Minors are legally abused in a system supposedly based on principles of fairness and equality because they are unaware of their rights. Innocent young people are exposed to traumatic experiences that not only harm their development but haunt them for life. The United States incarcerates young people at a rate higher than any other country with about 44,000 youths locked up behind bars. In Connecticut alone, 747 youths are detained awaiting trial, a majority of them minorities. Minors need their own lawyers in this system.
For juveniles, lawyers are not only necessary in the courtroom. Lawyers can help facilitate entry into programs which serve as alternatives to incarceration. Children are not meant to be locked up. They need education and productive activities to further their development. The deeper youth go into the correctional system, the smaller their chance of receiving support in their development and ability to return to society. Children in the prison system are stripped o
As mayor of a fictitious village, CGP Professor Cindy Falk leads reservists in a training exercise outside Coopers- town. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
For the sixth time in seven years, the Cooperstown Graduate Program has coordinated with the Army Reserves to do field training in the Cooperstown area.
According to CGP Professor Cindy Falk, about 30 soldiers from Fort Drum, six cadets from Syracuse University and six CGP students from her Culture and Collections class worked together on training exercises over a three-day weekend, from Thursday, March 25, to Saturday, March 27.
“We did what we have been doing since 2015,” Falk said. “We just had to do it differently this year.”