report reveals that Latinos have surpassed whites to now make up the largest share of California’s population, yet are faced with unequal treatment at every stage of the justice system.

Meet CFYJ's Summer Fellows, pictured left to right: Samantha Wiggins,
Paige Bettge, Calvin Jackson, and Samuel Wilkins.

The Campaign for Youth Justice is pleased to introduce our 2014 Summer Fellows:

Paige Bettge- College of William & Mary
Paige was born and raised in Fairfax, Virginia, and currently attends the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is a rising junior and is studying philosophy and psychology. During her time at college, Paige has volunteered as a mentor for residents of a nearby juvenile detention facility. This experience has motivated her to work towards being an advocate for youth in the criminal justice system. Paige’s other interests include animal welfare, reading, and trips to the beach!

Youth Advocate Program (YAP) released new report today that shows community based programs are more effective and less expensive that locking up youth. As states continue to grapple with the fiscal impact of incarceration there seems to be smarter, more effective and less costly way of doing business. The Safely Home report highlights how youth have been safely and successfully supported in their homes and with their families in many jurisdictions around the country.

Thousands of children have been funneled into Michigan’s adult prison system due to a series of harsh “tough on crime” laws on perceived youth violence, according to a new report by the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency (MCCD).

In May 2014, Campaign for Youth Justice, working in partnership with DC Lawyers for Youth (DCLY), published a report titled, Capital City Correction: Reforming DC's Use of Adult Incarceration Against Youth.  The report explains how youth enter the adult system in DC, summarizes data on the number of youth tried as adults each year, and provides policy recommendations that would restore balance to the District's process for trying youth as adults.