For Black Lives to Matter, We Must #FreeOurYouth (7/16/20)

Juvenile Justice Coalition demand release of detained and incarcerated Ohio youth Columbus, OH, July 16, 2020 — Last month, one of the mothers that works with the Juvenile Justice Coalition (JJC), a state-wide advocacy organization that works with Ohio youth who are at-risk of involvement or involved in the juvenile court system, celebrated the freedom of her child from detention in Franklin County after recovering from COVID-19. The teenager was incarcerated in November for his family’s inability to pay bond and remained in the detention center for eight months. Although bail is used sparingly in the juvenile justice system in Ohio, research shows the cash bail system is constructed to be harmful to those who are Black, Latinx, and poor. In May, he joined the long list of youth who contracted COVID-19 in juvenile facilities. The disparate impact of the COVID-19 crisis on communities of color is closely tied to the systemic racism of  the criminal legal system.