As part of the Fair Sentencing for Youth campaign, we are advocating for Proposition 57. Here are some reasons why California needs Prop 57:
Continue reading
- In the U.S., every year as many as 200,000 youth are put into the adult criminal justice system, most of them for nonviolent offenses.
- Over the last several decades, California has built 22 prisons and only 4 universities, passed more than 1,000 crime bills, and increased incarceration rates by more than 5 times.
- Youth who are prosecuted in the adult system are 34% more likely to recidivate and with more violent offenses than those handled by the juvenile system. Over 6,500 peoplecurrently in California prisons were under the age of 18 at the time of their crime.
- There are approximately 7,000 inmates in state custody who would be eligible for parole consideration under Prop 57…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/california-needs-prop-57/
Proposition 57 accomplishes this by:
Continue reading
- Providing Incentives for Inmates to Complete Rehabilitation.
- Permitting Parole for Rehabilitated Inmates with Nonviolent Convictions.
- Preventing Prosecutors from Transferring Youth to Adult Court.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/californians-want/
September 27, 2016: This year, National Voter Registration Day is September 27, 2016 and hundreds of events are being planned across the nation. Get started registering your friends, family, teachers and others who are eligible to vote today!
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/today-is-national-voters-registration-day/
Our Fair Sentencing for Youth campaign asks the State of California to protect the human rights of all youth by revising the state’s justice system to focus on rehabilitation and provide more opportunities for youth offenders to have a second chance. Did you know:…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/california-chooses/
Purchase tickets today!
Sunday, September 25, 2016
5:00 pm | Doors open
5:30 pm | Film Screening, followed by panel discussion
7:30 pm | Reception with drinks and food
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/see-the-justice-system-at-work-the-return/
See the event’s slideshow
September 10, 2016: The U.S. has the highest rate of juvenile incarceration in the industrialized world. And California has the highest prison budget in the world, with more than 100,000 people in prison and thousands more in juvenile halls, jails, and youth prisons. California went from #1 nationally in education spending to #1 in prison spending, and as low as #47 in K-12 spending and #51 in funding for higher education.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-calls-for-fair-sentencing-for-youth/
Please join us for the STF Fall Leadership Workshop to learn about our new fall advocacy campaign! The event is generously hosted at an exciting new high tech venue by Fullscreen, a creative media company.
Important Information:
When: Saturday, September 10, 12:00–4:30pm
Where: Fullscreen, 12180 Millennium Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90094
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/save-the-date-stf-fall-leadership-workshop/
See the event’s slideshow
Building on last summer’s successful Human Rights Education (HRE) Institute at Palisades Charter High School, HRE consultant, Nancy Flowers, returned to join more than 50 faculty and students to further expand HRE on campus. In the morning, participants focused on how to implement and disseminate the newly drafted Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (SBRR), which we believe is the first SBRR rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the United States…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/palisades-charter-hs-hre-summer-institute/
View slideshow of the event!
April 26, 2016: For the second year in a row, Dr. Henry Oster, Holocaust survivor and teenage refugee, returned to STF to help students commemorate Genocide Awareness and Prevention month. This year he tied his personal story of tragedy and triumph to the current global refugee crisis. And just as his first visit with STF last spring, students listened in awe and silence to Henry’s presentation, followed by a torrent of questions as they crowded around him after his talk. Students expressed their appreciation that Henry shares his painful experiences so that young people can better understand the lessons of history for today’s troubled world. Rising leader Kaden Kessel said, “Dr. Oster was inspirational and I can’t wait to see him again!” Others made plans to invite Henry to speak at their schools.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/four-times-a-refugee/
April 7, 2016: STF representatives from Harvard-Westlake and Sierra Canyon schools met with Congressman Brad Sherman (30th District) to thank him for his vote to defeat the American Safety Against Foreign Enemies Act (HR4038), which would have made it almost impossible for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the United States.
As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Congressman Sherman emphatically opposed HR4038. STF also shared a portfolio of testimonies and photos of refugees with his staff to humanize the crisis…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-humanizes-the-refugee-crisis-for-congressman-shermans-staff/
March 28, 2016: A STF delegation from Carson High School met with Congresswoman Janice Hahn’s representative on immigration, Patricia Broughton, to discuss the global refugee crisis…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-disappointed-in-congresswoman-hahn-vote/
March 17, 2016: The Santa Monica High School STF chapter hosted a “refugee experience” event for more than 270 students to raise awareness about the the global refugee crisis.
