By Marcy Mistrett, CEO of the Campaign for Youth Justice

2016 was quite the year to celebrate the IMPACT of ending the adultification of youth by the justice system. States continue to lead reform efforts, thanks to the stellar work of advocates and impacted youth and their families in championing these reforms as: a bipartisan issue, that makes sense for young people, public safety, and states’ bottom line.  We can absolutely say this year's reforms happened nationally: From Vermont to South Carolina and Louisiana to Indiana, Arizona to California and Washington, DC -- legislators are passing, with wide margins, reforms that take into account that children are different from adults. At the federal level, we got farther on the reauthorization of the JJDPA than we have in 15 years--with strongly supported bipartisan bills that passed in the House, and almost through the Senate-- that would call for removing youth certified as adults from adult jails while they pend trial. And the POTUS took notice, and paid a lot of attention to young men of color in our justice system, using his executive powers to leverage change.

By Jessica Sandoval and Roger Ghatt

As the Campaign for Youth Justice commemorates 10 years of advocating on behalf of youth, we are also reflective of our tenure at the Campaign.  Ten years ago we started from scratch, with not even an office to call home, but one thing has remained the same: we continue to be guided by urgency.  There are still too many youth transferred to and prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system.  We aspire to continue changing that.  We have made significant progress and are very proud of our contributions to the work; this year we have celebrated our 10 years of impact. It has been wonderful to be able to celebrate of all the reforms we have been a part of over the past 10 years. Now is a good time to acknowledge all of our accomplishments and to consider new strategies for continuing to build a movement that advances nationwide reforms in removing youth from the adult criminal justice system.

2016 marks CFYJ’s 10th Anniversary and we have launched our “Impact Year” -- a series of events, social media campaigns, blogs, and other activities to highlight voices from the field to REFLECT on how far we have come; REJOICE in the progress we’ve made; and RECOMMIT to ending the practice of trying youth as adults. We hope you join us on a year’s journey to reflect, rejoice and re-commit to treating youth humanely, and removing them from the adult criminal justice system. 

We thank our funders, Public Welfare Foundation and Annie E. Casey Foundation for featuring us in their newsletters. Keep an eye out for more #IMPACT news as the year continues.

Annie E. Casey Foundation (Link)

Public Welfare Foundation Newsletter: