From City & State New York:
A decade ago, a 15-year-old arrested in New York City and prosecuted in the juvenile system for stealing a phone or getting in a fight could be sent upstate for “placement” in a violent and chaotic youth prison, often hundreds of miles from home. That changed in September 2012 when the state, at the urging of then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and with the support of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, began removing all youth prosecuted in the city’s family courts from the state’s brutal, 19th century-model youth prisons, placing them instead into a network of community programs and small, homelike youth facilities located in or near the five boroughs.
A decade later, the results have been nothing short of transformative. As the city grapples today with adult and youth crime post-pandemic, the outcomes from this “Close to Home” Act warrant closer examination.
In 2006, state youth prisons came under sharp scrutiny. Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union issued a scathing report about conditions for girls in state custody. Darryl Thompson, a Black 15-year-old boy from the Bronx, was killed during a lethal “takedown” in a youth prison outside of Albany. Despite the county coroner ruling the death was a homicide, no staff were prosecuted in his killing. Continue reading >>>
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