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Johnny is caught by a high school teacher returning a playground punch in a fight William started. But it’s the second fight this month for Johnny and the school’s principal calls the police. Johnny ends up as another case in Chicago’s infamous juvenile justice system, which some experts see as just another incubator for crime.

With increased student deaths in the headlines and gang turf disputes always lurking in the background, locking up juvenile offenders and throwing away the key might seem the safe thing to do. Even schools have adopted zero tolerance policies in an effort to create safe havens. But do traditional forms of juvenile justice really reduce crime and violence? And what happens to youth exposed to the system?

The Community Justice for Youth Institute suggests there is another way to end the violence in our communities. The Institute grew out of efforts to reform the juvenile court system through a process called restorative justice. And as it works to de-escalate violence in schools and communities, the Institute has also had a tremendous impact on Chicago Public School policies.

In this episode of Community, Media & You, Cheryl Graves, director of the Community Justice for Youth Institute and board member Ryan Hollin join host Thom Clark

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Chicago Public Schools, Community Justice for Youth Institute, juvenile justice system, children. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.