ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBER
Youth Justice New Jersey
60 Park Place, Suite 511
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Phone: 973-558-0223
Website: http://www.youthjusticenj.o
Facebook: facebook.com/njisj
Twitter: @nj_isj
Retha Onitiri, PMP
Phone: 973-558-0223
Email: ronitiri@njisj.org
Organizational Description:
The New Jersey Juvenile Justice Reform Coalition is a large and growing consortium of research, advocacy and direct service organizations committed to: (1) reducing the number youth who come in contact with the system and diverting those who do; (2) reducing the incarceration of youth; and (3) improving conditions for youth in the system. The Coalition was founded in the Spring of 2013 and began its collective work with efforts to eliminate punitive solitary confinement in juvenile facilities and to provide due process protections before transfers from juvenile and adult corrections facilities. The Coalition has now begun a broader effort to shape juvenile justice-related discourse and policy in furtherance of systemic reform.
Coalition Members:
Advocates for Children of New Jersey
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
American Friends Service Committee
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Essex, Hudson, and Union Counties
Disability Rights New Jersey
Independence: A Family of Services, Inc.
Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies
Justice for Families
Legal Educational Advocacy and Reentry Program (LEARN)
Legal Services of New Jersey
Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest at Lowenstein Sandler
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
New Jersey Office of the Public Defender
New Jersey Parents’ Caucus
New Jersey Youth Caucus
Reentry Coalition of New Jersey
Rutgers Law School-Camden: Children’s Justice Clinic
Rutgers Law School-Newark: Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic
St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church of Somerset
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network
YouthBuild Newark
New Jersey Parents Caucus
Trinitas Regional Medical Center
655 East Jersey Street, 1st Floor
Elizabeth, NJ 07206
Phone: 908-994-7471
Web: http://newjerseyparentscaucus.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/njparentcaucus.org
Twitter: @NJPCYJI
Kathy Wright, Executive Director
Phone: 908-994-7471
E-mail
Organization Profile
The New Jersey Parents' Caucus (NJPC) is a non-profit organization primarily governed and staffed by parents and caregivers of children with emotional and behavioral challenges. The organization was established in 1990 when a group of concerned parents raising children with special needs came together to create changes to the public systems that served their children. For more than 20 years, the New Jersey Parents' Caucus has worked diligently with parents, caregivers, family members, other family organizations, government agencies, active legislators, and interested professionals throughout New Jersey to insure that the state addressed the special needs of families raising children with emotional, behavioral and mental health challenges.
Source: http://newjerseyparentscaucus.org/about/
YOUTH JUSTICE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE ALUMNI MEMBERS
Kathy Wright
Areas of Expertise: Juvenile justice reform; mental health; transformative process of collaborating with families: engagement, involvement & partnership; youth coalition-building; training and curriculum development; professional parent advocacy’ and racial and ethnic disparities.
Bio: Kathy Wright’s experience as an advocate, mental health executive, and educator has spanned over two decades. She has been instrumental in providing dedicated and passionate leadership as the executive director of the New Jersey Parents’ Caucus, developing programs and supportive services that empower parents, caregivers and family members raising children with emotional and behavioral challenges in creating systemic change, as well as professionals and providers in the child-serving arenas in the areas of family engagement. She is the developer of NJPC’s Parents’ Empowerment Academy, OJJDP Families Uplifted Prevention Initiative, and the NJ Youth Justice Initiative, and remains dedicated to working with families to improve outcomes for their children, become self-sufficient, overcome the stigma placed on them by society and work with dignity as collaborative partners with professionals. Kathy has also served as adjunct professor at numerous universities throughout New Jersey, and has nine years’ experience as director of marketing for several major corporations. She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in the areas of Psychology and English at Drew University.
Found 32 matches.
-
New Jersey Parents Caucus Helps Ensure Youth in Adult Prisons Get Access to Special Education
In August 2021, New Jersey youth justice advocates celebrated a victory with the groundbreaking settlement of Adam X et. al. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections and Department of Education et al. Adam X exposed egregious neglect and denial of special education services for incarcerated New Jersey youth with disabilities in adult prisons. The settlement creates more oversight and accountability to make sure youth with special education needs receive proper education per federal IDEA law. NJJN member New Jersey Parent's Caucus (NJPC) played an instrumental role in the lawsuit filed in 2017 by the ACLU of New Jersey, Disability Rights Advocates and Proskauer Rose LLP.
-
Rapid Response: May Spotlight on NJJN COVID-19 Mini Grant Fund
NJJN provided $1,000 mini-grants for decarceration advocacy in light of Covid-19.
