From its inception in 1891 to present day, California's state youth corrections system has been mired in violence and abuse. In 1914, IQ testing and eugenics at state juvenile facilities resulted in the forced sterilization of poor, primarily non-white youth. In 1939, the suspicious suicide of a 13-year-old boy, the maltreatment of Latino youth,…

California's state youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), is violent, isolated, and lacks accountability. Fights and riots are a part of daily life and create a culture of fear. DJJ's violent conditions are concealed by an absence of state oversight and the facilities' long distances from youths' families and…

Gang membership is an indicator of chronic illicit substance use and such patterns of use may have a normalized character. Using epidemiological and qualitative data collected between 2006 and 2007, this manuscript examines the drug normalization thesis among a small sample (n=60) of gang youth aged 16-25 years from Los Angeles. Overall, while…

This bulletin draws on findings from an independent evaluation, conducted by the Urban Institute, of the Gang Reduction Program's (GRP) Impact in Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; North Miami Beach, Florida; and Richmond, Virginia, to examine how effectively these sites implemented the program. Following are some of the authors' key…

This article illustrates the application of critical literacy (Freire & Macedo, 1987; Gutierrez, 2008; Morrell, 2007) pedagogies that draw from young people's funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992) to actively nurture personally, authentically, and culturally caring relationships (Howard, 2002; Noddings, 1992;…

Despite declines in youth violence nationally in the past decade, incidence of youth violence and victimization--from assaults to homicide--continue to be pressing concerns in public safety and public health. Youth violence is also a particular concern for low-income, minority communities, where poverty, family instability, and unemployment…

The literature provides ample evidence of the relationship of substance abuse to crime. Research over the last 20 years has established a strong correlation between substance abuse and juvenile delinquency (held, 1998). Currently, there are more than 350,000 juveniles on probation and in continuing care programs in the U.S. who have substance…