Notes from Susan: Police Don’t Know Enough About Teenagers
Notes From Susan: Police Don’t Know Enough About Teenagers
I was happy to read “Police Don’t Know Enough About Teenagers” in the New York Times.
It documents the 71% decrease in teen detention rate changes in Indiana’s Tippecanoe County from 2013 to the present, as its 400 police officers took a course called “Policing the Teen Brain.” The program, offered by Strategies for Youth in Cambridge, MA., focuses on adolescent development, the effect of trauma on teen behavior, and de-escalation and listening techniques, all of which have reduced the number of arrests of teens significantly.
The county has gone further – offering teens at risk substance abuse and mental health counseling as well as anger management training. There is also a companion program, “Parenting the Teen Brain,” to help parents better understand and respond to their kids’ behaviors to prevent them from calling police to intervene. This is essential, points out program director Lisa Thurau, because detention has disastrous effects on teens’ ability to graduate from high school, go on to college, get a decent-paying job, and it is also another source of trauma for that child and his family.
In 2017-2018 Shine Global made the short documentary, “Virtually Free,” in Richmond, VA. We filmed teens in detention working with local artists to create art that expressed their life experiences. Part of the filming was of local police undergoing a 1-day training in adolescent development, the effects of early childhood trauma, and the impact of detention on the physical and emotional well-being of teens as depicted in the virtual jail cell they created with local artists to describe their personal experiences. “Virtually Free” is now showing at the Heartland Film Festival Shorts Program as well as in schools, community programs, juvenile justice programs and police forces across the country.
We applaud Lisa, her program “Strategies for Youth.” and the thousands of police officers in dozens of states who’ve gone through this training. Helping a police officer to reframe a teen’s behavior as expectable rather than threatening encourages them to respond with curiosity and concern rather than force, and everyone wins.
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Virtually Free, Directed by André Robert Lee and produced by Shine Global’s Susan MacLaury and Alexandra Blaney, is a documentary about unlikely allies in Richmond, VA who partner to transform the juvenile justice system and stop mass incarceration. In the film, we meet Sid, Taee, and AR, three teens currently being held in a detention center who are offered the chance to become activists speaking truth to power by participating in a local arts organizations’ program.
André has taken a unique path from teaching in the NYC public school system, to graduate school, and then the Ford Foundation before finding his way to the entertainment business. André wrote, directed and produced the feature documentary The Prep School Negro (2012) which has had hundreds of screenings and workshops at high schools, colleges, universities, gatherings and conferences. He also produced the documentary feature I’m Not Racist…Am I? (2014). In the past, André served for two years on the Miramax Films Academy-driven Marketing team, was Director of Marketing for Urbanworld, and produced short films at Film Movement. André’s work as a freelance producer has included a music video for The Churchills, numerous segments for German television, and directing an episode of “The Election Effect” digital series with Shine Global for Paramount Network.
Dr. Lynette N. Tannis is an adjunct lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) where she teaches the newly designed course Educating Incarcerated Youth: Practice, Research, and Policy. She also conducts research for HGSE’s Juvenile Justice Education Research Initiative. Her work as an adjunct lecturer, researcher, and independent education consultant focuses on ensuring all students – free or incarcerated – receive a high-quality education. Dr. Tannis is the author of Educating Incarcerated Youth: Exploring the Impact of Relationships, Expectations, Resources and Accountability (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and is recognized as a juvenile justice education expert. Her work is featured in the Harvard Educational Review (2017), the National Association for Public Defense (2016), educationpost (2015), Education Week (2014), and the Harvard Ed. Magazine (2015, 2014, 2013). Dr. Tannis holds both a Doctor of Education degree (2013) and a Master’s of Education Policy and Management degree (2010) from Harvard University, a Master’s degree With Distinction in Educational Administration from Kean University (2003), and a Bachelor’s degree Cum Laude in Elementary Education from Greensboro College (1995).
