Amsterdam News reports:
Wednesday, Institute Associate Counsel Andrea McChristian released her report, “Bring Our Children Home: A Prison-to-School Pipeline for New Jersey’s Youth,” which details the transformation of the Bordentown campus, as well as the modern-day, devastating impact of the school-to-prison pipeline on New Jersey’s youth of color.
According to the report, over the 2013-2014 school year, although Black girls made up only 16.2 percent of female students in New Jersey, they made up an estimated half of girls receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions, 30.2 percent of girls receiving expulsions with or without educational services, 37.6 percent of girls subjected to school-related arrests and 33.9 percent of girls referred to law enforcement…
“It is imperative that we rebuild our youth justice system to be transformative and prioritize rehabilitation,” said Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. “The solutions to reform our criminal justice system must begin with affirming and preserving the humanity of our children. By closing down Hayes we are shutting one of the revolving doors of recidivism and recommitting ourselves to community uplift and support of our youth to help them thrive into adulthood.”