Dr. Bryan L. Kline’s Post

Since 2000, youth incarceration rates have fallen by 75%, a significant step toward transforming California’s youth justice system. However, racial disparities remain a critical issue with youth of color still facing disproportionate rates of arrest & incarceration. The Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR) is at the forefront of addressing these challenges, guiding California’s transition to restorative, community-based care. By promoting best practices & offering technical assistance, #OYCR is working to ensure every youth has the opportunity to thrive. Learn more in The Sentencing Project’s “Youth Justice By The Numbers” policy brief about this progress and the work ahead to address racial disparities in #YouthJustice: https://bit.ly/4ewyp3i #RestorativeJustice

The White House has officially declared the month of April as Second Chance Month! This initiative is a vital step towards raising awareness about the challenges faced by individuals seeking to reintegrate into society after incarceration. At Repowered, we wholeheartedly believe in second chances. Every day presents an opportunity for renewal and growth. That's why we've developed our Work Readiness Program, tailored to support individuals with a history of incarceration or barriers to employment. Many of those we work with have encountered challenges within the criminal legal system or are in recovery from addiction, making it difficult to secure stable employment that pays a living wage. Throughout this month, we'll be sharing articles, blogs, and updates on our direct impact on society in honor of Second Chance Month. We invite you to join us in promoting a culture of compassion and understanding, and in championing opportunities for individuals seeking a fresh start. Together, let's embrace the power of second chances and create a more inclusive and supportive community for all. Read the full proclamation from President Biden For Second Chance Month: #SecondChanceMonth #Repowered #OpportunityForAll #CriminalJusticeReform #InclusiveCommunity #Support #SecondChances

🔗 Breaking the Cycle: From Incarceration to Employment 🔗 Over 50% of individuals previously incarcerated face rearrest within a span of 3 years. However, when post-release employment programs are implemented effectively, they can significantly reduce the rate of rearrest. 🌟 Studies show that participants in these programs were found to have only half the likelihood of returning to prison at both the 6-month and 1-year marks, compared to the average rate. At Barred Business, we're committed to making a change. Our comprehensive reentry initiatives provide training, mentorship, and job opportunities for individuals seeking to rebuild their lives post-incarceration. Together, we're rewriting stories of success and breaking the cycle of recidivism. Join us in reshaping lives! 💪🏾 . . . . . . . . #SecondChances #ReintegrationMatters #EmpowerFormerInmates #BreakingBarriers #NewBeginnings #ReducingRecidivism #EmploymentForAll #HopeAfterPrison #ChangingLives #JusticeReform #EmpathyMatters #TransformingFutures #EndTheCycle #Inclusivity #RehabilitationWorks #SupportingChange #BelieveInChange #TogetherForChange #UnlockingPotential #MakingADifference #BarredBusiness #ReentryInitiatives #RewritingStories

Here’s a win in the youth incarceration space in the Northern Territory - 89% of the youth who engaged with our service intensively, have had significant declines in spending time within incarceration, including reduced offending.   After a few years of data collection, we’ve synthesised over 1800 hours of data between January 2022 – June 2024 across 1291 direct and individual youth engagements through our service. As a all First Nations, Not-for-profit service with a team of up to 3 staff, we worked with the equivalent of 8% of all youth of whom went into youth detention/ prison in 2023. This may seem like a small percentage, but if you look into the savings and impact our small privately funded team provides to our community in reductions of incarceration, police resources, property damage, court resources, health resources and housing supports, then the reality is multi-million dollar savings to tax payers. Some key themes of what drive success for our intensive servicing are: -         Impact through connectivity to cultural, social and emotional wellbeing determinants. NOT criminogenic risk -         Family unit referrals, not just individual based. -         Peer group engagement. Strengthening positive social groups -         Family and youth decide what type of service they receive. -         Afterhours engagements, recognizing at risk times for youth -         On site Education support -         Onsite Employment supports and work readiness -         cPTSD engagement principles whilst working with clients. Establishing safety and stability -         A consistent, healthy and knowledgeable workforce of local First Nation’s men -         Advocacy in courts, schools and community It’s clear we need to do better by our children, our women and each other. Government/s must listen to the localised evidence of what is working.  Knock on your local politician’s office or Government bureaucrats office, and tell them 89% is the success rate of a little First Nation’s philanthropically funded org… and then give them this figure, 94%, that’s the recidivism rate for youth who go into Youth Detention in the NT.  It's a broken system. They won’t listen to us, so will they listen to the data? Better yet, what happens when the broader community (voters) take on the data? Look out for a deeper dive into our model and the evaluation, in our upcoming impact report and our annual report in 2025.

At Comic Books for Justice (CB4J), we have an idea that can help stop the cycle of mass incarceration in the U.S. using the power of literacy, art, and comic books—one comic book, in particular. It’s called I, COMIC. But we need your help. I, COMIC—in collaboration with the Social Justice Network (SJN), New York Public Library Jail & Prison Services, and Hudson Link for Higher Education—aims to bring reading, art, building mastery, and self-soothing skills to incarcerated citizens, all in one book. The inability to read is directly connected to incarceration. Once incarcerated, the cycle continues: inability to read is directly connected to high rates of recidivism. 70% of all incarcerated adults read below a fourth grade level. Fostering literacy has been proven to have significant, positive effects on stopping the cycle of mass incarceration. Art programs also have remarkable, proven benefits, dramatically reducing the amount of disciplinary infractions and parole violations, and even easing racial tension in correctional facilities. Comics are where literacy and art intersect, and we can bring all of that to incarcerated citizens in New York State. We can effect real change. Will you help? Visit us at http://kck.st/3XfREH7 or email me at luisabcolon@sjnus.org to find out more.

