Keeping Kids Out of Prison is Everybody’s Business

        Even before the recent economic downturn, there was an increase in theft crimes among adults as well as our youth.  Theft and violence bring more of our young people into the system than any other crimes.  There are a number of programs designed to prevent delinquency as well as teach young people how to interact with the police.  In the past there has been an emphasis of confining young people to a correctional facility as a last resort.  The confinement was to be for the shortest amount of time necessary.  In recent years the crimes committed by youths have become more violent and the punishment has become harsher.  We have seen juveniles sentenced to life in prison, and they are not always separated from harden criminals.  They may go into the system as a chronic juvenile delinquent and come out as a professional criminal. 

Statistics show that the majority of juvenile crimes are committed by repeat offenders between the ages of nine and seventeen.  Juveniles commit more violent crimes than adults.  These youths usually come into conflict with the law at an early age and go in and out of the system until they are sentenced to numerous years or life in prison. 

 To prevent young people from entering the system at an early age, we must begin reaching out to at-risk juveniles at an earlier age. This is what led the WFJ team to form a team to write books using case scenarios to show youth, and their parent, how one bad choice can lead to lifetime tragic consequences.” 

Clara Hunter King’s recent book, Thirty-Five Years on Death Row: The Roger Collins Story, a true story about a young man who has been on death row since he was eighteen years old, and This Is Not Cool, Volumes I & II, show clearly how wrong choices ruined the lives of teenagers and devastated their parents.   This is Not Cool is a series of short stories written by a group of criminal defense attorneys and a private investigator who were appalled by the number of young people entering the criminal justice system.  This Is Not Cool, Volume I, was published in 2006 and made the Essence Best sellers List in 2007.

In their effort to educate young people and their parents, the WFJ Team has conducted seminars and workshops throughout Georgia, in Los Angeles and Inglewood, California, Normal, Alabama, and Danville, Illinois.  They have conducted seminars and workshops in Churches, libraries, colleges, universities, apartment complexes, homeless shelters, Museums, and private homes. 

Their work in the criminal justice system has afforded them the opportunity to witness firsthand how young people get caught up in the system.  Many young people leave home with the intent of just hanging out or having fun with their friends, and have no idea that it may be five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years before they make it back home.  Some have babies who will be grown by the time they are released from prison. 

In recent years we have seen more juveniles prosecuted as adults.  Every state has some provision for transferring juveniles to adult courts, and yet some states, automatically transfer juveniles sixteen and over to adult courts, without an interim process.  Each youngster sent to prison from our families or communities affects all of us.  Working together, we can stem the tide of our youth flowing into the criminal justice system.  Knowledge is power.  Let’s make sure our young people, and their parents, have the knowledge and information they need to help them live healthy productive lives.  They are our future.