28. October 2009 by Rev Young.

As I continue addressing the real underlying change that needs to come to this nation, I am going to post a series of stories about individual lives.  I will also be connecting the two blog sites that I write and administrate.  I use the blog site”Free Jonny” to tell stories of individuals who were or are currently housed in prison facilities.  These stories vary from their personal experience inside the criminal justice system to stories of transformation.  Right now we are focusing on the transformation that has come through the opportunity to be released from prison and lead a life outside of prison walls.  I will also be writing articles and passing on information concerning the use of clemency and the other opportunities inmates can receive for a second chance. 

Let me start by first directing you to a story that I posted at http://s246427087.onlinehome.us/freejonny/do-they-deserve-a-second-chance

This article tells the story of Raphael Johnson who committed murder at the age of 17 and received a sentence of 10 to 25 years in adult prison.  It tells of his accomplishments inside of prison and the business he now owns and operates outside of prison.  It tells of other prominent leaders and the crimes they committed in their youth.  It also tells how these young people went on to lead productive lives that benefit all who live in the community.

We have become so intolerant.  We are legalistic, staunch and unforgiving.  We are also missing opportunities to teach, mentor and watch the miracle of transformation in peoples lives.  We often wonder, as we watch the nightly “bad news”, where the good stories have gone.  The human interest stories of individuals who have been given the opportunity to improve their lives and the success they have found.  The stories of redemption, the stories of compassion, the stories of giving.  Where are they? 

We have also forgotten about teaching children to mediate, manage confrontation, overcome adversity or forgiveness that comes after making a mistake.  One of the most interesting changes that I have read about recently is the change in school policy from zero tolerance to managing confrontation.  It makes perfect sense to me.  How is a young child going to learn not to pass judgement too quickly when the school they attend is so eager to expel a student for any infraction? 

Children get into fights.  We all know this and we all probably experienced our share of conflicts in school.  It is by learning to turn conflict into a building block for relationship that we teach a child and give them powerful tools for their future.  It seems that their are some schools beginning to realize that the zero tolerance policy only taught children how to fail.  Not a lesson we should be teaching a young child.

This article will help you to understand the need and positive results of changing school policy.  Read On…

New Rules for Schools

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By Amy Bach

This article appeared in the November 2, 2009 edition of The Nation.
October 14, 2009

In October virtually every major media outlet ran a story about a 6-year-old boy who brought a Cub Scout utensil to school in Delaware. The boy wanted to eat his lunch with its little fork, but he ended up being suspended and threatened with reform school because the gadget had a knife on it.

The incident is one of a litany of examples that clearly show how “zero tolerance” school discipline policies have gone too far. The policies are at their worst when enforced by police officers stationed in schools to prevent serious incidents. Too often the cops end up being used as disciplinarians on matters that once would have been handled by school principals. Officers are handcuffing, pepper-spraying and arresting kids for being boisterous or cursing. The result is a flood of prosecutions and a wave of students denied education.

Child advocates have dubbed this phenomenon “the school-to-prison pipeline.” Studies show that children who are jailed or forced to appear in court are more likely than their peers to drop out of school and get into trouble again. And it’s unclear whether schools are getting safer.

A startling case in point is the juvenile court system of Clayton County, Georgia, which was buckling to the point of collapse in 2004. In the mid-’90s, after police officers were placed in the schools, the number of kids charged with crimes jumped 600 percent. By 2003, it had jumped another 400 percent. The increase wasn’t due to felonies–the cops were enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy against disorderly conduct or disruption.

Juvenile Court Judge Steven Teske saw the problem. School police and probation officers could not do their jobs because the court was overloaded with minor cases that didn’t belong there. “Technically, the behavior may be a crime,” Teske said, using the example of a kid who gets into a fight to protect his sister. “But it shouldn’t be, in the context of adolescent youth behavior.”

So Teske brought together school officials, law enforcement, prosecutors, parents and heads of child-services programs. “I am telling you zero tolerance is not improving safety,” he told them. Not everyone agreed. But it was obvious that too many kids were getting arrested. Teske proposed something rather ordinary: give kids warnings and a workshop on behavior before dragging them into court. The committee discussed it before a neutral arbiter.

Nine months later, Clayton County had a system that worked. As of 2008, the county had reduced the number of referrals by 68 percent, and in turn had seen another improvement: serious weapons charges were down 70 percent since 2004 (from sixty-three incidents to seventeen). Teske attributes the drop to the fact that officers are spending less time shuttling to court and more time gathering “intelligence” so future incidents can be avoided. Last year, instead of arresting a student who had gotten into a fight, Officer Robert Gardner talked to her. She spoke about a drug dealer’s house two blocks from the school. The information led to a search, which yielded two AK-47s, two drums of ammunition, seven handguns, a shotgun, five pounds of pot and $7,000 in cash.

Everyone wants safe schools. But the Clayton model may prove that the best, most cost-effective way to neutralize violence is not by arresting kids. By paying attention to everyday circumstances, the potential for extraordinary tragedy is defused.

Different communities are now asking Clayton County, How did you do it? In 2008 Jay Blitzman, a judge in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, invited Teske for a lunch meeting with his community. It lasted three hours. Today Middlesex is looking for ways to adapt the Clayton model. Birmingham, Alabama, also plans to use it. And this fall, Teske will be touring the country talking about it with the help of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Maybe there’s a lesson here. Paying attention to young people prevents day-to-day injustice. And young people who aren’t treated like criminals are less likely to become them.

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