| 2021 - Here we come! - CCA Bills
Child Abuse Project Establishment of Child Welfare Policy Oversight Committee – similar to JJPOC (Stacy Schleif) Youth Voice The Center for Children’s Advocacy (CCA) and the Center for Latino Progress (CLP) are working together to build youth leadership and organizing skills. CLP identified eight high school students, all Hartford residents, to join a weekly discussion group. Over the weeks, the students have prioritized critical problems – including education, child abuse/neglect, immigration, youth trafficking, civil rights/racism, youth homelessness, juvenile justice, and jobs – and discussed ideas and approaches to resolve these issues. Most of the youth ranked education and child abuse/neglect as priority issues, followed by immigration and youth homelessness, civil rights/racism and youth trafficking, jobs, and juvenile justice. The goal of the program is to teach skills that give youth the confidence to organize and take action, using their voices to force systemic change to improve their lives and those of others facing similar issues. The group will continue to meet through February and plans to testify before the Connecticut Legislature on proposals that address education, abuse and neglect and youth homelessness. Quotes from some of the CCA/CLP youth: I have friends who tried to end their lives because of abuse at home… and some people make bad choices because they are placed in a position that no white person is placed in, and that hurts because one day they could really get locked up for years for something that a white person gets away with easily. – YV The education system is failing. We need to make assistive technology more available for students with disabilities. We need to consider how school security measures affect students. We have not achieved education equity. We still do not know how to handle high school dropouts. – JA Education Lead on the CTECS bill- with Jeff Currey, Kathleen McCarty, GHLA, The Arc, etc (Kathryn Meyer) Juvenile Justice JJPOC List including: -
- Free phone calls for minors (Adam Yagaloff)
- Juvenile Records Erasure (Marisa Halm)
- Removing SRO’s from schools (Marisa Halm)
- JJPOC Educ Committee items including (Martha Stone and Marisa Halm)
- Improving re-entry supports
- Requiring transition PPT’s
- Fixing detention re-entry loop
Support on JJPOC bill to eliminate suspensions (CCA not leading) Health Justice HUSKY Expansion for immigrant youth under 19 - re-attempt from 2019 (Jay Sicklick) Lead level limit – set state lead level at 5μg/dL, changing the present state limit from 20 μg/dL as the limit, to comport with the CDC and AAP requirements (Alice Rosenthal) Also, not in shared drive doc for this session but Stacey sent me info: Homelessness
Access to identity docs legislation (Stacey Violante Cote) Child Abuse Project Education - Lead on the CTECS bill- with Jeff Currey, Kathleen McCarty, GHLA, The Arc, etc
Juvenile Justice - JJPOC List including:
- Free phone calls for minors
- Juvenile Records Erasure
- JJPOC Educ Committee items including:
- Improving re-entry supports
- Requiring transition PPT’s
- Fixing detention re-entry loop
2. Removing SROs from school 3. Pedestrian Stop Bill Health Justice - HUSKY Expansion for immigrant youth under 19 (re-attempt from 2019)
- Lead level limit – set state lead level at 5μg/dL, changing the present state limit from 20 μg/dL as the limit, to comport with the CDC and AAP requirements.
- CCA Supporting but not Lead Agency
- Support on JJPOC bill to eliminate suspensions
Abuse and Neglect (SS)
Legislative effort: establish a child welfare equivalent of the JJPOC
January meeting with Judge Conway regarding court culture
DCF extension on moratorium on discharge of youth over 18 - through January, then reassessment each month
Renaming Child Abuse Project to more accurately reflect efforts
Status of amicus PA - foster care rights of same sex couples
COVID and youth suicide
Post-termination visitation with biological parent - remanded
Racial Justice
Race and gender equity in the homeless system: dashboard being assembled/timeframe/scope of work (SVC)
Suspensions: decreasing numbers and decreasing disparities (KM)
Criminal backgrounds and racial discrimination in housing and employment, "ban the box" efforts (AY)
MS work with Judge Conway to eliminate "unknown" racial category and improve race/ethnicity data in court system
Immigration
CT Bar Young Lawyers Subcommittee panel presentation on pathways to citizenship for CT youth (PM)
Legislative initiative to reduce sentencing of trafficking victims to <365 days (so not a felony and victims not barred from benefits
DACA approval - CCA working with CT Students for a Dream (C4D) to help with applications. List parameters for application
Anything to report on ELL settlement? Health and Disability
Changing MLP language with racial justice focus: reduce disparities for children of color and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations; examine and expose inequities (JS)
YCSC Partnership: KM role and expansion of MLP (JS and KM)
Intersection between utility law and criminal justice: utility bills while incarcerated (BR)
Legislative work group on utility law / PURA / QP calls to utility companies to investigate actual messaging (BR)
Yale School of Medicine conference on inequities and anti-racism work (AR)
Legislative: lead monitoring in CT - reduce acceptable levels Juvenile and Criminal Justice | Racial and Ethnic Disparities WORKGROUP RECOMMENDATION 1 | JJPOC recommends: - The provisions of C.G.S. § 54-1m be extended so that racial profiling data is collected on all police stops, whether traffic or pedestrian, giving a full and complete picture of any racial profiling that takes place in the state
- “Pedestrian stop” means any detention by a law enforcement officer of a person, or any law enforcement officer interaction with a person in which the officer conducts a search, including a consensual search, of the person’s body or property in the person’s possession or control. For the purpose of this definition, “detention” means a seizure of a person by an officer that results from physical restraint, unequivocal verbal commands, or words or conduct by an officer that would result in a reasonable person believing that he or she is not free to leave or otherwise disregard the officer (e.g., asking a person to provide identification; asking an individual to disclose what is in their clothing or property). Whether a reasonable person believes he or she is not free to leave or otherwise disregard the officer must consider the totality of the circumstances, including the general policing presence and enforcement practices that occur in the vicinity of the stop, as well as how the following would affect the person’s belief perceived or known age, particularly children and youth; perceived or known race and ethnicity; perceived or known status as having limited or no fluency with English; perceived or known sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression; perceived or known disability; and perceived or known history of prior contacts with law enforcement.
