the call for youth justice - schott foundation for public...

Children’s Defense Fund – New York

The Call for Youth Justice

March 2012

Photos courtesy of Mr. Carl Powlett, father of a

CDF Freedom Schools® scholar.

CONTENTS

Introduction........................................................................................................................page 4

About the Data...................................................................................................................page 8

New York City Profile: Youth Environments and Adults in the Criminal Justice System

Youth Environments

[Chart 1] Youth (17 and Younger)......................................................................................page 10

[Map 1] Low-Income Households.......................................................................................page 11

[Map 2] Foster Care...........................................................................................................page 12

[Map 3] Educational Attainment.........................................................................................page 13

Adults in the Criminal Justice System

[Map 4] Parents Admitted to Prison...................................................................................page 15

[Chart 2] Time in Prison before Community Reentry.........................................................page 16

[Map 5] Community Reentry from Prison...........................................................................page 17

[Chart 3] Prison Expenditures............................................................................................page 18

Brooklyn Neighborhoods: Youth Education and Juvenile Justice

[Map 6] Juvenile Detention and Placement.......................................................................page 20

[Chart 4] Disconnected Youth............................................................................................page 21

Juvenile Custody and 3rd Grade Math Scores

[Map 7] Low Math Scores..................................................................................................page 22

[Map 8] High Math Scores.................................................................................................page 23

Juvenile Custody and School Suspension Rates

[Map 9] High Suspension Rates........................................................................................page 24

[Map 10] Low Suspension Rates.......................................................................................page 25

Conclusion.........................................................................................................................page 26

Joining the Call..................................................................................................................page 28

Building for Youth - Recommendations.............................................................................page 29

3

INTRODUCTION

The Call for Youth Justice Avery Irons, Director of Youth Justice Programs

The maps on the pages that follow crystallize the on-the-ground experiences of individuals and

neighborhoods that are often missed or downplayed in policy discussions and decision-making

circles. As the reader turns from one map to the next, and struggles to distinguish one map

from the others, one thing immediately becomes clear. Certain neighborhoods in New York

City are disproportionately impacted by high rates of poverty, foster care placement,

educational obstacles and high rates of juvenile and criminal justice involvement. Are these

maps just confirmation of politically incorrect (but still widely held) assumptions about the

intellectual abilities, parenting skills or the criminal tendencies of our neighbors? If we reject

those assumptions as limited, biased, racist or classist — as we should — then the maps

illustrate the legacy of years of misinformed fiscal and policy decisions. They illustrate what

happens when communities grow weary with struggle, and when those with power, resources

and responsibility champion disconnected and piece-meal approaches to change for

children.

Ideally, the maps should shock us into action. They should compel serious and genuine

reflection. They should force us to question our own assumptions about impacted communities

and the people who live in them. Most importantly, they should help us to see that long before

the current economic crisis propelled so many more to join the ranks of the “new poor,” the

lions of distress and limited opportunities were pursuing the children who call these

neighborhoods home.

4

It is important to state outright that, despite the measures of distress portrayed by these

maps, these neighborhoods have rich histories and cultures. They cannot be reduced to

the problems indentified herein. Instead, the maps are meant to help us understand the

unique challenges that children and their families face when public safety is addressed

primarily, rather than exceptionally, through criminal justice institutions and in lieu of

strong civil and informal institutions, such as schools, transitional work opportunities and

community-based organizations.

This mapping brief is a call for justice for youth in our communities. We define Youth

Justice as a community’s concrete, active and sustained commitment to invest in the

physical and emotional needs of children. It translates into providing safe and

supportive homes, learning and neighborhood environments that offer meaningful

opportunities for their growth and development before they get sick or into trouble, drop

out of school or suffer family breakdown. Encompassed in this commitment is a

philosophical belief and tangible adoption of positive youth development and restorative

responses to inappropriate behavior of youth. Positive youth development compels us to

seek humane interventions for even those young people who commit the most

egregious of acts.

Youth Justice goes beyond just juvenile justice system reform or education justice or

health justice. It is a call to break down the policy and decision-making silos and

processes that force neighborhoods to accept the false choices between teachers and

alternative-to-incarceration programs; or between nurse-family partnership programs for

young parents and summer jobs for teenagers and young adults. Youth Justice

recognizes that holistic policy-making strengthens community infrastructures in all areas

and does not pit individual programs and services against each other for funding and

support. It never says to a child, “We will fund your hands but not your feet.” Youth

Justice affirms that children do not come in pieces.

