News Archive

Nine ‘Urgent’ Steps to Improving Youth-Police Relations

When it comes to police reform, the kids are not all right. That is apparent from videos and news accounts that assault us almost daily. Over and over again, we see instances of children?some as young as six years old?and teenagers being needlessly traumatized at the hands of law enforcement.

A Somerville Mother Is Stunned

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

Calls for Reform Follow Rochester Police Pepper-Spraying a 9-Year-Old Girl

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

Handcuffing, pepper-spraying of girl, 9, draws renewed scrutiny of police tactics and policies

“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.”

9-year-old girl’s brutal treatment at hands of police shows dangerous lapse in policy

While she cried for her father, police pepper-sprayed and forced her into a patrol car. This girl isn't alone, and states need procedures to protect them. A mom called police saying her 9-year-old daughter was suicidal and threatening her in Rochester, New York. The first officer to respond to the

‘You gave her six minutes to calm down?’ We asked experts in policing to watch the RPD video of the 9-year-old girl

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

When Policing Youth, Honey Works Better Than Vinegar

"Police stops of young people may unintentionally increase their engagement in criminal behavior," write SFY Executive Director, Lisa H. Thurau and Adam D. Fine of Arizona State University in this Op-Ed for The Crime Report.

Leveraging This Moment to Improve Schools and Systems through the Lenses of SEL, Trauma-Informed Practices, and Anti-Racist Education

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.

Webster police chief sees value of police in schools

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 Announces 2021 Purpose Prize Award Winners

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.

Report finds school policing disproportionately impacts black, brown 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

Police presence in schools is detrimental for students, new study finds

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.

School Policing In Massachusetts

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.

How Do SROs Impact Racial Equity in the Nation’s Schools

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.

Why Law Enforcement Needs to take a Science-Based Approach to Training and Education

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

Districts coming up short on reporting school-based arrests

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.

‘A disjointed system’: Policing policies fuel criminalization of youth

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.
Stigmatized

Protecting Our Children with Juvenile Jeopardy

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.

Hope Springs Infernal for Better Policing

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.
As if on cue, the same day that Strategies for Youth released its survey of state legislatures’ training requirements for police in schools — commonly referred to as school resource officers, or SROs — a video of a school resource officer slamming an 11-year-old girl’s head into a concrete wall
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

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