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Welcome to our monthly newsletter. Expect to see this pop in your inbox around the 3rd week of each month!
CTJA & Justice Advisors
  • Iliana was accepted as a member of the 2021 World Congress on Justice with Children Child & Youth Advisory Group. Only 20 young people internationally were accepted. World Congresses are a unique chance to bring together the key players in child justice and children's rights to promote dialogue and cooperation in this field at a global level. 
  • Jordyn was accepted to the Coalition for Juvenile Justice's Emerging Youth Leader's Committee. The Emerging Leaders Committee is a partnership between CJJ and young people in the field of juvenile justice, many of whom bring lived expertise to their work. ELC members develop leadership and advocacy skills, learn about the juvenile justice system, and organize CJJ's Annual Youth Summit, a virtual and in person gathering that allows young people to come together to explore how they can lead juvenile justice reform.
  • Check out this flyer for vision sessions geared toward police and click here to sign up to have Justice Advisors facilitate a vision session for you!
Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee
Click here for the agenda, recording, and minutes from the April meeting.
2021 Legislative Session Update
Analysis of the Recommendations of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee raised bill, H.B. 6667
This bill was voted out of the Judiciary Committee, however there are numerous changes to the bill, please see below for what remained in the bill & what was removed from the bill.
Sections & provisions that remained in the bill & additions
  • Section 1:Raise the minimum age of arrest from 7 to 12 years old: The Committee only agreed to raise it to 10 years old.
  • Sections 3 & 4: Establish the Dept. of Children and Families (DCF) as administrative oversight for children in Juvenile Justice (JJ) facilities and create an implementation plan. This recommendation had some edits in terms of dates of implementation. This recommendation applies to education in JJ facilities.
  • Section 5: State Dept. of Education (SDE) assembles a list of person who may perform the function of reentry coordinator. This is for young people who are exiting the justice systems. This section had additional details as well that we can provide if needed.
  • Section 7: Now section 5 of the bill
  • Section 8: State Dept. of Education and the Department of Children and Families shall develop a system for standardized conversion of credits
  • Now section 6 of the bill
  • Section 9: Any student placed in a JJ facility and any incarcerated student....inform the student's previous school of such placement...not later than 5 days after placement transfer students' education records
  • Now section 7 of the bill
  • Section 11: Established a committee for the purpose of developing a plan to phase in a ban on suspensions and expulsions of students in any grade
  • Now section 8 of the bill
  • Section 13: Automatic erasure of all police and court records pertaining to children under 18
  • Now section 9 in the bill
  • Section 15: NEW: JJPOC establishes a committee to study telephone call rates and commissary needs for all people 18 to 21 years old in DOC custody.
  • Section 16: Banning Chemical Agent use on young people under 18 years old that are in the custody of the Department of Corrections, Judicial Branch: CSSD, and the Department of Children and Families by July 1, 2022
  • Section 21:  DCF, SDE, CSSD, DOC, and local and regional boards of education need to develop a plan for mandatory prearrest diversion of low-risk children:
  • By January 1, 2022 children should be diverted from arrest for simple trespass, public disturbance, possession of .5 oz marijuana, possession or delivery of drug paraphernalia related to .5 oz marijuana
  • By January 1, 2023 children should be diverted from arrest for breach of peace in 2nd degree, disorderly conduct, larceny in 5th or 6th degree, possession of >.5 oz marijuana, possession or delivery of drug paraphernalia related to >.5 oz marijuana
  • Section 22: Judicial Branch needs to develop a plan to house in their custody all persons under the age of 18 who are arrested and detained prior to sentencing or disposition.
  • Plan is due Jan 1, 2022. This would mean that youth cannot be sent to York or Manson before they are convicted, but it does not completely remove youth from adult facilities
Sections & provisions that were removed from the bill
  • Section 2:
  • Expand purview of JJPOC to 21 years old for research purpose
  • Expand JJPOC membership to include 2 from the Black & Puerto Rican Caucus
  • Expand JJPOC membership to include 2 community members who are parents of children with JJ experience
  • Expand JJPOC membership to include two persons under twenty-six yrs of age who have JJ experience
  • Section 6: Children placed out by the Commissioner of the Dept. of Children and Families who are 18 to 21 years old shall be entitled to all free school privileges of the school district where then reside as a result of such placement
  • Section 10: Removes allowable carve-outs to give a child in PreK through 2nd grade an out-of-school suspension. Allowable carve-outs are that the conduct on school grounds is of a violent or sexual nature that endangers persons.
  • Section 12: Limits transfers of young people to the adult criminal legal system & a second look for young people: cases transferred to the adult docket be reviewed when a child has served 50% of a sentence of turns 18, whichever comes first. The court can then reduce the sentence if they find there's not reasons for the young person to serve the entirety of the sentence.
  • Section 14: Requires the Department of Correction to provide free phone calls for young people under 18
  • Section 17: Extends traffic stop data collection and analysis to pedestrian stops
  • Section 18: JJPOC Racial and Ethnic Disparities group will collaborate with Racial Profiling Prohibition Project Advisory Board to define "pedestrian stop" and develop a method for reporting and analyzing data concerning pedestrian stops
  • Sections 19 & 20: Removes possession/use/delivery of drug paraphernalia from list of violations/infractions that can lead to delinquency adjudications, removes possession/use/delivery of drug paraphernalia from list of delinquent acts
  • Now in section 12 for development of a plan
Action Steps/Notes

