YJWG Funder Call: Improving Youth-Police Relations
The Youth Justice Work Group of YTFG invites you to a conference call for funders on Tuesday, December 12th at 1pm ET, 12pm CT, 11pm MT, 10am PT.
Our speakers will include Kerri Peterson of the Sherwood Foundation, Lisa Thurau of Strategies for Youth, and Laura Nirider of the Center for Wrongful Convictions of Youth.
Law enforcement officers are often the first point of contact between youth and the justice system. They wield tremendous power in determining which youth will be arrested, and, given this authority, they receive extremely little policy guidance and quality training to prepare them for their interactions with youth and young adults. This results in unnecessary arrests and detention, racial and ethnic disparities, escalations and excessive use of force, rights violations, and false confessions, all of which contribute to an erosion of youth, family and community trust.
We will discuss various strategies for improving youth-police relations, including training, technical assistance, community relations building, litigation, and policy development. We will also hear from the Sherwood Foundation about their commitment to invest in this important work.
Email Carrie Rae Boatman at carrierae@ to RSVP for the call and to receive call-in information.