Congratulations to our colleagues in Newark on the opening of Newark Community Solutions, the nation’s newest community court! Mayor Cory Booker gave an inspiring speech before a standing room only crown in Newark Municipal Chambers, which included citizens, clergy, politicians and policy makers. He emphasized the need to end high rates of recidivism, acts of senseless crime and murder, and punitive but ineffective criminal justice responses as part of the long fight for civil rights in our country. Newark Community Solutions, like our Justice Center , took several years of planning, patience and hard work. But it all began in 2006, when Mayor Booker read a short newspaper article about the Red Hook Youth Court and asked how Newark could get a Youth Court. We’re looking forward to learning about all of the great work this project will do in Newark . Go Newark !
Supporting the Staten Island Youth Justice Center at "Inside/Outside Legislative Theatre" Performance
On June 4th, a group of the Red Hook Youth Court members and staff went to see the "Theater of the Oppressed NYC" performance at the New School. Before attending this event, the youth court members had no idea that anything like this went on! While there, we learned that 12 different legislative laws were changed through something called "Legislative Theatre." The audience members get to be "spect-actors," which is great because the actual audience members got to participate in the play themselves and share their ideas. The performances last night were put on by members of the Staten Island Youth Justice Center (part of the Center for Court Innovation Family). These two plays dealt with real life issues such as getting stopped for not paying your bus fare, arriving late to school and getting sent to the principal's office because of the "zero tolerance policy," getting into fights at school, not knowing one's rights, and being raciall
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