On May 9, more than 100 juvenile justice leaders, practitioners, and community members joined the Stoneleigh Foundation, Juvenile Law Center, and Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project for the Philadelphia premiere of They Call Us Monsters. This groundbreaking documentary explores the lives of three teenagers convicted of violent crimes in California and urges audiences to grapple with this question: how should the justice system respond when young people commit serious offenses?
Following the screening, Bob Schwartz, Stoneleigh Visiting Fellow and co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center, facilitated a discussion with Robert Listenbee, former administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Marsha Levick, deputy director of the Juvenile Law Center. All three drew upon their deep expertise to discuss how state policies could be designed to hold children accountable in more developmentally appropriate ways.
Through this screening and other events to come, the Stoneleigh Foundation and its partners hope to advance the public dialogue about how Philadelphia addresses the most pressing challenges related to improving outcomes for young people involved in the juvenile justice system.
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A Look at Youth Justice in Philadelphia
Stoneleigh Emerging Leader Fellow Natasha Felder takes a deeper look at some of the key issues presented in the film and highlights efforts currently underway in Philadelphia to support young people who have been prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system.