CEO Gisele Castro on AMNY "America agrees: Let’s innovate NOT incarcerate our teens"
exalt CEO Gisele Castro was published on AMNY on December 11, 2023:
A recent Gallup poll found that 47% of Americans believe that juveniles should not be treated as adults in the justice system, marking a shift from two decades ago, when 65% in 2000 felt juveniles should be treated the same as adult criminals. This significant paradigm shift correlates with what reformists like myself have been clamoring for decades: Adult sanctions on young people is an abject policy failure that does not address underlying issues that causes juveniles to become offenders in the first place. Issues like disengagement with education, lack of economic power, systemic racism, and generational cycles of incarceration, poverty and violence.
The answer is simple: Youth involved at any point in the criminal justice system should require intervention and an on-ramp to an alternative path. Alternatives to incarceration work; especially when they include the right formula of robust case management, counseling, school visits, a paid internship or job training, support for scheduled court appearances, goal setting and exposure to career opportunities and job training.
