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Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 310: Youth Incarceration, Superpredators, Fight for Real Safety
On this episode of Everyday Injustice, we sit down with journalist and author Nell Bernstein, one of the nation’s leading voices on youth incarceration and the failures of the juvenile punishment model. Bernstein is the author of Burning Down the House and her newly released book, In Our Future We Are Free: The Dismantling of the Youth Prison. Her work challenges the mythology around “dangerous youth,” exposes the long-term harm of locking children in carceral environments, and reframes what true public safety looks like in America.
Bernstein’s journey into youth justice began in the 1990s, during the height of the so-called superpredator era — a moment defined not by data, but by fear, racism, and political opportunism. She tells us how young people she worked with in San Francisco were funneled into arrests, courtrooms, and detention for low-level behaviors — not because they posed a threat, but because the system was built to criminalize them. What began as court accompaniment and juvenile hall visits evolved into decades of reporting, advocacy, and storytelling grounded in humanity rather than stereotype.
In the conversation, Bernstein points to one of the most staggering realities: youth incarceration has dropped 75% nationwide since 2000, and more than two-thirds of youth prisons across the country have closed — including California’s entire state-run youth prison system. Yet at the same time, a backlash is underway. Politicians and media are reviving superpredator-style narratives, and several states — including California — are now pushing to try more children as adults. Bernstein warns that progress isn’t linear and the narratives driving fear often outpace the facts.
This episode is both sobering and hopeful. Bernstein reminds us that youth incarceration is not inevitable — it is a policy choice driven by fear, inequity, and political gain. The alternatives already exist, and they work: community safety comes not from cages, but from education, support, housing, stability, and belonging. For anyone questioning whether change is possible, Bernstein’s message is clear — transformation has already begun. The question now is whether we will defend it.
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By Davis Vanguard
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On this episode of Everyday Injustice, we sit down with journalist and author Nell Bernstein, one of the nation’s leading voices on youth incarceration and the failures of the juvenile punishment model. Bernstein is the author of Burning Down the House and her newly released book, In Our Future We Are Free: The Dismantling of the Youth Prison. Her work challenges the mythology around “dangerous youth,” exposes the long-term harm of locking children in carceral environments, and reframes what true public safety looks like in America.
Bernstein’s journey into youth justice began in the 1990s, during the height of the so-called superpredator era — a moment defined not by data, but by fear, racism, and political opportunism. She tells us how young people she worked with in San Francisco were funneled into arrests, courtrooms, and detention for low-level behaviors — not because they posed a threat, but because the system was built to criminalize them. What began as court accompaniment and juvenile hall visits evolved into decades of reporting, advocacy, and storytelling grounded in humanity rather than stereotype.
In the conversation, Bernstein points to one of the most staggering realities: youth incarceration has dropped 75% nationwide since 2000, and more than two-thirds of youth prisons across the country have closed — including California’s entire state-run youth prison system. Yet at the same time, a backlash is underway. Politicians and media are reviving superpredator-style narratives, and several states — including California — are now pushing to try more children as adults. Bernstein warns that progress isn’t linear and the narratives driving fear often outpace the facts.
This episode is both sobering and hopeful. Bernstein reminds us that youth incarceration is not inevitable — it is a policy choice driven by fear, inequity, and political gain. The alternatives already exist, and they work: community safety comes not from cages, but from education, support, housing, stability, and belonging. For anyone questioning whether change is possible, Bernstein’s message is clear — transformation has already begun. The question now is whether we will defend it.