-
New Jersey Advocate Wins 2019 Betsy Arnovits Gutsy Advocate For Youth Award
The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) has selected Kathy Wright, Executive Director of the New Jersey Parent’s Caucus, as its winner of the 2019 Betsy Arnovits Gutsy Advocate For Youth Award.
-
NJPC Souls of Young Folk Report
Tags: New Jersey | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Member Publications
Every year, over 75,000 children and youth are tried as adults across the country.1 Between 32,000 and 60,000 of those youth are held in adult jails.2 The number of laws providing for the prosecution, incarceration, and sentencing of youth as adults grew substantially in the 1980s and 1990s, including in New Jersey. This brief explores the causes of racial disparities and disproportionality in New Jersey's waiver of black youth to the adult criminal justice system. To analyze potential causes, we reviewed data from the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the Office of the Attorney General, and the New Jersey State Police along with qualitative surveys from incarcerated youth and their families. In addition to data, we gathered historical research on the treatment of black adults and youth in New Jersey and the development of New Jersey's waiver laws over the past thirty-seven years. Our conclusion is that there are a constellation of factors including historical, structural, and implicit bias that contribute to the disproportionate waiver of black youth to the adult system. As a result, the New Jersey Parents' Caucus recommends ending the practice of waiver of youth to the adult system to address the historical, structural, and implicit bias embedded in the waiver process. We recognize that ending youth waiver is a long-term effort; therefore, to start addressing bias immediately, we recommend holding prosecutors accountable for the discretion they wield in transferring youth to the adult criminal justice system. Specifically, there is a need for more detailed data collection, transparency, and oversight to address the ongoing effects of historical, structural, and implicit bias negatively impacting black youth.
-
New Jersey Task Force: A Step Towards Justice
New Jersey's task force on juvenile justice will move the state forward.
-
Youth Transfer: The Importance of Individualized Factor Review
Tags: Federal | California | Nebraska | New Jersey | Youth in the Adult System | Partner Publications
This publication states facts, reviews and analysis of negative impact as a result of youth incarceration in terms of youth safety and public safety with examples of prosecutorial factors in Nebraska, New Jersey and California. The publication ends with policy recommendations.
-
New Jersey Closes Two Youth Prisons, Looks Towards Future
-
Youth Justice Reform Roundup | January 2017
A roundup of publications news stories, and resources related to youth justice reform.
-
New Report Questions New Jersey’s Juvenile Justice System
Tags: New Jersey | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Media
News story and video covering report on glaring racial disparities by NJJN member the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice; includes interview with Kathy Wright, an alumna of NJJN's fellowship institute.
-
Bring Our Children Home: Ain't I A Child? (full report)
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Extreme racial inequalities persist within New Jersey's juvenile justice system, according to a report from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Includes policy solutions.
-
Bring Our Children Home: Ain't I A Child? (policy brief)
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Extreme racial inequalities persist within New Jersey's juvenile justice system, according to a report from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Includes policy solutions.
-
Youth Justice Reform Roundup | December 2016
A roundup of publications news stories, and resources related to youth justice reform.
-
Bill would address racial disparities in NJ laws
Tags: New Jersey | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Public Opinion and Messaging | Legislation
Legislation, S-677 (A-3677), authorizes racial impact statements for proposed criminal justice policies to address the disproportionate incarceration rates of African Americans. New Jersey has the highest black/white disparity in its prisons.
-
Youth Justice Reform Roundup | October 2016
A roundup of member-related publications and news stories; school-to-prison pipeline items; resources, and campaign materials for California's Prop. 57.
-
Kids in Prison: Getting Tried as An Adult Depends on Skin Color
Tags: New Jersey | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Media
Black teenagers in New Jersey are being tried as adults more than any other racial or ethnic group, resulting in harsher treatment and longer sentences. However, as of March 1st, 2016 minors in can not be sent to adult prisons and must at least start their sentences in juvenile facilities, though they may still be prosecuted as an adult.
-
Youth Justice Reform Roundup | April 2016
News, events, and resources from the filed of youth justice reform - April 2016.
-
E-Newsletter: Florida Member Pushes Legislation to Reform State's Direct File Procedures
Here's what's inside: FL Member Pushes Legislation to Reform State's Direct File Procedures WV Member's Campaign Halts Plans for New For-Profit Youth Facility Meet the Fellows: Garien Gatewood VA Member's Report Targets Problems with School Police Justice Denied: One Young Person's Story Youth Justice Reform Roundup | January 2016 Youth Justice Job Announcements | January 2016
-
Justice Denied: One Young Person's Story
A young man incarcerated as an adult for a crime he committed at 15 write passionately about needed reforms in the justice system.
-
Making Room at the Table
Youth and family involvement is not just an empty slogan for the New Jersey Parent's Caucus, an organization of family and community members with growing influence on youth justice policy statewide.
