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One million acres of forest protected under The Conservation Fund, including in OR; Trump seeks to set aside his New York hush money guilty verdict after Supreme Court immunity ruling; 'Share the Pennies' weatherization program tackles climate solutions, reduces cost; Utah feels the impact of California's ban on gestation crates.

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SCOTUS gives former President Trump a huge win in terms of immunity, which might apply to charges of election interference. A new poll finds future court appointments are crucial for voters, and President Biden continues to face post-debate calls to leave the race.

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Ugly, imperfect produce destined for the landfill is being upcycled by a California candy company, a Texas volunteer uses his Navy training to map the gaps in broadband, and Pennsylvania has a new commission tasked with reversing its shrinking rural population.

Expert: Racial disparities persist in youth incarceration

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Tuesday, December 26, 2023   

New data released by The Sentencing Project reveals youths of color continue to face disproportionate incarceration rates compared with their white peers.

In Nevada, Black youths are almost 4.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than white youths, and Latino youths face a lesser disparity.

Joshua Rovner, director of youth justice for The Sentencing Project, said the good news is fewer youths are being locked up compared with a decade ago but more needs to be done to address persistent racial disparities.

"I think that there are some lessons to be learned here that we are capable of locking up fewer kids," Rovner pointed out. "But what we seem to be unable to do is to bring down those disparities of the likelihood of incarceration."

The Sentencing Project contended incarceration is not an effective strategy in a majority of delinquency cases and instead supports alternatives such as mentorship programs, therapy and other "homegrown alternatives." Rovner argued alternative-to-incarceration programs lead to better public safety outcomes at lower costs and do far less damage to young people's futures.

Rovner added young people who are held in detention centers will eventually be going home and be reintegrated into their communities. He contended the question then becomes how will they go home and thrive.

"It's not only about a public-safety argument," Rovner asserted. "Though I think it is very important to recognize that kids who are held in these facilities are in fact more likely to reoffend and more likely to reoffend on a more serious charge the next time."

Rovner argued the nation's political system should do better to listen to directly affected people and communities, and he encouraged elected leaders to spend time in facilities to see the conditions in which youths are held firsthand. He added juveniles commit offenses for a number of reasons, many times due to systemic issues.

"Sometimes they cause violence and cause damage to their communities that none of us should be tolerating or living with," Rovner acknowledged. "But I think that we really need to ask, 'What is it that is driving their offending and what is it that is going to help cure those problems?'"


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