WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) — Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Monday a $500,00 award by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to a joint effort between the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice aimed at helping youth get along better with police.
The effort’s goal is to create an institute to identify the best ways to respond to issues of juvenile justice.
IACP will help law enforcement departments throughout the U.S. conduct self-assessments as part of a new training curriculum.
The group will also host a round table event at which ideas on juvenile justice will be shared. The event will be accessible online.
Lynch made the announcement during a White House Champions of Change event honoring police and youth leaders who seek to improve police-youth relations.
Obama criticized the trend towards mass incarceration in July, saying it “makes our country worse off,” right after commuting the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders.
Obama specifically called for community, courtroom and prison reform, saying 500,000 people filled American prisons in 1980 and 2.2 million are behind bars in 2015.
He further added that the high imprisonment rate costs taxpayers $80 billion each year, the same amount of money it would take to double the salary of all high school teachers in the country.
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