Focus on the Justice
Friends and supporters --
After many months of discussion, we’ve got some big news we’re excited to finally share! As we have passed our 20th year as an organization, we've decided it's time to update our name.
CTJJA has grown and transformed in many ways over the past two decades and throughout that time we've worked to continually adapt to address the needs of system-impacted youth. To more accurately reflect our mission and the growth of CTJJA, we’ve decided to drop the juvenile from our name and focus on the justice.
Starting today, our organization will be changing from the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance to the Connecticut Justice Alliance (CTJA) and you’ll start seeing a new logo with the new name:
You might be wondering what prompted this decision.
It starts with a simple question.
What comes to mind when you hear the word juvenile? Is it something positive?
Most folks rarely, if ever, have a positive association and when system-involved youth are discussed in the news, if they are referred to as juveniles, it’s even less likely that something positive follows.
The language we use matters, and juvenile has grown to become a word only associated with negatives and assumptions of guilt. Juvenile crime. Juvenile delinquent. Juvenile offender. It does not bring up images of a young person that needs support in understanding wrongdoing, repairing harm, and growing. It does not depict a young person pushed into the justice system due to other systemic failures such as issues of economic insecurity, housing insecurity, or lack of opportunities.
For a long period, members of our alliance have felt that including the word juvenile in our name did not accurately depict who we are as an organization or how we wanted others to discuss youth involved in the justice systems. So we decided to hold ourselves to the same expectations we have of others.
So what’s new and what’s staying?
Staying:
We remain committed to ending the criminalization of youth. This will not change. We will continue to fight to improve conditions for system-involved youth, but we also know you cannot make an unjust system just. Preventing youth from ever experiencing the trauma and harm of the justice system is our primary goal and disrupting and dismantling the pathways that funnel children and youth into the justice systems will require us to focus on addressing the root issues and system failures that push young people into the system in the first place.
We remain a youth/adult partnership because those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Our work cannot continue unless it is driven by the voices, opinions, and experiences of those most impacted by the justice system.
We will still use the word juvenile (when we have to). In cases where not using the language would be confusing -- such as referring to the juvenile justice system -- we will continue to use the word juvenile. In all other cases, we will refer to system-impacted youth as what they are: young people, youth, teenagers, kids, and children.
Changing:
New name, logo, website: CTJA.org
Our advocacy will now focus on youth through 24 years of age
We’ll be collaborating more with organizations outside the juvenile justice field to address the root causes that lead to justice-system involvement
We have some new team members! Meet CTJA’s new Justice Advisors:
Alona Scott
Fernecia Smith
Ronnie Henderson
Gemini Rorie
Sage Grady
Raybon Carwin
For the last 20 years, the Alliance has made powerful and groundbreaking strides in ending the criminalization and incarceration of youth. We are fully committed to building upon the foundation of those in our organization who came before us, while paving a new path to make long-lasting and tangible changes so all young people in Connecticut have opportunities for success and happiness.
We invite you to join us -- drop the juvenile and focus on the justice.
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In solidarity ✊
Christina, Iliana, Jordyn
Connecticut Justice Alliance