Redirect Funds from Youth Incarceration to Community Based Alternatives

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    Juvenile Justice Officials and Legislators
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We support the redirection of funds currently spent on incarcerating juveniles to community-based alternatives-to-incarceration for youth. We believe that the $200,000 spent annually to keep just one young person in a youth prison is a waste of public dollars. We believe that the 75\% recidivism rate that comes from locking children up is proof these facilities are not good for public safety. We believe the fact that 86\% of the children in facilities are Black and Latino youth - mostly from low-income urban areas - represents racial and economic injustice. We believe that keeping empty and underutilized facilities open to maintain jobs in rural counties that don't send their own youth to the justice system is economic exploitation. At the same time, we know that community-based alternatives, where kids stay close to home and receive social services and supervision from responsible adults, achieve recidivism rates as low as 8 to 36\% at cost of $5,000 to $15,000 per youth annually. Knowing there are proven ways to turn children's lives around, improve public safety, and reduce government spending, we support the closure of New York State's costly, harmful, and ineffective youth prisons and support the reinvestment of the monies saved back into the communities where the young people live.

224 Signatures

  • Ruben Austria
    • Comments
    • We can no longer support investing in failure for our young people. Bring our kids home and bring the money back to our communities as well!
    • Address
    • Bronx, NY
    • Zip Code
    • 10454
  • Helen Barahal
    • Zip Code
    • 10025
  • Jason Andrews
    • Comments
    • В
    • Affiliation
    • В
    • Address
    • В
    • Zip Code
    • 10454
  • Jaime Austria
    • Comments
    • Convert Вs into $s and Richard Holloway, Chair of the Scottish Arts Council said it so clearly: "...the scandal of our policy towards troubled children is that we only start cascading financial resources into their lives when they start offending. Then we can find as much as В140K (around $200,000 in NYC) a year per child to feed them through the human shredder that is the British penal system. If we are not to go on losing generations of children to alienation and criminality, we have to find another way..." Source: "Listen to the keynote speech by Richard Holloway, Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council and of Sistema Scotland" http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/rpsawards08.shtml
    • Affiliation
    • В
    • Address
    • В
    • Zip Code
    • 10025
  • Eli Gutierrez
    • Zip Code
    • 11417
  • Justine Beaton
    • Zip Code
    • 10016
  • Brian
    • Zip Code
    • 10029
  • Peter C. Griffin
    • Comments
    • End this boondoggle
    • Affiliation
    • В
    • Address
    • В
    • Zip Code
    • 12414
  • Annie Moyer
    • Zip Code
    • 11217
  • Richard Miller
    • Comments
    • Let's invest in our kids future, not their demise!
    • Zip Code
    • 11238
  • Holland
    • Zip Code
    • 19128
  • Lorelei Narvaja Walters
    • Zip Code
    • 19125
  • Kelley Williams
    • Zip Code
    • 10025
  • Donna Noesi
    • Zip Code
    • 11702
  • Anthony Lawrence
    • Comments
    • В
    • Affiliation
    • В
    • Address
    • В
    • Zip Code
    • 11570
  • lynette collazo
    • Zip Code
    • 10473
  • Stephen Churchville
    • Zip Code
    • 10032
  • Paul Desjardins
    • Zip Code
    • 11790
  • Eric Gurna
    • Affiliation
    • Development Without Limits
    • Zip Code
    • 12508
  • Ben Holm
    • Zip Code
    • 12457
  • Jordan Frazier
    • Zip Code
    • 14063
  • James kelleher
    • Comments
    • CLOSE THEM DOWN
    • Zip Code
    • 10033
  • James kelleher
    • Zip Code
    • 10033
  • christine Austria
    • Comments
    • children's lives should be so carefully nurtured!
    • Affiliation
    • public school teacher/musician
    • Address
    • 949 west end ave. #BA N.Y.C. 10025
    • Zip Code
    • 10025
  • Kerfe Roig
    • Zip Code
    • 10031
  • mark brotter
    • Zip Code
    • 10002
  • Gail Kruvand Moye
    • Comments
    • В
    • Affiliation
    • В
    • Address
    • В
    • Zip Code
    • 10023
  • Roberta Cooper
    • Zip Code
    • 10024
  • Jason Gaboury
    • Address
    • 99 Hillside Ave, NY, NY 10040
    • Zip Code
    • 10040
  • Victoria Sammartino
    • Affiliation
    • Voices UnBroken
    • Address
    • 1380 Virginia Avenue
    • Zip Code
    • 10462
  • Eleanor Rothenberger
    • Comments
    • В
    • Affiliation
    • private day school
    • Address
    • P.O.Box 536 Brewster, N.Y.
    • Zip Code
    • 10509
  • Mary Perry
    • Zip Code
    • 13068
  • Celeste Wallace
    • Address
    • 1735 Purdy St #3C
    • Zip Code
    • 10462
  • Sara Hill
    • Zip Code
    • 11510
  • walis johnson
    • Zip Code
    • 11216
  • Susana Isaacson
    • Zip Code
    • 11501
  • Rosanne
    • Zip Code
    • 85719
  • Christine Garde
    • Comments
    • I have 17 years experience working in the inner city and have seen Community Bases Alternatives work to rehibilitate in a way that incarceration does not.
    • Address
    • 38 Columbia Place #2B Brooklyn, NY
    • Zip Code
    • 11201
  • Shirley Johnson
    • Address
    • 279 West 117th Street
    • Zip Code
    • 10026
  • Liza Austria
    • Zip Code
    • 11238
  • dawn
    • Zip Code
    • 11206
  • Korin Mills
    • Comments
    • В
    • Affiliation
    • В
    • Address
    • В
    • Zip Code
    • 11221
  • Meghan Ryan
    • Comments
    • В
    • Affiliation
    • Young Life
    • Address
    • 1086 Dean Street
    • Zip Code
    • 11216
  • Carolina
    • Zip Code
    • 06612
  • Stephanie Seymour
    • Zip Code
    • 07631
  • Eugene Moye Jr
    • Zip Code
    • 10023
  • Carol Duvall
    • Comments
    • I have seen first hand the impact Ruben Austria and his organization has done in the NYC area. It is both humane, caring, and making a real difference in the kids' lives. This is a very worthy endeavor.
    • Zip Code
    • 75855
  • rachel carrion
    • Zip Code
    • 10474
  • Ruth Marion
    • Zip Code
    • 59715
  • marco chelo
    • Zip Code
    • 10031