The Youth Justice Coalition is a left-of-center community activist organization focusing on promoting left-leaning criminal justice, education, and immigration policies in Los Angeles County and in the state of California. The organization supports defunding local law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County, opposes laws targeting gangs, and supports abolishing the Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department. ¹ The organization is also a member of the of the Check the Sheriff Coalition, a far-left criminal justice organization demanding the resignation of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva (D). ²

Background

The Youth Justice Coalition (“YJC”) was founded in 2001 by community organizers in Los Angeles County to provide services and advocacy on behalf of juvenile criminal offenders in Los Angeles County. The organization opposes what it describes as a “War on Gangs,” ³ opposes gang surveillance tactics by police officers, and promotes eliminating the California Division of Juvenile Justice and life without parole sentences handed down to juvenile offenders. ⁴

In 2005, the YJC founded Chuco’s Justice Center, an office space for youth and community organizing groups in south central Los Angeles. The center was named after an organizer for the organization who was murdered in 2005. The center is the host site for the FREE L.A. High School and provides office space to eight other activist organizations including Fair Chance, a prison and juvenile detention reentry program. ^{5 6}

FREE LA High School

In 2007, the Youth Justice Coalition founded the FREE L.A. High School, an alternative charter school targeted towards former juvenile detainees and expelled students. ⁷ The FREE L.A. High School operates as a charter school under the Youth Build Charter School of California. ⁸ The organization’s high school programs promote an emphasis on “social justice organizing” ⁹ as part of the school’s core curriculum in addition to some basic academic classes. ¹⁰

Policy Stances and Activism

The Youth Justice Coalition supports left-leaning policies around criminal justice. These include supporting the elimination of most anti-gang policing policies under claims that such policies discriminate against young Black men. The organization also supports the defunding of many policing and detention agencies and supports abolishing police in Los Angeles County schools. ¹¹

Current lobbying efforts of the organization include supporting several pieces of statewide legislation that would defund various aspects of law enforcement and enact strict limits on police intervention and probations. The organization also supports legislation opposing all deportations of illegal-immigrant convicts. ¹²

Within Los Angeles County, the organization supports reducing funding for law enforcement by $300 million from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, $25 million from the District Attorney’s office, and $600 million from the county probation office. The defunding of police proposed by the organization would direct funds to organizations such as itself to operate community centers and training programs. The organization also supports abolishing the Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department, closing the L.A. Men’s Central Jail, and ending transfers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the LA County Jail. ¹³ The organization is also a member of the of the Check the Sheriff Coalition, a far-left criminal justice organization demanding the resignation of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva (D). ¹⁴

Funding

The Youth Justice Coalition receives funding from various left-leaning foundations including the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Edward W. Hazen Foundation. ^{15 16 17}

1. “Campaigns.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/campaigns/
2. “About.” Check the Sheriff Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.checkthesheriff.com/about
3. “History.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/history/
4. “History.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/history/
5. Kilgore, James. Chuco’s Justice Center in Los Angeles: Home of ‘College Prep, Not Prison Prep.’” The Public. October 2014. Accessed July 23, 2021. http://publici.ucimc.org/2014/10/chucos-justice-center-in-los-angeles-home-of-college-prep-not-prison-prep/
6. “About the Space.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/about-the-space/
7. “History.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/history/
8. “Youth Justice Coalition Site.” Youth Build Charter School. Accessed July 23, 2021.  https://www.youthbuildcharter.org/apps/pages/yjcsite
9. “FREE LA High School.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021.  https://www.youthjusticela.org/free-l-a-high-school/
10. “FREE LA High School.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021.  https://www.youthjusticela.org/free-l-a-high-school/
11. “History.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/history/
12. “Campaigns.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/campaigns/
13. “Campaigns.” Youth Justice Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youthjusticela.org/campaigns/
14. “About.” Check the Sheriff Coalition. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.checkthesheriff.com/about
15. “Youth Justice Coalition.” Liberty Hill Foundation. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 23, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20200912055304/https://www.libertyhill.org/company/youth-justice-coalition/
16. “Youth Justice Coalition/Homies Unidos.” Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.mott.org/grants/homies-unidos-youth-justice-coalition-200202107/
17. “Youth Justice Coalition.” Edward W. Hazen Foundation. Accessed July 23, 2021. http://hazenfoundation.org/youth-justice-coaltion/