Public Roundtable Re: Youth-Centered Alternatives to Teen Takeovers: Recreation, Opportunity, and Accountability

Background:
ACLU-D.C. submits our report, “Building Safety Through Resources”, released last November, for the roundtable record. The report aggregates social science and neuroscientific research and pairs it with an analysis of effective programs in D.C. and around the country that take a preventive and holistic approach to public safety. It also highlights programs and initiatives that have been proven more effective and promising than policing in youth crime prevention strategies.

Our Position:

Young people in D.C. deserve policies that consider their wellbeing, that truly address the challenges they and their communities are facing, and that de-center policing and carceral-centric strategies. D.C.’s Black youth, in particular, deserve to not only be heard, but be protected like anybody else; not further criminalized in the place they call home.