CfJJ and the MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence are co-hosting our upcoming youth justice forum highlighting the report by the Center for Court Innovation in New York, “Gotta Make Your Own Heaven,” which interviewed over 300 young people who have either carried or owned a gun and/or have shot or been shot at.  Many of the report’s findings illuminate productive approaches to youth and gun use particularly with young people who are not connected to many of the traditional programs.  They will be followed by a panel of activists and youth development workers who will reflect on the implications that these research findings can have on policy and practice in Massachusetts. 

Previous Juvenile Justice Forums

Data, Transparency and Racial Equity (2018)

CfJJ's 2018 Juvenile Justice forum on Data, Transparency, and Racial Equity featured panelists Chief Justice Ralph Gants of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Felix Owusu, economist and PhD candidate at Harvard University, and Lynsey Heffernan, State JDAI Coordinator, and moderator Rahsaan Hall, Director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts.

You can view photos from the event below or watch the entire conversation here.

2016: Juvenile Diversion with Judge Jay Blitzman, First justice for the Middlesex Juvenile Court, Vincent Schiraldi, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Program in Criminal Justice and former NYC Probation Commissioner, and Kara Hayes, Chief of Community Engagement at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office

2015: Meet the Chief Justice of the Juvenile Court with Judge Amy Nechtem

2013: Meet the Commissioner with Peter Forbes, Commissioner of the Department of Youth Services

2012: A forum with David Chura, author of I Don’t Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup

2011: Taking Care of Our Own with Simon Singer, Professor at Northeastern University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

2010: Youth in Gangs: Beyond the Headlines with David Hureau, researcher at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Barbara Kaban, Deputy Director of the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts, Claire Sullivan, Director of Straight Ahead Ministries, and four formerly gang-involved young men

2009: A forum with Juvenile Court Chief Justice Michael Edgerton

2008: A forum with Gail Garinger, Child Advocate

2007: Juvenile Culpability with Thomas Grisso, clinical psychologist, professor, and Director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

2006: Why We Need the Court Clinics— and What They Need From Us with Tina Adams, DMH Statewide Manager of Juvenile Forensic Services, Patricia W. Cone, Director of the statewide Court Clinic System for the Juvenile Court, Carol Fernandez, Esq., Rebecca Pries, Executive Director of Adolescent Consultation Services, Steve Siciliano, Chief Probation Officer of Suffolk Juvenile Court, and Wendy Wolf, the Juvenile Defense Network Coordinator for the Youth Advocacy Project of CPCS

2005: A forum with Jane Tewksbury, Commissioner of the Department of Youth Services