Juvenile Justice Team
Tracking COVID-19 Developments
The Juvenile Justice Team advocates for NJ youth with disabilities who are caught up in the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Juvenile justice issues are also disability rights issues. Children with disabilities are over-represented in the juvenile justice system and are especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of incarceration. Youth with disabilities are most vulnerable to being propelled along the School-to-Prison Pipeline:
Disciplined more harshly
Referred to law enforcement
Subject to school-based arrest
Incarcerated
Deprived of an appropriate education, services and supports that would have kept them in school and out of the juvenile justice system, youth with disabilities are ending up incarcerated rather than educated.
Current Work of the Juvenile Justice Team:
The incarcerated population is one of the most vulnerable to Coronavirus infection. Through frequent COVID-19 Updates, the Juvenile Justice Team is closely following COVID-19 issues in NJ juvenile and criminal justice. The Team has initiated regular calls with the JJC leadership to monitor the response to Covid-19 in the juvenile facilities, in regard to testing, quarantine, safety, access to education, services, and maintaining connection with family. The Team is committed to supporting the efforts of other NJ and national advocates seeking the release of incarcerated youth.
New Video from NJISJ “150 Years is Enough” Campaign
Our failed youth justice system is a tragedy at any time, but even more so now during the current pandemic when these kids are living in close quarters, unable to protect themselves properly, and unable to have visits from family. The latest numbers show that 28 kids have tested positive for COVID-19 in our state’s juvenile facilities. Take action here to ask the Governor to release our state’s incarcerated kids safely and humanely whenever possible.
Ask Gov. Murphy, for the duration of this public health crisis, to halt new admissions to youth prisons and juvenile detention centers in New Jersey, and to safely and humanely remove youth from those facilities – prioritizing youth with COVID-19 symptoms or underlying heath conditions that make them vulnerable.
June 10
As New Jersey continues to flatten the curve of coronavirus cases statewide, advocates and attorneys pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday, June 10 to do something to ensure the safety of the thousands of men and women who are incarcerated in the state’s prison system, which has the highest death rate in the nation during the pandemic.
“If there is anything I can stress, it is the urgency to do something,” said Rev. Dr. Charles Boyer, the executive director of Salvation and Social Justice. … “Time is not on our side to figure it all out.”
In a joint hearing held by the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee, lawmakers heard testimony from advocates, and family members of people incarcerated in support of a bill that would expedite release for inmates who are due to complete their sentences within a year.
It is the first piece of legislation aimed at limiting the state’s prison population during the public health crisis in which more than 2,000 inmates have become infected with COVID-19, including 46 who have died, according to the Department of Corrections.
The bill, S2519, which was introduced by Sen. Nellie Pou, D-Passaic, and Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, with co-sponsor Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, would reduce sentences for inmates by six months for each month of the declared state of emergency, with a maximum sentence reduction of one year.
If enacted, it could release a few thousand adult and juvenile inmates who are near the end of their sentences instantaneously, according to the ACLU.
The corresponding bill in the Assembly, A4235, sponsored by Assemblyman Raj Mukherjee, D-Hudson, and Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-Hudson, prompted the joint hearing Wednesday.
Advocates and attorneys have constantly denounced the DOC and Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration for their slow response to the virus behind bars and their lack of urgency in releasing inmates under the governor’s executive order enacted in mid-April. The state Supreme Court ordered the administration last week to give prisoners and their attorneys information on why a request for release was denied.
June 5
“NJ Supreme Court Gives Prisoners Right to Appeal if Turned Down for COVID-19 Release.” NJ Spotlight.
New Jersey prisoners denied a medical furlough or parole in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic have the right to appeal these determinations and courts must decide on individual appeals within a week of their filings, the state Supreme Court ordered Friday, June 5.
The unanimous decision, written by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, does not go as far as attorney advocates for inmates had sought in one respect, but it does allow for a potentially broader release of prisoners than Gov. Phil Murphy’s April 10 executive order permits.
The court said it did not have the authority to order the expanded release, including of those whose sentences expire within a year, as requested by ACLU-NJ and the state public defender’s office. But the court’s ruling does add to Murphy’s order a system of due process giving inmates the right to advocate for release and, if denied, appeal to a judge. It also holds that all prisoners — even those not covered by the original order — may seek release due to the unprecedented impact of the novel coronavirus.
May 29
New Jersey has now tested almost all juvenile offenders, providing the first comprehensive look at how the coronavirus has spread behind bars and leading some to push the state to release more from detention facilities.
Advocates asked New Jersey’s Supreme Court Wednesday (May 27) to free some prisoners whose sentences end within a year, which would include residents of the Juvenile Justice Commission.
“Without a significant reduction in the JJC population, distancing will remain impossible and the threat of infection will continue unabated," Laura Cohen, a Rutgers University law professor and director of the Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic, told the seven justices.
At least 55 residents are set to be released within a year, the head of the commission told the court, but many had committed serious crimes, including robbery or endangering the welfare of a child. State officials also said social distancing was possible. Although many residents slept in dormitories, the entire system was less than half full, according to court documents filed by acting Executive Director Jennifer LeBaron.
Special Education & Juvenile Justice Project
Disability Rights New Jersey has been awarded a grant from the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) to prevent “Mis-Incarceration” – that is, to prevent youth with disabilities from entering the juvenile justice system. This fall, Disability Rights New Jersey will be re-launching the Special Education and Juvenile Justice Project:
o Disability Rights New Jersey will receive direct referrals from the Office of the New Jersey Public Defender to provide special education advocacy to youth facing juvenile delinquency charges - at risk of mis-incarceration - with the goals of:
• Getting the delinquency charge reduced or dismissed and
• Getting the child back in school with more appropriate educational supports and services in place.