It’s time to stop targeting our youth

by Kelly Pokharel

Danielle Andrews of Hope St. Youth Development, left, and Aina Gonzales of MAGIC discuss the criminalization of youth during NPA Leadership Meeting in Chicago.

It doesn’t seem unlikely that a fifth grade Boy Scout, fresh from a weekend camping trip, might forget a pocketknife his backpack. The trouble started, however, after a teacher discovered the knife when the boy went to school. Once the knife was found, the student was suspended.

The story may seem outrageous and a bit ridiculous, but it is just one example of the result of America’s so-called crackdown on juvenile crime. About a decade ago, shifting demographics and extreme political rhetoric led people to believe that a youth crime wave was on the rise. Terms like “juvenile super predator” became popular and lawmakers took preemptive action to curb the coming upsurge in youth crime. In 1994, Congress passed the Improving America’s School Act, which required schools to enact consistent, strict suspension and expulsion policies to deal with students who brought weapons or drugs to school.

The federal legislation and political rhetoric snowballed into “zero tolerance” policies that put strict punishments on nearly every type of juvenile behavior – in some cases resulting in suspensions for carrying nail clippers or key chains.

The fear of rising juvenile delinquency helped promote metal detectors and police officers in schools and increased spending on juvenile detention centers rather than rehabilitation programs.

In reality, the increase in youth crime never materialized. According to a fall 2003 report by the Applied Research Center, the only age group to show a significant increase in crime over the past two decades is 30- to 49-year-olds. In November 2004, the Chicago Tribune reported violent school crime was down 50 percent from 2002.

While crime among youth has been falling, or at least remaining the same, current policies, news coverage, and attitudes continue to treat young people like criminals; they’re NOT. Young people today face an uphill battle to overcome stereotypes forced on them. The use of prison terms such as “lockdown” has passed into popular culture and actions typically reserved for criminal suspects, like random police and dog searches, are commonly used in schools.

These policies make it easy for youth to acquire criminal records that could affect future employment or educational opportunities and harshly punish what used to be called typical adolescent behavior. Zero tolerance policy against drugs, weapons in schools is acceptable – but misguided policies and actions target youth and students and raise serious questions about the punishment fitting the crime. For example, what message is sent to young people about their worth when state of the art detention facilities are built next to crumbling public schools, and $500,000 a year is spent to keep youth locked up, but less than $10,000 a year is spent to educate each student in public schools?

All hope is not lost, however. In the past decade youth organizing has gained strength and power. Today young people across the country are fighting, in some cases alongside adults, for a better future. Scores of youth are standing up for what they believe in and using their voices and the democratic process to make significant change.

In Wichita, Kan., youth took on the school board and won changes to unfair zero tolerance policies that had resulted in the disproportionate suspension of minority students. In New Haven, Conn., and Oakland, young people have been successfully organizing to raise awareness around failing and dangerous juvenile correction centers that need to be shut down or see a dramatic improvement in facilities and services. Youth organizing groups from Oregon to Chicago are raising awareness around issues that affect their lives, from fighting for affordable student bus passes to demanding better job training and placement programs.

Many are also calling on new resources and skills, such as poetry, music, media and hip hop culture, to push campaigns to victory.

Young people are starting to come together from cities across the country, to share strategy and support efforts to end the criminalization of youth – and they are WINNING! Youth continue to challenge and change unfair systems and policies to give themselves and others greater respect, justice and opportunity.