The all-day event consisted of four stations: 1. refugee rights; 2. testimonies; 3. refugee routes into Europe; and 4. a station that asked what participants would bring if they suddenly had to flee as refugees…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/samo-explores-the-refugee-crisis/
February 16, 2016: STF leaders from Harvard-Westlake, New Roads, Palisades Charter and Santa Monica High Schools met with Congressman Ted Lieu (33rd District) to thank him for being an outspoken advocate of refugee rights and to ask him how STF can help support his future work for refugees.
While discussing whether or not the US is doing its fair share in the global refugee crisis, Congressman Lieu encouraged STF to contact elected officials, use social media and write letters to the editor to raise awareness of the issue…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/u-s-congressman-and-stf-confer-on-refugee-crisis/
View slideshow!
January 26, 2016: Rodi Youssef, a 16-year-old Syrian refugee, spoke to more than 50 STF leaders, teachers and special guests at the STF Winter Workshop about how and why he came to live in the U.S. in October.
After serenading the group with his oud (a Middle Eastern stringed instrument), Rodi answered questions about his life in Syria, fleeing to Turkey and working 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, and ultimately winning the UNHCR lottery to come to the U.S. with his widowed mother, and older brother and sister…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/rodi-makes-it-real/
Purchase tickets today!
As the world’s worst refugee crisis since World War II is unfolding and repercussions of the Syrian conflict are felt throughout the world, Human Rights Watch is excited to invite you to a screening and discussion of Salam Neighbor, a movie following some of the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees living in Jordan. Salam Neighbor follows Zach and Chris, two Americans who head to the edge of war, just seven miles from the Syrian border, to live among 85,000 uprooted refugees in Jordan’s Za’atari camp…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/be-a-global-neighbor-january-31-2016/
November 20 – December 11, 2015: On the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Nov. 20) and Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), STF chapters hosted events to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis.
Events included screening “Salam Neighbor,” presenting a refugee tent exhibit and hosting educational tables. STFers also collected petition signatures urging the United States ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and encouraged classmates to contact their US Senators to ask them to defeat efforts to bar Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the US…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-advocates-for-refugees/
November 17, 2015: Representatives from the HRW Student Task Force set up a refugee tent exhibition to educate guests of the annual Human Rights Watch Voices for Justice Dinner about the global refugee crisis. STF leaders described human rights violations faced by refugees fleeing around the world and asked participants to share what they would bring in their “backpack” if they had to leave home forever…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/5194/
More than 40 student leaders, teachers and administrators discussed the first draft of the Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities at Palisades Charter High School, in Pacific Palisades, CA. Using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, participants are taking a human rights-based approach to identifying their rights and responsibilities. Students are soliciting feedback from the entire school community, meeting weekly to continue the development of the Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, and hope to have the school vote for ratification by the end of the academic year…
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/student-bill-of-rights-and-responsibilities-at-palisades-charter-hs/
October 20, 2015: More than 150 students at Carson High School learned about the Darfuri refugees living in Chad from Gabriel Stauring and Katie-Jay Scott of i-Act. The audience heard the story of a refugee family from Darfur, and the struggles they faced both on their journey to Chad and during their time in the refugee camp. Participants were engaged in learning about the issues in the camps, including the lack of sufficient food and restricted access to education. They asked questions about Katie-Jay and Gabe’s journeys to the camps, the emotions they feel on these trips, and the different programs they set up for the refugees. STF members lead breakout groups to develop questions for refugee children in Chad. Some questions will be used in a human rights survey and others will be used in a video chat with refugees.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/carson-meets-i-act/
October 14, 2015: Faculty and students from Palisades Charter High School, in Pacific Palisades, gathered to discuss the development of human rights education on their campus since the Human Rights Education Summer Institute they attended in July. Faculty members shared how they have and will continue to incorporate human rights issues and vocabulary into their respective subjects, ranging from history to art. STF student leaders presented updates on the “Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities,” an ongoing campus-wide project aimed at protecting the rights of students. STF leaders emphasized that this effort will not only empower students to know their own rights, but will also teach them to protect the rights of those whose voices are not heard.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/palisades-students-advance-human-rights-on-campus/