5

Embracing the concept of youth justice and striving for its reality is no small or simple

feat, but it is nonnegotiable. The responsibility and the accountability lies with each of us

who, in our every day lives and work, make decisions on behalf of children. This includes

families, community groups, service providers, advocates, elected leaders and public

officials. We have the power to affect the present for children in these neighborhoods –

and by doing so we change the future for all of us.

THE MAPPING PROJECT

We would like to thank the Justice Mapping Center for their partnership, expertise, and

time – without which this project would not have been possible. This brief provides a

geographical survey of criminal justice, youth and educational environments in New York

City. It brings together data about criminal and juvenile justice activity, youth

connectedness and schooling all at the community level. The survey is made up of three

parts: (1) Youth Environments; (2) Adults in the Criminal Justice System; and (3) Youth,

Schooling and Juvenile Justice Involvement.

Part 1 identifies significant geographical overlaps between New York City communities

with the highest percentage of youth and those with the lowest household income. It

reveals the concentrated pockets of Foster Care placements and adults with no high

school diploma within those neighborhoods.

Part 2 reveals geographical patterns of prison migration from New York City with

disproportionately high rates of parents (particularly parenting-age men) being removed

from their communities and sent to prison for short periods of time; while at the same

time, others are returning from prison to those same communities at similarly

disproportionate levels. An expenditure analysis reveals the multi-million dollar costs per

neighborhood that underwrite the prison migration cycle of removal and return in each

community.

6

Part 3 charts the geographical overlaps between Brooklyn communities with the highest

rates of juvenile detention and “disconnected youth.” Indicators of school disciplinary

policy and student performance are layered over maps of juvenile detention rates which

dramatize the convergence of high suspension rates, low math scores and high juvenile

detention rates in the same few Brooklyn neighborhoods.

This mapping brief offers a community district level view of statistics and outcomes

related to what are often mandatory and/or involuntary interactions with city and state

governmental systems such as foster care, education and juvenile and criminal justice.

Examination and evaluation of the successes and failures of these community-system

interactions are imperative steps in any meaningful effort to change the statistics and

real life experiences that these maps depict.

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ABOUT THE DATA

The data used for this report were provided by several agencies (see below). The prison,

foster care, juvenile detention and school data were all “geocoded” to the address level

using an address provided by the source agency. These data (except for school data)

were aggregated to New York City census tracts and community districts in order to

produce the maps and charts on the following pages.

Data Sources:*

1. Prison Admissions: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, prison

admissions in New York State in CY2008 (Map 4; Chart 2).

2. Prison Releases: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, prison

releases in New York State in CY2008 (Map 5; Chart 3).

3. Foster Care: New York City Administration for Children’s Services, children in foster

care in 2004.

4. Juvenile Detention: New York State Division of Juvenile Justice, Office of Children

and Family Services, detained juveniles, 2004 to 2008.

5. Census Data: United States Census Bureau, 2000 Census (Map 1; Map 3; Chart 1;

Chart 4).

6. School Math Scores: New York City Department of Education, 3rd grade math test

results, 2008.

7. School Suspension Rates: Annenberg Institute for School Reform, suspensions by

school, 2006.

We are grateful to the agencies that generously supplied the data used in this report.

*Please note that these agencies are not responsible for the accuracy of the data used in this report.

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YOUTH ENVIRONMENTS

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Mahatma Gandhi Poverty does not predetermine school dropout rates or future involvement in the child

welfare or juvenile and criminal justice systems. However, the underlying issues that

tend to culminate in problems in school or lead to court involvement often stem directly

from the related issues of poverty — including underfunded and under — performing

schools, lack of access to mental health and medical services and high rates of youth,

adult and particularly, parental unemployment and underemployment. The stresses of

poverty overwhelm and challenge children and families and, all too often, can lead to

years of involvement with multiple systems and agencies without any final and positive

resolution to the initial issues and obstacles. As later maps will show, many of these

neighborhoods also have the highest admissions to the juvenile and criminal justice

systems.

9

NEW YORK CITY PROFILE:

Youth Environments

Youth (17 and Younger) Percent Age 0 to 17 by Community District

10

MN = Manhattan BX = Bronx BK = Brooklyn QN = Queens SI = Staten Island

Youth Environments

Low-Income Households Percent of Households Earning Less than $25K by Census Tract

Chart 1 on the left and Map 1 on the right identify significant overlaps between New York City communities with the highest percentages of youth and those with the lowest household income. Six community districts in the Bronx and two in Brooklyn have the highest rates of youth and lowest household income in the city.

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Youth Environments

Foster Care Percent of Children in Foster Care by Census Tract

Map 2 reveals the most concentrated pockets of Foster Care placements (more than 1.5 percent of children).