The US faces a massive incarceration issue, with 2.3M imprisoned and 650K released annually. Without marketable skills, many re-offend. For-profit companies can help by providing training and job opportunities, both during and after incarceration. Let's redefine rehabilitation and reentry and focus on long-term growth and empowerment. https://bit.ly/3JMNIHE by Tina Stine #TeleverdeEffect #empowerment

Excellent continued coverage of our newest exhibit, "Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration" and how it is serving to deepen understanding of our history and inform future policymaking. "Louisiana’s status as the most incarcerating state in the United States is rooted through three centuries, starting in the colonial then American slavery eras. The early stories of brutality and forced labor of both enslaved and free people are told in the exhibit’s first half. The second half tells how systemic prison and jail expansion have led to the bright red bar on a wall-sized graphic that shows Louisiana not only outpacing the rest of the United States in per capita incarceration but also Russia, Mexico, etc. Told through historical objects, text, multimedia presentations and data visualization, the exhibit’s narrative from chattel slavery to the convict-lease era to Jim Crow to the transfer of carceral administration from the state to cities and parishes terminates at a graphic demonstrating that Louisiana’s incarcerated population remains disproportionately Black. Back at the exhibit’s title wall, its introduction concludes: “As the human and financial costs continue to mount, even in the face of declining crime rates, Louisiana itself is held captive by this history.” “One of our goals is to get people talking and thinking about incarceration today with an understanding of where we came from — understanding the past to have … more informed conversations today about incarceration in Louisiana,” Seiferth said.

The CSG Justice Center has released our final policy recommendations to reduce reliance on incarceration in New Hampshire as part of the state’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative. These recommendations and data analysis, delivered to the New Hampshire Governor’s Advisory Commission on Mental Illness and the Corrections System, reflect the state’s commitment to reducing the incarceration of people with substance use disorder and mental health challenges by decreasing recidivism and associated costs. Our recommendations address some of the root issues that lead people in New Hampshire to cycle through prisons and jails for low-level offenses and supervision violations. The recommendations also address a lack of structural support for people in the criminal justice system struggling with behavioral health conditions. Read more about our findings and proposed actions for New Hampshire: https://lnkd.in/ei-sPP8q

Over the past couple of years, #NorthDakota has implemented juvenile justice reforms. And a new national report says there's been major progress in the U.S. in reducing youth incarceration rates, but troubling disparities remain. The Sentencing Project is out with findings that show between 2000 and 2022, there was a 75% decline in youth incarceration around the country. That coincides with a drop in arrest rates among minors. The Project's Director of Youth Justice Joshua Rovner said, it's worth noting that youths of color are still much more likely than white teens to be held in juvenile facilities. "This is one of the most daunting problems, that youth of color are treated more harshly at every point of contact with the justice system," said Rovner. "They are more likely to be arrested, and after they've been arrested, they are less likely to be referred to diversionary programs." Nationally, Indigenous youths were nearly 3.5 times more likely than whites to be detained. Native Americans are the largest minority population in North Dakota, and a separate state report found that in 2023, Indigenous youths represented 30% of juvenile detentions. Rovner said he feels that "over-policing" is a factor, and limiting law enforcement interactions for non-serious offenses can help reduce disparities. Rovner said one way to do that is by overhauling how police officers are placed in the school setting. As for the long-term progress overall, Rovner said he hopes the public takes notice of what the data show. "I think that the reason that this report has resonance," said Rovner, "is that it's surprising to many people in the country that believe that things are always getting worse, that believe that this generation of kids is worse than any generation that came before it, when the evidence doesn't back that up." Rovner suggested that policymakers not lose sight of how successful diversionary programs have been, and that proactive states can serve as a model for others to follow suit. In 2021, North Dakota adopted reforms that included newly created categories for juvenile delinquency and child welfare. The goal was to provide more clarity on which types of cases needed referral to the courts, and which ones were better suited for the human services system.

🔗 Breaking the Cycle: From Incarceration to Employment 🔗 Over 50% of individuals previously incarcerated face rearrest within a span of 3 years. However, when post-release employment programs are implemented effectively, they can significantly reduce the rate of rearrest. 🌟 Studies show that participants in these programs were found to have only half the likelihood of returning to prison at both the 6-month and 1-year marks, compared to the average rate. We're committed to making a change. Our comprehensive reentry initiatives provide training, mentorship, and job opportunities for individuals seeking to rebuild their lives post-incarceration. Together, we're rewriting stories of success and breaking the cycle of recidivism. Join us in reshaping lives! 💪🏾 . . . . . . . . #SecondChances #ReintegrationMatters #EmpowerFormerInmates #BreakingBarriers #NewBeginnings #ReducingRecidivism #EmploymentForAll #HopeAfterPrison #ChangingLives #JusticeReform #EmpathyMatters #TransformingFutures #EndTheCycle #Inclusivity #RehabilitationWorks #SupportingChange #BelieveInChange #TogetherForChange #UnlockingPotential #MakingADifference #BarredBusiness #ReentryInitiatives #RewritingStories