When Elsie Flores was just 16 years old, she was arrested for selling drugs to an undercover cop. At the time of her sentencing, she was eight months pregnant, without a family support system — and suddenly facing up to six years at a state prison.
“My mom was addicted to alcohol and cocaine, and my dad wasn’t around, so I got caught up in the streets at the age of 10,” Flores says. “The only thing that I knew was the negativity in the streets. One of the hardest things to do was go from negativity to positivity in my life.”
Today, Flores is a court advocate at Avenues for Justice, one of the first alternatives to incarceration programs in the U.S. and one that’s near and dear to Flores: when she was staring down a potential prison sentence over 20 years ago, she was offered an opportunity to instead participate in Avenues for Justice, which would provide her with counseling, tutoring, job training and mentorship. Flores finished high school, got her associate’s degree and, in 2020, received her bachelor's degree in criminal justice, all with her daughter at her side.
It’s a success story to celebrate, but the circumstances Flores faced as a kid are all too common. A child or a teen is arrested every 59 seconds, with over half a million children arrested in the U.S. last year, according to the Children's Defense Fund's
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Those criminal records will linger well into adulthood and impact future employment opportunities: according to the Prison Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for the formerly incarcerated is 27%, far above the national average of 5%. “Most of these kids are living based on survival,” says Flores, who’s spent 10 years helping children get the second chance she received. “You have to be open-minded because not everybody was raised the same.”
Founded in 1979, Avenues for Justice works with courts and judges on behalf of young offenders between 13 and 24 years old in New York City. Instead of a judge sentencing an adolescent to jail, judges can mandate them to participate Avenues for Justice’s program, saving the state over $300,000 and providing long-term rehabilitation that is rarely found in correctional facilities or prisons.
“A lot of communities, such as the Lower East Side, which is where we started, are overpoliced,” says Gamal Willis, manager of court advocacy and outreach at Avenues for Justice. “These young people don't have a voice. They are not humanized. Our program wants to humanize them.”
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While 96% of Avenues for Justice participants avoid reincarceration within three years of enrollment, it is no easy feat since schools, employers and courts may have already labeled them as criminals, Flores explains.
“The system treats these kids like nothing — like their issues do not exist,” says Flores, who urges employers to ask job candidates to share their stories before passing judgment on past mistakes. “We need to be understanding, especially due to the fact that the law can be very harsh.”
In 2019, New York’s Raise the Age legislation finally made it so a child could not be prosecuted as an adult until they were 18 years old. Previously, the courts considered children to be adults at 16. Sentences can also be disproportionately severe. For example, a person could be sentenced up to five years in jail for taking someone’s phone without harming anyone. If a person breaks into a home and takes something, this is automatically considered a violent crime — even if no one is home — and could equate to a seven-year sentence. If a person is falsely arrested for murder and found not guilty, it can still remain on their record for years.
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“Sometimes we get blocked into statistics, but we have to stop viewing people within the criminal justice system as convicts — get that out of your mind,” says Willis. “These are young people who are looking for opportunities and resources that they perhaps didn't have before.”
Where employers may struggle lies in an unwillingness to train and supervise new recruits, because they expect someone to know the job already, Willis explains. However, given the proper resources and instruction, Willis knows these kids can excel — Flores is a testament to that.
“Everyone has transferable skills, so it’s not as if you're not building from scratch,” says Willis. “You're just helping them see another way of doing things and viewing them as a person.”
Organizations like Avenues for Justice can also provide employers with talent that is ready to work in a diverse range of fields. Backed by mentors and exposure to skills needed in the professional world, the program prepares its participants with their future in mind and stays in touch with them whether they are 16 or 40 years old.
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While the rate of young people sent to correctional facilities and prisons have decreased 60% since 2000, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, kids who manage to get support and avoid long-term incarceration may be still be faced with continued discrimination, not to mention the other challenges they may be facing, be it abuse, neglect, addiction, homelessness or all of the above. Flores recalls that many of the kids she works with are surprised by simply being asked how their day was.
“The trauma they've been through could take years to process,” Flores says. “We need to help them build their confidence. I want to show these kids that they can do it and mistakes won’t define them.”
Employers, with the help of programs like Avenues for Justice, can change the cyclical narrative that surrounds young offenders. But this means employers, team managers and recruiters will need to view their workplace as a place for personal and professional growth, Willis says.
“As soon as you get to see what these youth are capable of and the potential that they have, it’s amazing,” says Flores. “An employer could be part of changing somebody’s life.”