- The Office of Policy and Management shall promulgate regulations to further define the definition of “pedestrian stop,” including any exclusions from the definition, following notice of proposed regulations and consideration of public comment.
| BACKGROUND In Connecticut, there is an ongoing concern about racial profiling. Youth are consistently stopped by law enforcement, yet there is no data to determine if these stops were motivated by race or ethnicity. Furthermore, youth of color have complained about being harassed by law enforcement just for walking down the street or meeting with friends. This has led to youths’ negative perceptions of law enforcement. As of now, data is only provided for racial profiling that occurs at traffic stops, omitting racial profiling at pedestrian stops. Racial profiling at pedestrian stops must be reported as substantial evidence supports the finding that youth in Connecticut come in contact with law enforcement on the street rather than driving. National studies have reported the intense and damaging impact of repeated stops by police. Because of this, there is an urgent need to look closer at data that captures these experiences, which can lead to the emotional and mental trauma of youth. In 2012, Connecticut passed the Alvin Penn Law, an anti-racial profiling law, mandating specific data collection, including the race, color, ethnicity, age, and gender of individuals stopped for traffic stops. This law was designed to uncover whether racial profiling was/ is occurring and to what extent. While this is a step in the right direction, there is a need to report all police encounters and to encompass youth stops. In order to address youths’ needs and examine the racial disparities in the system, Connecticut needs to start reporting racial profiling during pedestrian stops to achieve a more comprehensive image of law enforcement’s interaction with youth. As a result, the aforementioned anti-racial profiling law should be amended to accurately reflect all police encounters to see what the data yields. The Center for Children’s Advocacy, the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, and the Racial and Ethnic Disparities workgroup of the JJPOC have collaborated on ways to address disproportionate minority contact and improve data collection efforts. DATA Currently, in Connecticut, racial profiling data is collected on traffic stops made by law enforcement. This data is helpful; however, it is limited to only traffic stops. No data is collected on pedestrian stops. As a result, there is a huge gap in research and data collection that addresses racial profiling that takes place during pedestrian stops. Solely collecting data on traffic stops omits any information on the impact of youth under 16 or youth who do not drive. There are a few other jurisdictions that collect data on pedestrian stops. For example, the Boston Police Department collects data on pedestrian stops through their report program called Field Interrogation and Observation Encounter. The New York City Police Department collects similar data on pedestrian stops through their database, “Stop, Question and Frisk”. Additionally, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia is required to document pedestrian stops, facilitated by their Stop Data program. In addition, two lawsuits were filed against the Milwaukee Police Department in Wisconsin, and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department in Mississippi and the outcome of both cases resulted in having to report pedestrian stop data. Specifically, the Milwaukee Police Department is required to report their pedestrian stops semi-annually due to their lawsuit. On a broader scale, some key states have begun to track law enforcement’s pedestrian stops. These states include California, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Mississippi. California mandates every law enforcement agency to collect and report pedestrian stops by 2023. The eight largest agencies in California were asked to submit their data in 2019. Colorado requires every law enforcement agency to annually report pedestrian stops. Illinois requires every department to report pedestrian stops through their IDOT data collection system. Oregon law requires every law enforcement agency to report pedestrian stops by 2021. POTENTIAL IMPACT Law enforcement in the United States conduct millions of vehicle and pedestrian stops each year. Despite the high occurrence of stops, there is little information about them, including their efficiency in ensuring public safety and their impact on the community. The data collection of pedestrian stops can benefit society and provide insight on the effectiveness of policing strategies, group disparities, the degree of group representation and any outliers in officer behavior. This recommendation would extend the provisions of C.G.S. S 54-1m that would generate racial profiling data on all police stops, traffic and pedestrian. This extension will provide a complete picture of racial profiling in the state of Connecticut. Repeated stops of youth by law enforcement have shown to cause anxiety, trauma, or lower educational performance in these youth. In 2014, a study displayed in the American Journal of Public Health found that young men who reported police contact, specifically more intrusive contact, experienced higher levels of anxiety and trauma. Another study was conducted in 2019 by Joscha Legewie and Jeffrey Fagan found that aggressive policing can cause a decrease in educational performance of some minority children and can cause an impact on their educational trajectories. An intrusive stop, in general, can