National Youth Justice Awareness Month

October is National Youth Justice Awareness month! The purpose of National Youth Justice Awareness Month is to raise awareness about youth prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system.  Over the past three years, events have been held across the country. These events have all been successful in raising awareness and participation in important youth justice issues across the country. This year, over 20 states are hosting events in honor of National Youth Justice Awareness Month.

“Do not let the sorrow and hurt you feel keep you silenced. Use those feelings to keep making noise and bringing attention to the obstacles and hardships our children face.”

-Grace Bauer

Click here to learn more about Planning an Event
Click here for state-by-state event information
Click here to purchase 2011 Y-JAM t-shirts
Click here to learn about the history of Y-JAM
Click here to donate to Y-JAM 2011

Purchase your 2011 National Youth Justice Awareness Month T-shirt

Can't make it to an event? Support this movement by purchasing your 2011 National Youth Justice Awareness Month T-shirt online. T-shirts are $20.00 and include tax and shipping costs. All proceeds will go to campaigns throughout the country trying to end the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youth as adults.

Purchases can be made online or by check. To purchase online, click the button below:   Sizes Small $20.00Medium $20.00Large $20.00Extra Large $20.00

To purchase by check, make out to "Campaign for Youth Justice," Y-JAM t-shirt in the purpose field, and mail to: Campaign for Youth Justice 1012 14th Street, N.W., Suite 610 Washington, DC 20005

On the afternoon of January 4, 2008, Tracy McClard, a mother in Jackson, Missouri, received a call from the Missouri Department of Corrections. The call was to inform her that her seventeen-year-old son, Jonathan, was dead. Jonathan had taken his own life when an adult sentence made it impossible for him to see a future for himself, especially a future that included his dream of becoming a doctor. Jonathan McClard was one of the thousands and thousands of children that end up in the adult criminal justice system every year. His future and the others like him are forever changed by adult convictions that put up barriers to education, housing and employment.  In addition to these barriers, children like Jonathan face bleak living conditions where they are 36 times more likely to commit suicide and are the most vulnerable population of inmates at risk of sexual assault.   It doesn’t seem to matter that the ideas behind these laws have been debunked and we now know trying, sentencing and incarcerating children as adults actually increases crime and makes things worse, not better.

Tracy knew the truth about what had happened to Jonathan and was determined to stop it from ever happening to another mother’s son or daughter. In 2008, she began a 5K Race to bring public awareness to this issue and to educate her Missouri lawmakers. She joined the National Parent Caucus, a project of the Campaign for Youth Justice, and shared her vision for a series of events that would be held in every state in the country. Her enthusiasm was contagious and this year we have twenty state campaigns that will be holding a community event to raise public awareness about the dangers and irrational practice of treating children as adults!  With Tracy’s help, four other states participated in last year’s events that drew a great deal of media coverage and were very successful. Tracy isn’t stopping there! She is now pushing to have October declared National Youth Justice Awareness month.

In a few short years, Tracy has educated countless numbers of the uninformed public, state representatives, congressional members, youth and others.  She has truly been an inspiration to the nearly 400 families from around the country who are working with the National Parent Caucus and to all she meets.  This is a real grassroots effort and families and organizations from around the country have stepped up to help Tracy in her outstanding and phenomenal work.

We are excited and motivated by the wonderful events taking place across the country in honor of National Youth Justice Awareness month in October.  Every year a quarter of a million youths are tried, sentenced or incarcerated as adults.  As of this year, there are twenty local groups working together to end these injustices.

Donations

The Campaign for Youth Justice and all of its partners in National Youth Justice Awareness Month would like to thank the following people and organizations for their generous donations to Y-JAM:

Laura Brady
Jacqueline Caster
Rhonda Coplin
Continental Building
Horace M. Gaims
Kathie Gallagher
Rachel Gassert
David A. Kelly
Susan M. Koehne
Shannon Koomen
Marketing Resource Solutions, LLC
Brandy Novak
Ntiva, Inc
Anita Prentice
Barbara Rogers
Susan Ryan
Tim Ryan
Victoria Unger
Jennifer Lynn-Whaley
H Berrien Zettler