TRENTON — There’s a push underway in the Legislature to allocate nearly $17 million over two years for efforts focused on revamping New Jersey’s youth justice system, specifically focused on Camden, Newark, Paterson and Trenton.
The bill, A4663/S2924, has gotten a hearing but no votes and has become a leading priority for civil-rights organizations and like-minded lawmakers, who say the state spends $56 million a year to run its three secure juvenile facilities but only $16 million on funds for community-based youth programs.
“The new normal needs to be restorative,” said Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-Passaic. “We need to invest in those efforts because it’s proven time and time again with New Jersey having the highest number of incarceration and recidivism rates for young people: It’s not working.”