“They treat us like animals”: Empowering Incarcerated Voices in the Juvenile Justice System Through Youth Activism

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early-Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

Young people of color have become stigmatized by Jim Crow-like laws (Alexander, 2011) that leave them disenfranchised by facing discrimination in employment, housing, and access to education and public benefits. Even more disturbing, “get tough” policies have pushed legislation in 43 states to lower the age at which juveniles can be prosecuted as adults (Males and Macallair, 2000). This persistent movement to view juveniles as “menacing and dangerous” has turned the focus towards punishment rather than rehabilitation (Ginwright and Cammorata, 2002). Not surprisingly, in the “New Jim Crow” era, working class youth of color receive harsher sentences for the same crimes as their White peers (Alexander, 2011). While youth of color represent only 16 percent of the overall population, they make up 34 percent of children arrested and 38 percent of children adjudicated (Mendel, 2011).

As a result, this issue deserves our attention. It is essential that we develop strategies and proposals that empower youth of color who have been incarcerated and are trying to navigate the juvenile justice system. One such strategy is to implement Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), which seeks to collaborate with young people in order to create community-based projects aimed at informing peers, educators, and community members about the most pressing issues they face in their daily lives (Cammarota and Fine, 2008). These community-based projects are different from service learning because youth are involved in designing, implementing, analyzing and presenting research. YPAR provides youth the opportunity to learn how to become social scientists who study the key issues impacting their respective communities.

The purpose of this poster is to describe a YPAR project conducted by Leaders Organizing 2 Unite & Decriminalize (LOUD) youth members, which are comprised of allies and formerly incarcerated youth. LOUD investigates and documents how current juvenile justice policies detrimentally impact their peers as well as suggests recommendations to improve the current system. Specifically, we seek to answer the following research question: 1) How can YPAR be utilized to empower former incarcerated youth to challenge and affect current juvenile justice policies?

LOUD has conducted thus far four focus group interviews in the Detention Center and an additional two focus group interviews with Specially Court. In addition, LOUD has collected approximately 75 surveys from youth who are part of the Juvenile Justice System at various stages (e.g., probation, parole). The survey assesses various experiences within the system from court to treatment to incarceration. Youth are systematically analyzing the data by employing grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

Preliminary findings indicate that youth in the Detention Center have little access to their lawyers and families. A major theme has been a lack of access to information regarding their cases and their time remaining in detention. Several participants stated during their focus group interviews, “They treat us like animals.” This powerful statement speaks to another theme of dehumanization. Participants wanted staff who are trained in or receive anti-racist training, youth development and/or conflict resolution. A third key theme youth expressed was overtreatment. A common experience for many youth in the Detention Center was the fact that systems people resorted to treatment as the first option. For many, there were other factors that needed to be addressed such as issues of poverty, housing, employment, abuse and so forth. With regards to the survey, a common theme found was the emotional, physical, and psychological trauma youth experienced going to the courthouse. Many youth wrote that they would physically get sick upon entering and often think they were going to be in trouble even when they were not in trouble. Another theme found in the surveys and focus groups was the fact that youth wanted a greater say as it relates to their punishment and treatment. From the surveys, a vast majority of youth only saw their lawyers prior to trial. What has consistently emerged from the focus group interviews is that there is often no choice. For example, you either go to treatment or to jail. Hence, this is not a choice. Thus, voice is the final theme and a critical theme to help youth be more engaged and invested so they can rehabilitate and progress.

The educational significance of this project is that it centers marginalized youth voices by allowing them to advocate what they believe to be the key issues and solutions within the Juvenile Justice System. More importantly, it allows youth to present counternarratives as it relates to their incarceration and reveals their pressing educational obstacles and successes. Oftentimes, when youth become system involved their education gets interrupted leading to greater high school drop out rates. In the end, we want audience members to leave with a firmer understanding of the criminalization of youth, how zero-tolerance policies contribute, and how policies in the juvenile justice system create recidivism.

Author

• Shiv Raj Desai, University of New Mexico