In late 2009, Mariame Kaba of Project NIA and Lisa Lee of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum decided to partner on a project to create a series of zines about juvenile justice issues. The zine series was developed in conjunction with an exhibition called “Unfinished Business – Juvenile Justice,” a community-curated show that links the founding of the nation’s first juvenile court in 1899 with the pressing contemporary issues of juvenile justice and prison reform
Four juvenile justice zines were created by teaching artists, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams and Elgin-Bokari T. Smith; and youth at the Chicago Freedom School and the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. The zines feature the voices of those affected by the criminal legal system and also tackle the issues that affect all of our communities: the History of Juvenile Justice in Illinois, Girls in the System, Youth Stories (of the Incarcerated), and the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
You can also download a zine created by the youth who participated in the “youth on the outside” portion of the comic arts program that took place at the Chicago Freedom School HERE.
Special thanks to the following people for their invaluable contributions to this project:
Youth at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center
Youth at the Chicago Freedom School
Mariame Kaba
Lisa Lee
Eva Nagao
Rachel Shine
Teresa Silva
Elgin Smith
Rachel Williams
Juvenile Injustice 