Beyond Bars: Keeping Young People Safe At Home and Out of Youth Prisons
June 16, 2021
The National Assembly is proud to re-release its 2017 report advocating for a shift in the nation’s approach to supporting young people in conflict with the law by growing community capacity and resources.
“Beyond Bars: Keeping Young People Safe at Home and Out of Youth Prisons,” is a publication of the National Collaboration for Youth, produced with significant input and work from National Assembly and NCY member, Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. The report should serve as a handbook for juvenile justice administrators, legislators, judges, the non-profit community and youth advocates for how to end the practice of youth incarceration, promote public safety and restore a sense of belonging for our young people in their homes and neighborhoods. Our collective experiences tell us that communities that are often characterized by intense needs also have extraordinary assets that can be easily overlooked. We advocate for leveraging those assets as one means to meet those intense needs, and providing greater resources for neighborhood-based services and programs.
- Executive Summary
- Full Report
- Video: Beyond Bars (9 mins)
- Video: What’s the Alternative? (1 hr 44 mins)
- WEBINAR: Watch a previously recorded webinar online and download the slides.
This report is more relevant today than ever before as communities explore juvenile justice alternatives that end the practice of youth incarceration, promote public safety, and restore a sense of belonging and well-being for our young people in their homes and neighborhoods. It’s a timely topic, given the Biden Administration’s support of putting $100 million to help re-direct “resources from youth prisons into more effective community-based alternatives for young people.” Additionally, research suggests that there is overwhelming public support for reforms that invest in community-based alternatives that build a solid foundation for youth to achieve their potential and contribute to their communities in positive ways.
The National Assembly is committed to prioritizing youth justice as a core component of its national racial-equity and diversity platform. “Beyond Bars” is key to National Assembly’s continuing efforts to realize a vision of moving from a facility-based juvenile justice system, that disproportionately harms Black and Brown youth, to a community-based approach focused on developing and improving community supports for justice-involved youth and their families.