Recent developments in the criminal justice system in North Carolina and across the country are becoming increasingly disturbing. Young people are being locked behind bars at an absurd pace, as the total population of people incarcerated in America has swollen past 2 million.
The State of North Carolina is currently involved in the process to contract out the lives of our State’s youth to the private prison corporation Cornell Abraxis. Making profit at the expense of the lost lives of our youth is unacceptable and we won’t take it anymore.
Juvenile justice reform has intruded in our lives. Many have experienced police harassment and know first hand that justice does not feel very present in the face of police intimidation. We are tired of being treated like criminals.
Official and unofficial Racial Profiling continues to damage our youth and communities of color. This practice breeds fear and animosity within our communities.
Tracking in the school system has predetermined the life course of a generation of our young people, and it is clear that this racist process does not have the best interests of our young people in mind.
Join us on the campus of N.C. State University during the weekend of February 16-18, to explore solutions to our irrational prison and jail culture. We will teach, learn and talk about the problems and how to solve them together.
Youth for Justice Now! is a conference lead by and focusing on young people. We understand that issues within the criminal justice system pose different problems for different communities, so we will attempt to fully explore the problems on a basis of age, race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Further Information:
Click Here to get Adobe Acrobat Reader