{news} Raise the Age CT update

[David Bedell]

The CT Green Party was a member of this coalition, which was ultimately
successful.  After one more year, CT will stop locking up juvenile offenders
together with adults.

David Bedell

http://www.raisetheagect.org/1narr1.html
Connecticut is one of only three states to set the age of adulthood at 16
for criminal prosecution – even for minor, non-violent crimes. A coalition
of activists, parents, state agency professionals and youth known as the
Raise the Age campaign, successfully advocated for a sweeping policy change
to return those children to juvenile jurisdiction. A law passed in 2007 will
Raise the Age of adulthood to 18 effective January 1, 2010.


http://www.raisetheagect.org/2narr1.html

A Land of Contrasts and Steady Habits

Nothing one can say about Connecticut is 100 percent true. And, yes, that
statement itself is a paradox. But then, so is Connecticut. For a major
policy change to be effected here, it must engage vastly different
groups who often have diametrically opposed interests.

    Step one in organizing is assessing the landscape. Connecticut is one of
the wealthiest states in the nation and contains some of its poorest
communities.
Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie summered in Darien, Connecticut. Even
without Carnegie in the mix anymore, Darien, like many Connecticut
suburbs, is doing well for itself. It boasts five private clubs,
resident-only beaches and a median family income of $101,583.

    Cross the border into neighboring Norwalk, and family income dips to
$55,269.
Yet Norwalk is far more fortunate than many Connecticut cities. In
Hartford, median family income is just $24,774. The number of
Connecticut workers earning a wage that puts their families beneath the
Federal Poverty Level is rising. It was 16.8 percent in 2006.

    Economic disparity in Connecticut is largely an urban/suburban divide,
with the
cities bearing the lion’s share of economic hardship with all its
associated ills. The urban/suburban divide is often a minority/white
divide as well, as people of color are concentrated in Connecticut
cities and as a group do not begin to share in the state’s prosperity.

Connecticut Politics

All this is compounded by a growing gap in political power as cities in
Connecticut are losing population. A successful campaign in Connecticut is
increasingly one that wins the hearts and minds of suburbanites.

Children of color from cities are disproportionately represented in the
system and once inside are treated more severely
than their white, suburban peers. Juvenile justice reform, therefore,
could have become a quixotic appeal to invest in “somebody else’s kid.”

The Raise the Age campaign aimed to take Connecticut from having one of the
worst records on incarcerating children as adults to becoming one of
the most progressive states in funding evidence-based services for
troubled teens. The change was radical. Connecticut is not.

The state is often called “The Land of Steady Habits,”
a tribute to the moral fiber of its Puritan founders. Connecticut is
conservative, in the classical sense of “tending to oppose change,”
though not in the sense of a political extreme.

The state has a solidly Democratic legislature and – as it has since 1995 –
a
Republican governor. The session during which Raise the Age legislation
passed was marked by conflict along party lines and no small amount of
gridlock.

    To further complicate Connecticut’s political
landscape, the previous governor, John Rowland, recently completed a
federal prison term for corruption charges.
One of the largest reminders of Rowland corruption is the Connecticut
Juvenile Training School, built at a cost of $57 million by a company
with close ties to Rowland. It was not a great time to ask the state to
invest more money in juvenile justice.

Making the Case

So to review, the Raise the Age campaign had to:

    * Convince white, affluent suburbanites, whose children rarely ended up
in the system, that juvenile justice reform was in their best interest and
worth a significant taxpayer investment.
    * Appeal to Republican and Democratic policy makers.
    * Make sweeping, fundamental changes without appearing radical to a
change-resistant state.

Fortunately, the facts presented us with ready responses to each of these
challenges:


Convince white, affluent suburbanites, whose children rarely ended up
behind bars, that juvenile justice reform was in their best interest
and worth a significant taxpayer investment.

    Even privileged children, who are treated more leniently by the system,
can be hurt by acquiring an adult record.

    Data overwhelmingly prove that incarcerating minors in adult prisons
increases the odds they will reoffend and escalate in violence. Raising
the Age would decrease crime and in the long-run save money by producing
productive citizens rather than career criminals.


    Appeal to Republican and Democratic policy makers.
    By emphasizing the public safety and cost-saving angles, we created a
mainstream issue that appealed equally to both parties.


    Make sweeping, fundamental changes without appearing radical to a
change-resistant state.

    Only three states put the age of adulthood at 16, making Connecticut’s
policy “radical.” We were suggesting a move to the mainstream.
Furthermore, we appealed to “Main Street” idea that 16- and
17-year-olds are still children in need of adult protection and
guidance. Drawing on new science around adolescent brain development
strengthened this argument.