Acknowledgements
Building Blocks for Youth ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is the seventh report published by Building Blocks for Youth, a multi-year initiative to reduce over-representation and disparate treatment that affect youth of color in the justice system and to promote rational and effective juvenile justice policies. The initiative has five major components:
1. Research on the disparate impact of the justice system on youth of color and related topics such as the effects of adult court transfer legislation in the states, the privatization of juvenile justice facilities by for-profit corporations, and the media’s portrayal of crime, youth and race.
2. Site-based work to achieve measurable reductions in over-representation and disparate treatment of youth of color, focusing on (a) decision-making at critical points in the justice system, including arrest, detention, adjudication, and disposition; (b) over-incarceration; (c) prosecution of youth in adult criminal court; (d) zero tolerance policies, (e) Native American youth, and (f) police accountability.
3. Direct advocacy on behalf of youth of color in the justice system, particularly on issues that disproportionately affect youth of color, such as conditions of confinement in jails, prisons, juvenile facilities, and access to counsel and adequacy of representation in juvenile court.
4. Constituency-building among African-American, Latino, Native American, Asian and other minority organizations, youth organizations, state-based advocacy groups, and organizations in the civil rights, medical, mental health, legal, law enforcement, child welfare, human rights, religious, victim’s rights, and domestic violence areas, at the national, state, and local levels.
5. Development of communications strategies to provide timely, accurate, and relevant information to these constituencies, public officials, policymakers, the media, and the public.
The partners in the initiative are the Youth Law Center, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center/National Juvenile Defender Center, Juvenile Law Center, Justice Policy Institute, Minorities in Law Enforcement, and Pretrial Services Resource Center.
The Building Blocks initiative is supported by grants from the Annie E. Casey, Ford, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, William T. Grant, Charles Stewart Mott, and Rockefeller Foundations, the Criminal Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or of the supporting foundations.
The Authors
This document was prepared by Francisco A. Villarruel and Nancy E. Walker with Pamela Minifee, Omara Rivera-Vázquez, Susan Peterson, and Kristen Perry of the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families at Michigan State University.
Francisco A. Villarruel
Francisco A. Villarruel is an Associate Professor of Family and Child Ecology at Michigan State University, and a Research Associate with the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families. Dr. Villarruel is also a faculty affiliate of the Julian Samora Research Institute, the only Hispanic research institute at a major Midwest university that is committed to the generation, transmission, and application of knowledge to serve the needs of Latino communities in the Midwest.
Dr. Villarruel’s research focus is generalized into the three areas: developmental contextualism, Latino youth and families, and positive youth development. He is the co-editor two books: Making Invisible Latino Youth Visible: A Critical Approach to Latino Diversity and Community Youth Development, Beacons and Promises, and is working on an edited volume tentatively entitled Community Youth Development: Challenges, Beacons, and Opportunities for Healthier Futures.
Nancy E. Walker
Nancy E. Walker, Ph.D., M.L.S., is Associate Director of the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families and Professor of Family and Child Ecology at Michigan State University. She is co-convener of the Michigan Family Impact Seminars and author of two policy-related books, The Child Witness: Legal Issues and Dilemmas (1991) and Children’s Rights in the United States: In Search of a National Policy (1999), both published by Sage. Currently, she is working on a series of projects related to “zero tolerance” education policies in Michigan.
Institute for Children, Youth, and Families
Michigan State UniversityICYF at Michigan State University is a multidisciplinary institute supporting university-community collaborations in research, policy engagement, and outreach regarding children, youth, and families from diverse communities. ICYF maintains a portfolio of current and emergent projects of state, national and international scope that focus on four core areas:
- The Youngest
- Child and Youth Policy
- Family Diversity
- Violence Prevention
Authors ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the following individuals and groups for their able assistance in preparing this report:
- The core working group for this report from the Building Blocks for Youth initiative (Stephanie Cabrera, Alexis Mazón, Valerie McDowell, Marcia Rincón-Gallardo, Liz Ryan, Marc Schindler, and Mark Soler); report respondents (Martin Ahumada, Angela Arboleda, Jennifer Arroyo, Alejandro Blu Cantagallo, Luis Cardona, Josh Cristianson, Jesus González, Chino Hardin, Sandra Jimenez, Bibi Lobo, Evette Soto Maldonado, Stephanie Mintz, Alex Montaner, José Reyes, Marlene Sánchez, Vincent Schiraldi, Javier Stauring, Gerardo Velázquez, José A. Viloria, Marie Watteau, and Jason Ziedenberg);
- Staff and students of the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families at Michigan State University (Linda Chapel-Jackson, Thomas Judd, Kathleen Lau, Catherine Nachtman, and Jessica Roman); and
- Departments in U.S. states that responded to our survey (Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections; California Department of the Youth Authority Research Division; California Governor’s Office Criminal Justice Planning, J.J.D.P. Branch; Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority; Michigan Bureau of Juvenile Justice; New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission; New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department; New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services; North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center, Governor’s Crime Commission; Ohio Department of Youth Services; and Dallas County (Texas) Juvenile Justice Center).