Between The Lines - Mike Lawlor: Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice Reforms Eyed as National Model (Week Ending Jan. 1, 2016)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

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Connecticut's Juvenile Justice Reforms Eyed as National Model

Posted Dec. 23, 2015

Interview with Mike Lawlor, undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning at Connecticut Office of Policy and Management, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Until a few years ago, Connecticut was among the most backward states in the nation regarding its treatment of juveniles in the criminal justice system. Connecticut was among three states – including New York and North Carolina – that treated all juveniles 16 years and older as adults, regardless of the criminal charges. Teenagers were often the victims of abuse in prison, and their public criminal records – even when they didn't result in prison time – followed them the rest of their lives, records which made them ineligible for student loans or live in public housing, or to receive benefits from government programs like food stamps. Recidivism for these young offenders was high.

Legislation to raise the age at which offenders would be adjudicated as adults was raised to 18 and enacted before Connecticut Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy took office in 2011. The governor, recently elected as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, has now proposed going further, designating all those 20 years of age or under involved in the state's criminal justice system to be considered a juvenile. Among other measures the governor proposes, allows some defendants up to age 25 with low-level offenses to have their cases heard confidentially, their criminal records sealed, and the possibility of having those records expunged.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Mike Lawlor, Gov. Malloy's undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning at the state’s Office of Policy and Management. Here, Lawlor, a former state representative, explains the rationale behind these proposed juvenile justice reforms that many observers believe could serve as a model for the rest of the nation.

MIKE LAWLOR: Gov. Malloy is fully convinced that people under 21 are not fully formed adults, and under 25 it’s pretty clear that your brain is not fully developed. So the issue is, can we change the criminal justice system to deal with the reality that young people are not fully culpable if they break the law? And so the governor has seen this in Germany; he was there earlier this year and up to age 21, the German courts make a decision about whether someone should be prosecuted as an adult or as a juvenile and I think the trend is definitely in that direction. The science indicates that, and I think the governor wants there to be a conversation in our state about whether we should have special rules governing people under 21 and in addition to that, special protections for people under 25 when they do these relatively minor kinds of offenses that potentially could affect their entire lives given the fact that everything you do is easily accessible online. And so, updating our criminal justice system to reflect modern realities is a priority for the governor and we’re very confident that the legislature will agree this is the right thing to do, and we’ll have a very different system.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Can you give some examples of the kinds of crimes that 18- to 21-year-olds commit where they could be treated as juveniles if these changes go into effect?

MIKE LAWLOR: So, every state has a juvenile justice system, and every state has a rule that says that the most serious crimes get prosecuted in adult court, even for people as young as 15-, 14-, 13-years-old, including Connecticut. So murder, for example, would automatically go to adult court. But the vast majority of crimes that are committed are not in that category, and so the question is, if you’re 17 years old and you’re caught possessing drugs or selling drugs or breach of peace or whatever, should the fact that you’ve been arrested, prosecuted and convicted, make it impossible later in life for you to succeed, in a job, in a family, whatever it happens to be? And so what the governor has said is, we know, based on the science, that your brain is not fully developed until you reach age 25, so should we have a justice system that acknowledges that reality, and on a case-by-case basis decide who should be handled in a juvenile system where the consequences are not lifelong.

And that’s really what we’re talking about, so he’s proposed that the legislature talk about it, think about it, come up with a system that makes a cutoff at age 21 or 20 or whatever it happens to be, but acknowledges that people under 25 should be treated differently. And so we’re very confident that we can do this. And keep in mind that it was not that long ago that the legislature decided, in Connecticut at least, to change the age of juvenile jurisdiction from 16 to 18. We were one of only three states in the country that prosecuted 16-year-olds as adults 100 percent of the time. And what we found out, once we raised the age to 18, is that the number of people being arrested and prosecuted dropped dramatically, and the number of people ending up with a lifelong record has been reduced significantly. And now we know that in our adult criminal justice system, the number of inmates between 18 and 21 has dropped by 51 percent just ini six years! So the extraordinary success of Connecticut’s Raise the Age initiative has really provided the foundation for the governor’s goal of saying, well, maybe 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds should be put in the same category because if our goal is to reduce crime all we know for sure is that, at least in Connecticut, we have been extraordinarily successful using this very focused initiative for younger offenders, and if we can add 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds to this mix, maybe we’ll see the same results.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Mike Lawlor, what kind of changes do you think we’ll see in Connecticut if these changes go through, of young people being considered juveniles in the criminal justice system?

MIKE LAWLOR: It’s related to and it’s changed the way our government, our society, deals with young people who are acting out, right? So, six, seven, eight, nine years ago, if they got arrested, they were more likely to get suspended from school or expelled from school, and that’s not happening now. We realize that arresting, suspending, expelling children from school is making it more likely that they get into trouble, get arrested, get incarcerated down the road. We know that for sure; we’ve had national studies, in Texas in particular, that shows that these decisions … if you’re trying to reduce crime, then doing things like suspending, expelling, arresting children in school makes it more likely they’ll commit crime in the future. So if we can stop doing that, we’ll have less crime in the future. We know that for sure.

For more information, visit Juvenile Justice & Youth Development at ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2974&Q=383614&opmNav_GID=1797 or contact Mike Lawler at mike.lawlor@ct.gov.