Decarcerating and Ending Punitive Logic in Youth-Facing Work

Key Focus Areas

1. Uncovering Hidden Punitive Structures

   • Investigate program norms, rules, and disciplinary techniques that may unintentionally mirror criminal justice practices or oppressive systems.

2. Language & Framing

   • Learn to reframe everyday language—from intake forms to staff guidelines—so that it champions growth, self-direction, and mutual respect rather than control.

3. Models Centering Autonomy & Care

   • Explore community accountability processes, harm-repair circles, and relational practices that place youth at the forefront of decision-making.

Who Should Attend

• Nonprofit & Community Leaders
  Striving to shift from rule-heavy, compliance-based models toward youth-centered, collaborative initiatives.

• Youth Program Directors & Educators
  Interested in creating environments where responsibility is shared, and punitive approaches are replaced by communal support and trust-building.

• Policy Advocates & DEI Officers
  Aiming to transform organizational guidelines to promote equity, agency, and culturally responsive practices for young people.

• Activists & Organizers
  Seeking to integrate anti-carceral principles into youth-led movements, ensuring leadership models align with restorative, empowering values.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify Carceral Logic in Programming

   • Recognize words, rules, and structures that reflect control or punishment—and learn to spot them in day-to-day operations.

2. Reorient to Youth Autonomy

   • Develop tangible strategies for collaborative policy-making, transparent dialogue, and shared accountability with participants.

3. Implement Care-Focused Models

   • Acquire practices such as restorative conversations, supportive frameworks, and self-advocacy activities that affirm youth voices and dignity.

Why It Matters

When programs operate under strict supervision, command-and-control policies, or language that criminalizes mistakes, young people can feel policed rather than nurtured. Decarcerating your mission means unraveling these oppressive systems and ensuring every practice honors youth’s full humanity. By shifting to approaches that emphasize self-determination, empathy, and collective growth, organizations foster deeper engagement, trust, and genuine transformation in the lives of the youth they serve.

Is This Workshop For You?

• Noticing parallels between your program’s “behavior management” tactics and punitive justice systems?
  We’ll explore how to move from rigid compliance enforcement to supportive co-creation of rules and expectations.

• Concerned that standard discipline or attendance policies may alienate youth, especially those from marginalized backgrounds?
  Learn how to center care, harm reduction, and mutual understanding in place of sanctions or exclusion.

• Ready to critically assess your organization’s language, intake forms, and staff communication styles?
  Gain tools to audit day-to-day interactions for unconscious criminalizing or patronizing language.

• Desiring to weave anti-carceral principles into broader program culture and policy reforms?
  This session offers insights for rethinking hiring, training, evaluation, and youth feedback loops with an equity-driven lens.

If these questions resonate, Decarcerate Your Mission provides the frameworks, checklists, and real-world examples necessary to uproot punitive logic and reclaim your work as a beacon of genuine youth empowerment.