Religious leaders work to keep juvenile offenders out of adult jails

Published: 2004-01-20

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Community and interfaith leaders continue to press Los Angeles county officials to make good on a decision to relocate incarcerated minors from adult jails to juvenile detention centers. Some 250 people gathered at Dolores Mission Church in East Los Angeles for a prayer vigil to advocate that all incarcerated youths ages 14-17 -- including those charged with serious and violent crimes -- be imprisoned in juvenile facilities and not adult jails or prisons that put young people in greater danger. "We want to hasten the demise of the demonization of our youth," said Jesuit Father Greg Boyle, founder and director of Jobs for the Future and Homeboy Industries. "There's nothing that can change a young person into an adult but the passage of time -- not even if they commit a crime." Juvenile lay chaplain Javier Stauring told The Tidings, Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper, that he is concerned about even one juvenile being held at the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail, which the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has deemed unfit for minors.

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