With youth arrests down, it’s a great time to reform juvenile justice, advocates say

Walter Harris, a member of the Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice, is silhouetted as he listens during the Voices for Juvenile Justice conference on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, at the Community College of Allegheny the North Side.(Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource) For young people, incarceration, fines and other punishments can echo into housing and employment difficulty, experts said at a conference in Pittsburgh. There’s room for improvement. “PublicSource is an independent nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region.& Sign up for our free newsletters.” by Spencer Levering, PublicSource Abigail Baker experienced homelessness more than five times before she turned 20.& Although she was never incarcerated, her years of couch surfing helped her see how some find their way into the juvenile justice system, and how that negatively affects them. “I didn’t see myself as homeless, I only saw reality,” said Baker, now an advocate in the State College area. “I was forced to grow old in a time that I was still growing up.” Baker and dozens of others interested in youth justice reform gathered for the third annual Voices for Juvenile Justice Conference, held Friday at the Community College of Allegheny County [CCAC]. This year’s conference, sponsored by a...