cause heightened anxiety and PTSD. Data about pedestrian stops of young people should also help public officials and community members understand where there may be needs for additional services or supports to reduce unnecessary contact with law enforcement (e.g., diversion programs, crisis intervention services). Given the negative consequences associated with law enforcement contact for youth, as referenced in the research above, these data will also help ensure that jurisdictions throughout the state are working to reduce unnecessary law enforcement interactions with youth through training, policies, and actual practices. Because the research documents then negative consequences of police contact, we expect that reduced contact will mean that fewer youth will experience those adverse outcomes. Youth Voice Developing the Next Generation of Youth Leaders: A Partnership Between CCA & Center for Latino Progress
The Center for Children’s Advocacy, in partnership with the Center for the Latino Progress (CLP), is working to build the next generation of youth leaders through trainings in leadership and community organizing. CCA’s community organizer, Lourdes Fonseca, is working with a group of eight high school students in Hartford (six seniors, 1 junior and 1 sophomore) identified through CLP’s (what group or is it youth employment program?). The community organizing curriculum brings the group through different aspects of power including information about the systems of oppression, civic movements, building power and the critical steps in engaging in community organizing. In a recent activity, the students identified five problems/issues that youth in their community are facing and prioritized which issues to address. Here are the results: 86% indicated that education and child abuse/neglect are priority issues for youth. These were followed by immigration and youth homelessness (71%) and civil rights/racism and trafficking of youth (58%). Here is what a few of the youth had to say: “I believe … there is a big problem with child abuse and neglect and I’ve seen how it affects someone who is in that situation and I have friends who have tried to end their live because of the abuse at home. The second biggest problem is the education we are getting. We go to school thinking we are going to learn something beneficial but in reality we aren’t learning anything… I am one of those students that loves to learn …Though, when a teacher gives out the energy that they don’t want to be teaching then it really reflects on the students.” (YV, a high school senior (?)) “The reason why the education system is failing is because we need to make assistive technology more available for students with disabilities. We need to consider how school security measures affect students ... We have not achieved education equity. We still do not know how to handle high school dropouts. There is a nationwide college-gender gap, and surprisingly, we are not focusing on it.” (JA, a high school senior (?)) This group will continue to meet through February as they dive into the issues they have identified. One activity they plan is to testify on legislative issues addressing education, abuse and neglect and youth homelessness. Other activities include (what other advocacy activities will they be doing Lourdes?). Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Info below under Education - please add more here (MH)
CSSD Case Study deep dive (MS)
CCA has been working with national partners National Center for Youth Law and Juvenile Law Center to improve conditions at the state’s adult youth facility (not sure we can say much more since we are in confidential ‘settlement negotiation')s’_– Martha what do you think? Do you approve of this? Homelessness
Adam:
We’ve been working with Judah (20 – real name) since last March. You wrote sometime back about our work in helping him manage his SSI payments through the pandemic. The last months have been hard for him because he’s been in and out of the hospital with his mental illness. And the normal places he can visit have been limited. The good part of the story is he is stably housed now, he has a trained mentor in place, and he’s working a little at UPS. We did a little work helping him with some legal issues, and also a lot of navigating the homeless housing system. The second case is mine from Bridgeport. Camron (16 – real name) was arrested and his mom didn’t know what to do to help him with school. Probation from Bridgeport contacted our office and we worked to get him identified for special education. He’s now a sophomore and has been struggling for a long time. We used CCA’s education consultant to review his testing and also to identify proper IEP supports once he was identified. Right now the goal is to get extra reading support so he doesn’t get too frustrated and leave school. But it seems like the family has some relief that the school is looking at Camron closely. Education
As a result of the Alicia B Settlement, SDE "tier" system looking at disproportionality in suspensions and expulsions by race; tracking districts, highlighting biggest offenders, working to reduce disproportionality (MH)
Bridgeport schools missing 12 SpED teachers; CCA response/efforts? (KM)
Legislative: CT Tech School admissions and discrimination against students with disabilities
Rep Porter legislative effort to ban suspension and expulsion completely except as required by federal law, beginning with youngest students; KM working with CHDI Welcome Chantelle Williams
Staff positions open and links to positions and applications
Upcoming webinars
Recent press
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