Program areas at TCJC
County-Level Advocacy: TCJE advocates in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio - Texas largest local drivers of people into state incarceration. Ultimately, this work is a local microcosm of TCJE's statewide reform efforts; our local program goals and objectives include: (1) helping kids feel safe and heard in schools, including by advocating for - and building partnerships that improve - opportunities for in-school programming and community based resources for kids and their families. (2) Reducing the flow of people into local jails and the state prison system, including by identifying and addressing policing, prosecutorial, and judicial practices that send people into the system. (3) Prioritizing investments in local resources that can both prevent kids and adults from entering the system and support them after leaving confinement. (4) Ensuring transparent and accountable local justice systems, including by providing critical data, information-sharing, and community engagement in support of effective advocacy and informed decision-making.
Youth Justice: Our program goals and objectives include: (1) reducing the number of students who are over-disciplined and, ultimately, arrested or referred to the juvenile system, including by prioritizing restorative justice and mental health supports for students, and, where possible, defunding school police. (2) Reducing the number of kids entering youth or adult prisons, including by limiting the number of 10- to 12-year-olds sent into the system, implementing decriminalization and diversion measures, and shuttering Texas' five remaining youth prisons through staggered facility closures, And (3) advocating for investments in non institutional, non-punitive, community-based programs and services that can address kids underlying needs - both preventing kids from entering the system and supporting them after leaving confinement. This work has been supported by TCJE's Youth Justice Ambassadors - four high school and early college students who have partnered with our youth justice team to advocate for changes in punitive school culture and address the over-criminalization of young people.
Adult Justice: Our program goals and objectives include: (1) reversing the pipeline thats pushing people into the criminal punishment system addressing not just incarceration, but arrest, pretrial detention, probation, and more; that means engaging with other, intersecting systems that wrap people into the criminal punishment system. (2) Shrinking the number of people who are currently under correctional control (in prison or jail, on probation or parole) or who are impacted by prior system involvement, including by giving people the tools and opportunities to overcome the harsh, long-term consequences of a conviction. (3) Protecting the rights and wellbeing of people behind bars, specifically to ensure their humane treatment, safety, and dignity (especially during weather- or health-related crises). And (4) investing in approaches outside the criminal punishment system that support individual and community wellbeing, including programs and services that can help people address their needs like substance use disorder, mental health problems, or past trauma. This work is supported by TCJEs Statewide LeadershipCouncil, comprised of formerly incarcerated and system-impacted Texans who advocate locally and at the Texas Capitol to end mass incarceration and help people return successfully to the community.