12

Youth Environments

Educational Attainment Percent without a High School Diploma by Census Tract

Map 3 shows the communities with the highest proportions of adults lacking high school diploma (more than 30 percent of residents 25 or older).

13

ADULTS IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

“Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root.’” Angela Davis

New York State and City criminal justice policies disproportionately impact low-income

communities and communities of color. In 2011, Blacks and Latinos made up 75 percent

of the approximately 56,000 people incarcerated in New York State prisons. Almost half

of the state prison population (approximately 27,000 people) comes from New York City.

With the costs of incarcerating one adult per year in a state prison hovering around

$55,000, the following maps clearly illuminate the tragic concept of the “million dollar

block.” In some neighborhoods, so many people are removed and placed in the criminal

justice system that the costs associated with their incarceration add up to more than a

million dollars. Instead of prioritizing investments in community services and programs

that could prevent criminal justice involvement and decrease recidivism — such as

education, vocational training, alcohol and substance abuse programs and job creation

— jurisdictions divert scores of millions of dollars into state and local criminal justice

systems. These dollars migrate out of their communities of origin to sustain an expensive

criminal justice system and to fuel upstate economies which have become dependent

upon prison-related industries.

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NEW YORK CITY PROFILE:


Parents Admitted to Prison Number of Parents Admitted to Prison by Census Tract

Map 4 (on the right) and Chart 2 (on the following page) reveal geographical patterns of prison migration in New York City with disproportionately high rates of parents (particularly parenting-age men) being sent to prison for relatively short periods of time from the same eight community districts with the highest percentages of youth. In 2008, 1,512 parents were sent from the eight districts that 46 percent of prisoners return to within a year.

15


Time in Prison Before Community Reentry Prisoners Per Time Served

16


Community Reentry from Prison Prisoners Per 1,000 Adults by Census Tract

Chart 3 on the left and Map 5 on the right show that in addition to experiencing high proportions of adults being sent to prison, these community districts are also grappling with high rates of people returning from prison to their home communities. Twenty-five percent of prisoners return to neighborhoods that are home to only 8 percent of the city’s adults. The multi-million dollar per neighborhood costs of their incarceration adds up to $30, $40 and $50 million per community district each year.

$55.8 MILLION

$40.5 MILLION

$43.1 MILLION

$32.9 MILLION

$42.2 MILLION

17


Prison Expenditures Incarceration Costs of Released Prisoners

18

MN = Manhattan BX = Bronx BK = Brooklyn QN = Queens SI = Staten Island

YOUTH, EDUCATION AND JUVENILE JUSTICE

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” George Washington Carver

A wide swath of research has already cut across the terrain of the “school-to-prison

pipeline,” including research conducted by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University,

the Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense

Fund and many other state-based organizations. Among key findings of these studies are:

the important role that “school connectedness”— feeling part of and belonging to a

school environment — plays in fending off risks of court involvement;

that even small increases in high school graduation rates are associated with

meaningful reductions in crime and averting substantial related costs; and

that martial schooling policies — high suspension rates, growing use of disciplinary

schools, and obstacles to reintegration resulting from incarceration or lengthy

suspensions — converge to isolate youth, exacerbate school disconnectedness

and otherwise narrow alternatives to longer-term criminal justice involvement.

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BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS:

Youth, Education and Juvenile Justice

Juvenile Detention and Placement Juvenile Detention Per 1,000 Children by Census Tract

Map 6 on the left and Chart 4 on the right show that the four community districts in Brooklyn with the highest rates of juvenile detention (3

rd, 4

th, 5

th

and 16th districts), are among districts

with the highest rates of “disconnected youth” (16 to 19 year-olds who are not in school, have no diploma and are not working). In Brooklyn’s Community District 16, more than 10 percent of youth are disconnected from school and work: while, over the course of five years, 1 percent of kids were placed in juvenile detention.

20


Disconnected Youth

Percent Age 16 to 19 Who are Not in School, Not Working

and Have no HS Diploma by Community District

21


Low Math Scores Schools Scoring Low on 3rd Grade Math Test

Maps 7 and 8 highlight that a preponderance of the lowest performing schools (as measured by 3

rd grade

math scores) are located in the highest detention rate neighborhoods; and reciprocally, the highest performing schools are found overwhelmingly in the lowest detention rate neighborhoods.

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High Math Scores Schools Scoring High on 3rd Grade Math Test

23


High Suspension Rates Schools with Suspensions Rates > 10%

Maps 9 and 10 measure the use of disciplinary policy by mapping school suspension rates. The maps reveal that the schools with the highest rates of school suspensions are almost entirely located in the highest detention rate neighborhoods; while schools with low suspension rates are distributed broadly across all neighborhoods.

