“The Color of Justice” A Compelling Set of Connecticut FACTS

[N'Zinga Shani]

“The Color of Justice” is a documentary made by CPTV and the CT Juvenile Justice Alliance.  It contains a 'Compelling Set of Connecticut FACTS' about our Juvenile Justice System, and it addresses some of the many issues of concern to parents, teens, some in the CT Juvenile Justice Alliance and caring  community leaders and citizens. Below are links to the "Color of Justice" documentary, and to two other videos done by OneWorld Progressive Institute, Inc. Our first program was "Profiling the Juvenile Justice System." Our guests were: Abby Anderson, executive director, CT Juvenile Justice Alliance; Kyisha Velazquez, Manager,  NH and Hamden Juvenile Review Boards, and John Gill, former director of the New Haven Juvenile Justice Services: CT Juvenile Justice System: PT 1 - http://youtu.be/OnHtqUJPoxQ and CT Juvenile Justice: Kids, Detention & JJS - PT 2 - http://youtu.be/qCyOoeCYVAY (These are video segments from the complete program)

"There are plenty of people out there who would rather change the world than learn to live with its injustices." You are among them; thank you for your partnership. You have read about, and hopefully attended a forum of, "The Color of Justice" in Connecticut (www.ctjja.org/colorofjustice).

What is the role of discretion in Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice System?  How do the police, judges, and every aspect of the Juvenile Justice System treat children of color versus white children? Reliable data shows that white children are often clinicalized when they get into trouble; children or color are most often criminalized.  What accounts for that? That issue is addressed in the CPTV video.

There is a discussion guide to help you to conduct critical-thinking activities on this topic.  We implore you to watch the video linked below. Please try to use it wherever possible. If you have teens or pre-teens, please share this video with them. OneWorld endorses this video 100 percent.  We also invite you to watch the segments titled Profiling CT JJS.

 The Color of Justice video – 55:40 by CPTV: http://youtu.be/ArPuTG_X4dg  Please watch

A CPTV original documentary about Connecticut's Juvenile Justice System. Statistics collected over 17 years indicate that minority children are treated more harshly than white children when it comes to sanctions within the Juvenile Justice system.

The documentary looks at the disparities, the causes, and the solutions to this violation of children's rights. And we look at misconceptions within our culture about who is committing the most crime.

 Op-ed by the Alliance's deputy director Lara Herscovitch and Sergeant Andre Parker (Mashantucket Tribal Police Department):

Individuals Doing Something About Racism (We also recommend this op-ed)

By LARA HERSCOVITCH AND ANDRE PARKER | OP-ED - 6:29 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2014

The death of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old African American man shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, has once again plunged our nation into a conversation about race. That conversation will be like many that came before it. It will describe and lament the state of things, but it will not move forward to a search for solutions. The implication is that solutions are simply not possible.

Racism is a towering and complicated problem. But that does not mean that we should resign ourselves to it. Ordinary people can move the needle toward justice and equality. We know, because we have seen it time and time again.

One of us is a white woman engaged in policy and advocacy. One is an African-American man who is a police officer. We work together facilitating community forums organized around the Connecticut Public Television documentary "The Color of Justice," which examines the over-representation of youth of color in our state's juvenile justice system. Studies monitoring various decision points within the system find that minority youths are treated more harshly at roughly half those junctures than white youths in similar circumstances. (Read the complete article at the link below) 

 We also invite you to watch this video program produced by OneWorld Progressive Institute, Inc: Keeping Kids Out Of Jail: http://youtu.be/g8D4WRFeI-s   Visit OneWorld on YouTube to learn more about our work in GNH.

https://www.youtube.com/user/oneworldpi/videos  - OneWorld’s YouTube (N’Zinga Shäni)

“So many things must change before we realize true equality for all our children. We are in awe of people, ordinary people, who are trying to change the thing over which they have most control — themselves.”

Lara Herscovitch is deputy director of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance. Andre Parker is a sergeant with the Mashantucket Tribal Police Department.

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-op-herscovitch-individ...