  • Raise the minimum age of arrest:
  • Please contact the chairs of the Judiciary Committee and chairs of the JJPOC to express strong opposition to the change not extending to 12 years old.
  • In Connecticut, there are an average of about 130 referrals per year for the under 12 to the courts. In 2019, the 6 to 10 age bracket made up 33 of the referrals of the 112 received that year. 
  • The median age worldwide is 12-years-old and the average age of criminal responsibility in Europe is 13-years-old
  • The removal of Section 2:
  • Contact the chairs of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee and tell them representation from folks with lived experience matters.
  • The removal of Section 10:
  • Contact the State Department of CT, JJPOC chairs and Judiciary Committee Chairs to request this section is put back in. There should be no reason to suspend of expel a child from preK-2nd grade.
  • The removal of Section 12:
  • Changing automatic transfer laws for young people under 18 is very important and vital to limiting the number of youth in the criminal legal system, Contact the chairs of the Judiciary Committee to express the importance of this. This is a racial justice issue. Check out these facts:
  • In 2018, 57% of youth under 18 admitted to Manson Youth Institution (MYI) were released prior to sentencing.
  • In Sept. 2019 69% of youth at MYI at the time were unsentenced youth.
  • 2/3 of youth under 18 in DOC that exit prior to sentencing stay in the facility less than 90 days, 30-40 % stay less than 2 weeks.
  • Department of Correction data analysis indicates that more than 2/3 of youth admission in 2018 were youth of color
  • The removal of Section 14:
  • Please contact chairs of the Judiciary committee and the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections to express strong opposition to the removal of this section
  • The removal of Sections 17 and 18:
  • Please contact chairs of the Judiciary committee to have this section restored

We must continue to advocate, as a community, for young people & all involved in the juvenile & criminal legal systems. We must push for removal of all youth under 18 from the custody of the Dept. of Corrections. We must push to ban suspension & expulsion. We must push for youth and parent representation on the JJPOC - NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US! We must fight for free phone calls for youth incarcerated in the DOC. We will do this together.

Contact information:
Thank you to all who submitted testimony, testified, used your voice in other ways, & spoke truth to power this legislative session. It's not over yet- we must keep fighting!
CTJA in the Media

In solidarity ✊

Christina, Iliana, Jordyn
Connecticut Justice Alliance
CTJA.ORG | christina@ctja.org