For youth in Virginia’s juvenile justice system, incarceration has too often meant being held in large, overcrowded facilities far away from their families and support networks. This approach has led to high recidivism rates in the state, and a lack of hope for those stuck in a cycle of crime.
Craig DeRoche, Prison Fellowship’s vice president for advocacy and public policy, addresses those gathered at Capitol Square in Richmond.
In recent months, steps have been taken to correct some of these misguided policies, as state lawmakers have promoted solutions focused on family- and community-based alternatives. However, a recent task force recommendation to spend $40 million to build a large juvenile facility in Chesapeake threatens to derail the progress made and return to old practices of “one size fits all” sentencing.
At a Tuesday press conference at Capitol Square in Richmond, Prison Fellowship Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy Craig DeRoche joined with representatives of other justice reform organizations to urge Governor Terry McAuliffe to withhold funding of the new prison until the task force is able to reevaluate ways to use the allotted money to create local options that have proven to be more successful in reducing recidivism. The event was sponsored by RISE for Youth, a broad, nonpartisan campaign that promotes alternatives to youth incarceration.
“We know from evidence and experience that young people do better when connected to their families and communities,” DeRoche says in an op-ed piece for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, coauthored by Amy Woolard of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Just Children Program. “When isolated and confined, they can become more traumatized and disengaged.”
Craig DeRoche talks with Caleb, a speaker at the press conference who spent seven years in a Virginia juvenile facility.
Speakers at the press conference appeared in front of a large mural depicting a number of youth who had spent time in Virginia’s juvenile justice system, each expressing why they are more than their criminal record and their hopes for the future.
Over 95 percent of current prisoners, both juvenile and adult, will end up returning to their communities at some point. It benefits society when these men and women are offered incarceration alternatives that are better designed to restore them to productive citizens and keep them from returning to prison.
To learn more about the issues surrounding juvenile justice, and Prison Fellowship’s efforts to promote meaningful change, click here. And if you live in Virginia and would like to add your name to those who are working to make the juvenile justice system in the state more restorative, please sign our petition.