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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Preventing Kids from Falling into the 'Prison Pipeline'

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Thursday, May 17, 2007   


The FBI says the number of violent crimes is up for the second year in a row, and a U.S. Department of Justice report blames kids and gangs. They're calling for tougher punishments in juvenile cases to lower the crime rate. David Ruffin with the Children's Defense Fund says that only treats the problem after it happens, and he has a better idea.

"People grow up in poor neighborhoods, broken families, without access to health care. All of these add up to the sinister architecture of the 'cradle - prison pipeline.'"

Ruffin believes it would be more effective to focus on prevention, such as battling poverty, because that is the root of many child behavior problems.

"We have 5- to 7-year-olds who get arrest records from school because maybe they had a temper tantrum or some other 'acting out.'"

Blacks, Latinos and Native American children are far more likely to end up in the prison pipeline, and Ruffin notes that poverty is the strongest risk factor.


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