Youth Justice
2009 Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline
Today, in Houston, Texas, many factors channel large segments of our population away from productive lives and toward prison. They include illiteracy, poverty, poor health care, domestic violence, mental health issues, teen pregnancy, unemployment, lack of positive role models, truancy and more. The Children’s Defense Fund calls this the Cradle to Prison Pipeline® crisis. The more risk factors young people have, the greater the likelihood they will enter the Pipeline. Once in it, kids are caught in a downward spiral that makes it almost impossible to get out. This report tells the stories of people trying to help them.