News Archive

How can school officials accuse her 6-year-old son of sexual misconduct and report him to the police? Charges of racism ensue.

The response to Rochester police handcuffing and pepper-spraying a fourth-grade girl has been swift: New York state and local lawmakers are joining youth justice advocates to demand systemic changes in how police treat kids. In the aftermath of the incident, the Rochester Mayor suspended one of the officers involved, placed

“You’re acting like a child.” That’s what an officer told an already distressed and handcuffed 9-year-old girl who resisted placing her entire body inside a patrol car. Her response, “I am a child.”

We asked an expert in police training dealing with children and a former RPD chief to watch the RPD body camera videos showing a 9-year-old girl in distress and eventually pepper-sprayed by police and tell us what they see. They both say the situation starts out okay, but then it

The Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety at WestEd convened a panel of experts in youth development, trauma-informed practices, and school-based law enforcement to discuss challenges and opportunities to improve schools and school systems through the lenses of social and emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and anti-racism.

After a recent online Statehouse forum focusing on alleged pitfalls of having police resource officers in schools, Webster Police Chief Michael Shaw said he is a strong supporter of policing in schools.

AARP announced its 2021 AARP Purpose Prize award recipients and fellows, the only national award that celebrates people 50-plus who are using their knowledge and life experience to solve tough social problems. This year's AARP Purpose Prize fellows include Lisa Thurau, Executive Director of Strategies for Youth.

Cassandra Bensahih can’t forget the day seven years ago that her 11-year-old daughter was brought home from school in a police car. A black middle school student in Worcester, she forgot to bring a homework assignment to class that day and was told she had to leave the classroom. When

The presence of police in Massachusetts schools is detrimental to students and disproportionately harms Black and brown children, according to a new report released Tuesday.

A new report, co-authored by Citizens for Juvenile Justice and Strategies for Youth, argues that there is little evidence that school resource officers make Massachusetts schools safer for students. We talk about what the study found with Leon Smith, executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice.

Citizens for Juvenile Justice and SFY support and advocate for reforms to drastically reduce or eliminate the presence of police in our schools. This joint report outlines our rationale why.

Recent events have sparked a nationwide discussion on the role law enforcement plays in society. As such, our communities are demanding and deserve highly trained law enforcement personnel equipped with the decision-making skills required to handle the increasingly complex calls for service that officers face nationwide. This can only be

A number of Massachusetts school districts are failing to adhere to data collection measures required by the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act, with some reporting no school-based arrests when their own records show a significant number of arrests.

Strategies For Youth Executive Director Lisa Thurau comments on the lack of national standards when it comes to youth-specific policies or practices and the problems that causes for our communities.

Acena Beck of the Children’s Law Center talks about her experience using Juvenile Jeopardy in Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio as part of her organization's efforts to protect the rights of children. Listen to the whole episode - but the Juvenile Justice discussion starts at 19:50.

Lawmakers are expecting a bill from Gov. Charlie Baker that would mandate a certification process for police officers on Wednesday, vowing to pass law enforcement reforms next month before the current legislative session ends.

Right now, the public’s outrage is fierce enough that it may force some change. Young people, as always, are showing us the way. But it is not fair, right or realistic to expect youth to carry all the water… Experience has shown me that what is needed for real, enduring

At what age can you be charged with a crime in Texas? The question appears on a screen in front of a group of teenagers at the Boys and Girls Club in Northeast Austin on a recent Tuesday. Half the room is deliberating as a timer slowly ticks down.

In a nation torn apart by school shootings, the question remains: Is what’s being done to combat the violence effective? On Nov. 3, a local parent shared an alarming post from an anonymous user on social media threatening the Morenci Unified School District.

The second part of this article, the author discusses SRO oversight and a new report from Strategies for Youth has found less than half of states have legislation requiring SRO training with even fewer requiring de-escalation training or adolescent development training.

While the federal government has spent close to $1 billion to deploy police in our nation’s public schools, it remains “unclear how effective” the School Resource Officers (SROs) are in preventing the school tragedies that have rocked the nation for 20 years–tragedies that are used as a justification for their