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Low Suspension Rates Schools with Suspensions Rates < 10%

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CONCLUSION

Making Youth Justice a Reality

“Whoever said anybody has a right to give up?” Marian Wright Edelman

The maps and statistics reveal decades of interlocking individual and community

struggles, systemic failures and misplaced fiscal and policy priorities. For those of us

compelled to create a more positive set of maps for our future, these maps and statistics

may leave us asking, “Where do we even start?”

The maps clarify the questions that we must ask and the demands we must make

regarding government spending and budget cuts that negatively impact children and

families. The maps confirm that we must continue to:

1. Invest in positive youth development programs.

2. Demand better services from and increased accountability for family and

child-serving systems.

3. Support community-based organizations striving to address disparities in

education, improve family support services and increase alternatives to detention

and incarceration for adults and children.

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Adults consistently call for measures that hold young people accountable for their

actions. We prove ourselves to be hypocrites, however, when we do not hold ourselves

to an even tougher standard of accountability and action, and when we do not insist that

our leaders to lead.

As soon as possible, call or meet with your state and local elected officials, and ask them

the questions listed below. But first, please answer the questions yourself:

How many children in your community live in poverty?

What unique policy prescriptions and opportunities are being created for families that

are experiencing concentrated and intergenerational poverty?

What is the adult unemployment rate in your community. Who is working to create

jobs and to educate and place the hard-to-employ in your community?

How many young people in your community were arrested, detained or incarcerated

last year?

What are you doing to prevent juvenile and criminal justice involvement?

What recidivism-reducing programs and supports are you championing?

How will you work to ensure that next year’s state and local budgets support the

whole child?

How is your leadership supporting and empowering families?

How is your leadership supporting children in all areas (e.g. health, education, youth

development)?

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The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson Executive Director [email protected] Jennifer Marino Rojas, Esq. Deputy Director [email protected] Jaime Koppel Senior Program Associate [email protected]

The Children’s Defense Fund – New York offers free workshops, trainings and presentations on juvenile, education and health justice and advocacy skills. These events are youth and community-member friendly. To schedule an event or request more information, please contact our office at 212-697-2323.

Options include:

(A series of age-appropriate workshops for students, young leaders, parents and community members, teachers, funders, and people interested in creating change for children)

Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline

Education Justice and School Discipline Reform Workshop

Community Advocacy Training

Health Care Reform (NYS and Federal) Presentation

Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Teach-In/Workshop and Film Screening

For More Information . . .

Joining the Call . . .

Please visit our website at www.cdfny.org to learn about upcoming youth justice events and advocacy opportunities. You can also sign up through our homepage for e-updates through our Child Defender list-serve.

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Building for Youth - Recommendations

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late...We must move past indecisiveness to action.” Martin Luther King, Jr. It is always critically important to identify problems and barriers to success. There comes a time, however, for all of us to move beyond simply rehearsing and discussing the data. We must pursue real solutions that will make the difference for children and youth. We cannot afford to be passive in the pursuit of what we know works. Children’s bodies are growing now, their minds are developing now and their futures are being determined now. We must courageously invest in the strategies that will change the course of their lives for the better — now. CDF-NY is preparing a follow-up report to compliment this mapping brief. It will detail rec-ommendations for investing in, building up and supporting the infrastructures that strengthen youth and families in the communities most impacted by the juvenile and criminal justice systems. We strongly believe that these recommendations must come from community members (youth and adults). We’d very much like to know what is work-ing for children in your community and what still needs to be developed for youth. Please take a moment and share your thoughts. Feel free to use the rest of this document to note your recommendations. Email us at [email protected]. You can also mail your thoughts directly to us at Children’s Defense Fund - New York, 15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1200, New York, NY 10038. However you decide to get involved in building solu-tions, please know that the most important thing is just that — get involved!

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Building for Youth - Continued

Notes/Questions

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a

Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful

passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot

vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority

children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and

encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer

family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by

foundation and corporate grants and individual donations.

The Children’s Defense Fund – New York

In 1992, the Children’s Defense Fund established an office in New York City. In 1998, the Children’s

Defense Fund — New York (CDF-NY) expanded our community education and organizing efforts

statewide. CDF-NY focuses on creating policy and programmatic changes that will level the playing

field for New York’s children. Our research, public education, policy analysis, community organizing

and advocacy is primarily focused on juvenile justice, health, early childhood learning, child welfare

education and youth development. Our holistic approach to improving the conditions for New York’s

children effects real and lasting change.

Children’s Defense Fund– New York 15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1200

New York, NY 10038 (212) 697-2323 www.cdfny.org

The Children’s Defense Fund

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