Two in the morning.
That's what time it was when the names of the group of children whose lives have been so heavily impacted by the justice system were called to testify before the legislature's Judiciary Committee on a series of bills aimed at curbing youth crime.
But it was a school night and they were asleep.
"That hurt. It feels like they don't want to hear what we have to say," 15-year old Hartford resident Luna Figueroa told me a few weeks after.
There's a mantra that the Youth Speaks Up group that she participates in regularly cites: "Nothing about us, without us."
Our team at The Accountability Project noticed certain voices were not being included as public concern grew about children stealing cars.
In a 4-part series Juveniles, Joyrides, & Justice that aired on WNPR last fall we interviewed the mom of a 15-year boy from Bridgeport who has been charged with stealing multiple cars early in the pandemic. She was just one of the mothers we spoke to whose children got into trouble and they struggled to get their kids help.
These interviews pointed our team to the need to see if the courts were backed up. In Connecticut, youth accused of crimes typically can't get enrolled into programs until their case is resolved.
We found that the courts were behind and the number of juvenile courts hearing cases dropped from 15 to two. The courts slowed down so much that hundreds more kids were waiting more than six months for their cases to be resolved.
For this Bridgeport mom, that meant her son wasn't getting help and his behavior escalated and ended up in prison.
We also interviewed the high school football coach in the town where a teen mowed down a jogger in a stolen car. That coach shared with us the impact he saw on children in New Britain when schools shut down because of the pandemic.
Interviews like this — with people who work with children intertwined in the juvenile justice system — pointed us to the need to see if car thefts subsided when schools reopened for in-person learning.
We found that despite the public narrative among many that juvenile car thefts are out of control, the data showed that there was an initial increase in such property crimes but it is subsiding and there was not an uptick in violent car thefts.
All these stories came from finding — and listening — to those whose stories too often go untold.
On June 23 at 8 p.m. some of the teens who unsuccessfully tried to testify on the juvenile crime bill will share their stories about how youth crime has impacted their families and communities during CT Public's one-hour Cutline special on youth crime.
We hope you'll watch.
