PRESS RELEASE
August 29th, 2013
Posted by The Department Of Justice
This post is courtesy of Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels
The Civil Rights Division is acutely aware of the impact that the criminal justice system has on communities of color. As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, it remains an inescapable fact that disparities at nearly every stage of the criminal process keep too many African Americans, Latinos and other minorities in poverty and deny them the opportunities that so many in the civil rights movement fought to achieve.
The consequences of these inequities are perhaps greatest for America’s youth. The adverse effects of early interaction with the juvenile or criminal justice systems can be permanent—often, they deprive those caught up in the system of opportunities for educational advancement, employment, access to housing and even the right to vote.
Under the leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring equal justice and equal opportunity for America’s youngest generation—by, among other things, dismantling the school to prison pipeline and defending the constitutional rights of those in the juvenile justice system—has never been stronger.
To read more, click here: http://blogs.justice.gov/main/archives/3277
