New York, New York-An international gathering of child advocates and experts in juvenile justice and crime prevention will highlight New York City’s overuse of juvenile detention centers, and recommend that the city cancel plans to expand NYC’s juvenile jail system. Funding for alternatives to incarceration is recommended instead.

That “Detention or imprisonment of a child shall be used only as a measure of last resort” is a major principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 37 (b)). Unfortunately, such a principle is not the law in the United States (the US along with Somalia, being the only two UN member states having not ratified that Convention). “But New York City can make a difference. New Yorkers need to fight the mayor’s plan to expand the number of detention beds and find the least restrictive alternatives, making “detention as a last resort” a reality in New York City ” says Philip Veerman, President, Defence for Children International.

DCI’s Invited Guests will be attending a special conference entitled “Juvenile Justice: Detention as a Last Resort,” an event being organized by Defence for Children International: an independent non-governmental organization working to promote and protect the rights of the children. The conference is being held during the UN General Assembly’s Special Session and has a special focus on juvenile justice, and the treatment of children who are incarcerated. “Juvenile Justice: Detention as a Last Resort” will feature international experts on juvenile justice from Europe, Latin America, Canada and the United States.

“New Yorkers need to know that instead of building a world class network of programs and alternatives to detention, the city is pushing ahead with a costly plan to incarcerate more young people for non-violent offenses,” says Nancy Ginsburg, Director, Juvenile Offender Team, The Legal Aid Society of New York. “New York’s increasing use of detention is becoming an international shame.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s current city budget includes a $64.6 million proposal to increase size of the city's two youth jails, Crossroads and Horizons, by 200 more beds. NYC’s youth jail expansion plan comes at a time when the city is in a budget crisis, and some civic leaders are choosing to cut school funding to fund the further incarceration of youth. A new report by the the Correctional Association reports that, since 1994, juvenile arrests in New York have declined by 28 percent, and that most of the youth incarcerated in detention centers are there for nonviolent offenses. While African Americans and Latinos make up 57 percent of New York's youth population, fully 95 percent of youth entering detention are African American or Latino.