-
E-Newsletter: NJ Bill to Reform Youth Transfer, Waiver and Confinement Policies
NJJN's September 23, 2015 E-Newsletter: New Jersey Reforms Youth Transfer, Waiver and Confinement, Louisiana Launches KatrinaTruth.Org, Meet the Fellows: Kathy Wright, NJJN Forum 2015 Photos, and more!
-
Navigating the New Jersey Juvenile Justice System: A Family Guide
Tags: New Jersey | Family and Youth Involvement | Web-Based Tools | Member Publications
A guide for families of incarcerated youth to navigating the New Jersey juvenile justice system. Created by the New Jersey Parents' Caucus (an NJJN member).
-
Meet the Fellows: Kathy Wright
Recently, we spoke with Kathy Wright, Executive Director of the New Jersey Parents’ Caucus. Kathy is a fellow in NJJN's Youth Justice Leadership Institute, a year-long program that aims to create a more effective foundation for the juvenile justice reform movement by developing a strong base of well-trained and well-prepared advocates and organizers who reflect the communities most affected by juvenile justice system practices and policies.
-
New Jersey Bill to Reform Youth Transfer, Waiver and Confinement Policies
Early in August, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law S.B. 2003, a juvenile justice reform bill that will make a number of changes to the youth justice system, including raising the age of adult court waiver from 14 to 15; banning disciplinary solitary confinement for youth in the juvenile justice system; ensuring due process—including formal hearings, the provision of counsel, and parental notification—for youth being transferred from the juvenile to adult system; holding all waived youth under age 21 presumptively in youth facilities.
-
Youth Justice Reform Roundup | June, 2015
-
The Incarceration of Children & Youth in New Jersey's Adult Prison System
Tags: New Jersey | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
The New Jersey Parents Caucus (NJPC) created this data brief on youth in the New Jersey adult prison system. Among its key findings were gross racial and ethnic disparities, widespread denial of due process for youth, regular abuse of young people in the system, and overuse of solitary confinement on youth.
-
Youth Justice Job Announcements | May 2015
-
E-newsletter: Meet Our New Member, and Maheen Kaleem
Download NJJN's February 11, 2015 e-newsletter.
-
Meet Our New Member: New Jersey
Meet NJJN's new member, the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Reform Coalition.
-
Appeals Court Rules that Transfer to Adult Facility without Due Process Violates Youth’s Rights, State of New Jersey in the Interest of J.J., A-2357-11T2
Tags: New Jersey | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Court Decisions and Related Documents
New Jersey law permits youth aged 16 or older to be transferred from a juvenile facility to an adult facility if the youth’s “continued presence in the juvenile facility threatens the public safety, the safety of [other confined youth], or the ability of the commission to operate the program in the manner intended.” The state maintained that such youth could be transferred without any due process, and transferred the youth in this case without any prior notice to him, his family, his attorney, or the juvenile judge. However, the appellate court disagreed and invalidated the transfer, holding that, given the adult prison’s focus on punishment and security, rather than rehabilitation, youth must be provided due process—including written notice of the transfer with the supporting factual basis, the opportunity to be heard and present opposition, some form of representation, and written findings of fact supporting the decision to proceed with the transfer. State of New Jersey in the Interest of J.J., A-2357-11T2, decided August 28, 2012.
-
New Jersey Supreme Court Holds Right to Counsel for a Juvenile Attaches Early, In re P.M.P., 200 N.J. 166 (2009)
Tags: New Jersey | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Court Decisions and Related Documents
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the right to counsel attaches at the time of the filing of a delinquency complaint and obtainment of a judicially approved arrest warrant because they are “critical stages” of delinquency proceedings. The court further held that youth cannot waive their right to counsel except in the presence of and after consultation with an attorney.
-
Megan's Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy, Kristen Zgoba, et al., National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Tags: New Jersey | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Report concerning the various impacts of community notification and registration laws (Megan's Law) in New Jersey. Report was embarked upon in general to investigate: (1) the effect of Megan's Law on the overall rate of sexual offending over time; (2) its specific deterrence effect on re-offending, including the level of general and sexual offense recidivism, the nature of sexual re-offenses, and time to first re-arrest for sexual and non-sexual re-offenses (i.e., community tenure); and (3) the costs of implementation and annual expenditures of Megan's Law.
-
Don't Wait Up: Issues in Juvenile Justice, Charisa A. Smith, New Jersey Family Lawyer
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Article detailing how scientific studies have proven that teenagers are more likely to thrill-seek and engage in risky and impulsive behavior because of the developmental stage of their brains. Article includes a discussion of New Jersey's shift to more punitive treatment of youth offenders and how this punitive treatment policy fails to account for brain development issues in youth.