Youth Justice Legislative Briefing
“A Future in Focus”
On June 17th, Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ) and our partners hosted a legislative briefing at the Massachusetts State House. We were joined by young people, advocates, legislators, and public health experts and others from across the youth justice continuum to discuss how public policy reform can create better outcomes for young people across the Commonwealth. The bills presented during the event address critical issues impacting young people including a lack of system transparency, the need to expand diversion opportunities, increasing holistic school safety approaches and reducing the harms of legal system involvement.
Reese Thompson, a young person from More Than Words who co-moderated the event, underscored the importance of including youth voices in these conversations.
“We need to start caring about youth across the board, not just when it's convenient. Why is it that youth should be left out of these conversations? Conversations that directly impact our lives and our well-being?” - Reese Thompson
Neglecting to center the voices and lived experiences of young people contributes to their criminalization and undermines efforts to improve public safety and long-term outcomes.
Thompson shed light on the real-life consequences of policy inaction and how the proposed bills aim to address these harms.
“These bills cover a wide variety of issues faced by many, from the threat of incarceration to opaque policies that leave youth wondering if their rights are truly enforced or merely flaunted as being so. I've seen the consequences of lack of support for youth. I have lived it. My family has lived it. My friends have lived it. And all of my loved ones across the board have lived it.”
CfJJ’s Executive Director, Leon Smith, spoke about the importance of diversion programs and challenged common misconceptions about them. Often, diversion is dismissed as a “slap on the wrist” or a way for young people to “evade responsibility.” In reality, Leon explained, the opposite is true:
“[Diversion] is real, true, meaningful accountability where young people get an assessment and connect to actual service providers to address the root causes of their behavior, because when you help young people get better, they do better.”
This message is supported by decades of research showing that when young people are diverted from the legal system and connected with the support they need, they are significantly less likely to reoffend. While Massachusetts has built an effective diversion continuum, the most recent data shows that too many young people are still being arrested, pushed into the system, and even incarcerated for low-level offenses.
Continuing to strengthen and expand diversion, and to center youth in the policymaking process, is essential to creating a system that truly supports young people and keeps communities safe.
Visit cfjj.org/take-action to learn more about these bills and how to support legislation to promote better outcomes for youth.
