A unique public web event will highlight how a community-based, love-centered continuum of care can serve as an alternative to ineffective youth justice approaches that disproportionately harm Black and Brown youth. The virtual forum, Feb. 25, from 12 noon to 1:30 pm ET, will feature leading U.S. youth justice leaders and advocates and a young man who delivers transformative services that not long ago supported his community re-entry.
The virtual event aims to enhance understanding of the urgency of youth justice reforms and lead to recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration to champion.
Michael Umpierre, Director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, will moderate the discussion with panelists, who include:
Carey Cockerell served more than 45 years as a youth justice leader at state and county levels before his recent retirement.
Clinton Lacey is Director of the District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), DC’s cabinet-level juvenile justice agency.
Retha Onitiri is the Director of Community Engagement at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
Raequan McIver was arrested multiple times as a youth and in a secure facility at age 15. Four years later, a Washington DC DYRS Credible Messenger supported his community re-entry and eventually advocated for him to get a job as a Credible Messenger on his team.
