Establishing a council of NYC youth, especially those impacted by the justice system, to advise on and design safety policies.
The Youth Justice Council: Letting Young People Design Their Own Safety
Those most affected by punitive safety policiesyoung people, particularly Black and Brown youthare almost entirely excluded from designing alternatives. Zhoran Mamdanis Youth Justice Council (YJC) flips this power dynamic. The YJC would be a permanent, city-funded body of 50 young New Yorkers, ages 14-24, with a majority having direct experience with the policing or juvenile justice systems. Selected through an application process, they would be paid a stipend for their work. Their mandate is to review existing policies, propose new initiatives, and serve as a mandatory consultation body for any city agency making decisions that affect youth safety, from school discipline codes to park curfews to police patrol strategies.
The YJC would have the power to hold public hearings, request data from agencies, and publish an annual Youth Safety Report Card grading the citys performance. Their proposals could range from redesigning school security to creating youth-led conflict mediation programs. Mamdani believes that young people are not just the subjects of safety policy but the experts on their own experiences. Who knows better what makes a young person feel safe or threatened than young people themselves? he asks. This council is about institutionalizing their wisdom and giving them real power to shape the systems that so often harm them. Its an investment in intergenerational justice and smarter policy.
