The process of addressing harm and violence outside the bounds of the traditional punitive systems such as prisons, jails, placement centers, and detention facilities.  Examples include transformative justice (TJ) and restorative justice (RJ) as a community-centered alternative that addresses harm in a way that centers accountability, rather than punishment through incarceration.

Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.

An adjudicated youth is a person under 18 found by a juvenile court judge to have committed a delinquent/criminal act or status offense. This term typically refers youth in the youth legal system, not being charged as adults.

Base building is a grassroots approach to building power with and by communities, not for them. It involves building a base, engaging communities, and analyzing power. *Examples of base-building linked here

A strategic effort by a group of people to achieve a specific goal by working together to influence decision-makers. It involves identifying a shared objective, building a base of support, and taking collective action to create change.

The comprehensive network of systems that rely, at least in part, on the exercise of state-sanctioned physical, emotional, spatial, economic and political violence to preserve the interests of the state. 

Community-based alternatives refer to non-institutional approaches within the juvenile justice system that prioritize rehabilitation and support for young offenders in their local communities rather than placing them in detention or correctional facilities. These alternatives aim to address the root causes of behavior by involving family, peers, and community resources, promoting positive development and reducing recidivism rates among youth.

(*lived experience/justice-impacted/justice-involved): individuals who have had contact or interaction with the legal system through courts, jail, prison, secure placements, probation or parole, community supervision, or diversionary programs.

A grassroots movement is an organized effort undertaken by groups of individuals in a given geographic area to bring about changes in social policy. Grassroots organizing is a process of building power by involving those individuals in identifying both

Juve­nile deten­tion is short-term con­fine­ment, pri­mar­i­ly used after a youth has been arrest­ed, but before a court has deter­mined the youth’s inno­cence or guilt. Young peo­ple held in deten­tion are pre­sumed inno­cent unless and until they are adju­di­cat­ed in court. The pur­pose of a deten­tion cen­ter is tem­po­rary con­fine­ment while a young person’s case is han­dled in court.

Helos us identify how members move through the organization, develop their leadership and increase their responsibility or the organization.

A long-term collective effort by a group of people to achieve social or political change. Example: The Civil Rights Movement.

A system of oppression is any system designed to prevent a group of individuals from accessing the resources and privileges that are available to individuals with the most power in society. It is the historical and organized patterns of mistreatment; examples: racism, sexism, classism.

Organizing is the process of building organizations of people with similar interests who use their collective power to win immediate improvements in people’s lives and alter the relations of power. (S.O.U.L.)

The ability to shape our lives and the world around us. Power is not good or bad. What makes it harmful or beneficial depends on how you use it and toward what end. Power allows us to influence the political, environmental, social and economic decisions that affect our lives. 

The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.

Focuses on restoring or repairing relationships after someone has caused harm or a rupture in the relationship. It emphasizes the importance of individual people and their direct community connections receiving support and working toward healing after harm. This may be described as making a person whole after they have been harmed. 

Individuals who are affected in a negative way by the criminal implications of a directly impacted loved one.

An offense that is only considered a “rule” or law-breaking behavior because the person is under 18 (ex: Truancy, underage drinking, breaking curfew, running away from home, etc.).

People who are affected by or have experienced systems such as the juvenile justice system, child welfare system, or immigration system.

Transformative Justice(TJ) is a political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm and abuse. At its most basic, it seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence. 

When YFJCo uses youth/young people, we reference young people ages 16 through 25.

When YFJCo uses young adult, we reference young adults ages 25-29.

Longer-term place­ments for youth who have been adju­di­cat­ed as delin­quents and then ordered by a judge to be con­fined rather than super­vised in the community.

These are programs in which youth are placed by court order. Youth placement centers can include group homes, psychiatric residential treatment facilities, and detention centers.

The process of addressing harm and violence outside the bounds of the traditional punitive systems such as prisons, jails, placement centers, and detention facilities. Examples include transformative justice (TJ) and restorative justice (RJ) as a community-centered alternative that addresses harm in a way that centers accountability, rather than punishment through incarceration.

A strategic effort by a group of people to achieve a specific goal by working together to influence decision-makers. It involves identifying a shared objective, building a base of support, and taking collective action to create change.

A grassroots movement is an organized effort undertaken by groups of individuals in a given geographic area to bring about changes in social policy. Grassroots organizing is a process of building power by involving those individuals in identifying both the problems they share and the solutions to those problems, identifying the targets that could make those solutions possible, engaging with those targets, and developing the leadership to take on further problems.

A long-term collective effort by a group of people to achieve social or political change. (Example: The Civil Rights Movement)

A system of oppression is any system designed to prevent a group of individuals from accessing the resources and privileges that are available to individuals with the most power in society. It is the historical and organized patterns of mistreatment. (Examples: racism, sexism, classism)

A subtle distinction or variation in appearance, meaning, sound, taste. (Example: nuances of flavors or scents)