WHERE:
Stockton Civic Auditorium
525 N. Center Street
Stockton, CA

More than 450 high school students will attend the ACLU Youth Conference on Tuesday, February 15th in Stockton. Pete Wilson's Juvenile Crime Initiative proposes to try thousands of teens as adults, imprison more kids with adults, remove the confidentiality of youth records, and make more crimes a felony. The conference will include a dialogue with Derrel Myers, an opponent of Proposition 21 and whose son was murdered, and Maggy Elvy, a supporter of Proposition 21 and Executive Director of Crime Victims United.

"Proposition 21 is a dangerous and costly attack on California's youth and will cost tax payers billions of dollars," says Nancy Otto, Director of the Howard A. Friedman First Amendment Project of the ACLU. "California leads the nation in prison spending, and is forty-first in education spending. Where will our youth be ten years from now if we continue in this direction?"

Workshops include "Is the Juvenile Justice System Too Broken To be Fixed?" with Nancy Price, of the Stockton Record; "Code Word: Gangsta" looking at how gangs are defined with Michelle Alexander, Director, of the ACLU Racial Justice Project; and "Beyond Lock Up - Other Alternatives," with Kathy Dressler, of the Children's Advocacy Institute. The conference will be followed by a march and rally to the courthouse to protest Proposition 21.

The conference is organized by the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) of the Howard A. Friedman First Amendment Education Project of the ACLU of Northern California. YAC represents high school students throughout Northern California. Ten Poets Plus a Mic! an East Bay group of young poets, will perform. For a complete copy of the conference agenda please call Stella Richardson at (415)-621-2493.