At a City Council hearing on the Department of Probation’s organizational strategy, Brooklyn Defender Services called out the department’s shift toward punitive policies that endanger young people and undermine accountability. Attorney-in-Charge of the Adolescent Representation Team, Lisa Salvatore, detailed how the Department of Probation has eliminated court liaison roles, cut diversion programming, and delayed services that are critical to reducing youth incarceration. BDS urged investment in preventive programming, increased access to services for emerging adults, and passage of the Youth Justice Innovation Fund and Youth Justice & Opportunities Act.

"Successful preventive programs and alternatives to detention and incarceration should provide the resources needed to give youth in crisis a fighting chance. Whether it is the internet to access educational opportunities or therapy, or safe places to participate in free and accessible prosocial activities, young people should be able to live and thrive as adolescents whose brain development is on-going and should have access to programming which acknowledges this. One of the greatest differences between well resourced and marginalized communities is the ability to make mistakes. Making mistakes without being monitored by ACS, its agencies or the police. Making mistakes and being given the grace for a school to deal with the issue in school and not calling the police. Making mistakes and learning how to problem solve. Making mistakes and having access to restorative justice rather than punitive and harmful systems. These are the differences between communities whose children are not criminalized in adolescence and those who are."

Read the full testimony here.