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Trayvon, 19, hopes to attend college and pursue a skilled trade, such as engineering, plumbing or underwater welding. Now a high school senior, he has had a tougher path than others his age.
Trayvon entered the child welfare system at 5, when child protective services placed him in the care of his grandmother, who raised him with his siblings and cousin. He later spent some time in a San Jose juvenile detention center, where he says he experienced racism and indignities like strip searching. His last name has been omitted for privacy.
Around 2,800 youth are held in juvenile detention centers across California. These numbers have steadily declined since the early 2000s, when state records show that more than 10,000 youth were detained. But research shows that a school-to-prison pipeline still exists, a system where students who experience punitive punishments like suspensions are far more likely to become enmeshed in the criminal justice system.
San Mateo County leaders and community members are working to dismantle this pipeline. On Jan. 7, the Juvenile Justice Commission and Delinquency Prevention Commission hosted the first annual Prevention in Action conference at the College of San Mateo, in partnership with the youth program Project Change. The event brought together educators, mental health professionals, law enforcement, community partners and policymakers to discuss how to divert youth from the juvenile justice system and the best practices for assisting system-impacted youth.
The conference featured speakers who delivered workshops and lectures on topics including school suspension alternatives, financial literacy, and prosocial behavior in schools. At the end of the day, four youth, including Trayvon, spoke on a panel to discuss their experience in the foster care and juvenile justice system. They discussed policies such as strip searches that needed to end immediately, highlighted mentors who had positively impacted them, and spoke directly to the audience about what the community should know about the system.
“We’re all the same human beings,” Trayvon said in an interview. “We all got private parts, we all got hair, we all got eyes, we all got a nose. We might just be a different color, but we all came from God.”
Johanna Rasmussen, who serves as chair of the JJDPC and helped organize the conference, said the goal was to “educate the educators” about the obstacles youth face within the foster care and juvenile justice systems.
Youth arrive at school carrying a wide range of burdens, Rasmussen said. Some stem from personal upheavals — such as divorce, death or illness in the family — while others reflect broader instability, including hunger, housing insecurity or fear of immigration enforcement. Educators and school-based mental health professionals are often on the front lines responding to student behavior, and the approaches they take can either exacerbate challenges or help students stabilize and succeed.
Chris Middleton, a staff attorney at the Youth Law Center, spoke at the conference about strategies for ensuring a smooth transition from court schools in county juvenile halls to traditional schools, including students’ rights to enrollment and partial academic credit. He said that the quality of a student’s educational environment can significantly reduce recidivism.
“Getting students to be in a place where they’re in school for a long period of time, [where] they feel really rooted and connected with their community, is the ideal,” Middleton said in an interview.
Another goal of the conference was to foster dialogue and build relationships across sectors. Rasmussen, who works closely with youth in the juvenile justice system, pointed to a striking moment when a formerly detained youth from the panel shared that a police officer in attendance had made a positive impact on him. The two connected over an unexpected bond: both have limb differences. The youth lost his left hand in a fireworks accident, while the officer uses a prosthetic leg. The exchange stood in sharp contrast to the youth’s previous experiences with law enforcement of harassment and distrust.
“[The youth] went over there and they hugged, and I saw this emotion. This officer was totally invested in this kid,” Rasmussen said. “It just blew my mind.”
Paul Bocanegra, another commissioner on the JJDPC, said he was pleased with the community participation in the conference and with the meaningful conversations he had with law enforcement and county officials. Bocanegra was sentenced to life without parole when he was 16 years old and served more than 25 years in adult prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit. He now serves as the executive director of Unlocked Futures, an organization that assists system-impacted youth.
As a conference organizer, Bocanegra said it was important for a diverse array of stakeholders to participate because they can push youth into the criminal justice system through policy or policing. They are also the ones who can divert youth from the system. Bocanegra said the youth panel, which he facilitated with Rasmussen, was particularly powerful.
“Having the community stand and clap and come up and give them a business card – that’s what inclusion looks like to me,” Bocanegra said. “And I wish these kids always felt as comfortable around law enforcement and all the key players as they were comfortable today.”
For Trayvon, the conference was an opportunity to share his experience and remind the audience that respect goes a long way.
“I just feel like today was a really good day,” Trayvon said. “Everybody was listening to us, and they were on our side.”
