Program areas at TCJC
Youth Justice: Our program goals and objectives include: (1) reducing the number of students who are over-disciplined and, ultimately, arrested or referred to the juvenile system, including by prioritizing restorative justice and mental health supports for students, and, where possible, defunding school police. (2) Reducing the number of kids entering youth or adult prisons, including by limiting the number of 10- to 12-year-olds sent into the system, implementing decriminalization and diversion measures, and shuttering Texas five remaining youth prisons through staggered facility closures. And (3) advocating for investments in non-institutional, non-punitive, community-based programs and services that can address kids underlying needs - both preventing kids from entering the system and supporting them after leaving confinement. This work has been supported by TCJEs Youth Justice Ambassadors - four high school and early college students who have partnered with our youth justice team to advocate for changes in punitive school culture and address the over-criminalization of young people.
County-Level Advocacy: TCJE advocates in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio - Texas largest local drivers of people into state incarceration. Ultimately, this work is a local microcosm of TCJEs statewide reform efforts; our local program goals and objectives include: (1) helping kids feel safe and heard in schools, including by advocating for - and building partnerships that improve - opportunities for in-school programming and community-based resources for kids and their families. (2) Reducing the flow of people into local jails and the state prison system, including by identifying and addressing policing, prosecutorial, and judicial practices that send people into the system. (3) Prioritizing investments in local resources that can both prevent kids and adults from entering the system and support them after leaving confinement. (4) Ensuring transparent and accountable local justice systems, including by providing critical data, information-sharing, and community engagement in support of effective advocacy and informed decision-making.