Statement in Response to Republican Press Event on Youth-Involved Car Thefts

Hartford, CT – Connecticut Republicans today commented on recent car thefts and furthered a damaging false narrative on the increase of crime during a press event held at the state capitol. In response, Claudine Fox, ACLU-CT Public Policy and Advocacy Director offered the following statement.

“Let’s be clear, not wanting to lock up kids for their first offense is the bare minimum we should expect from our state's leaders. What we’re seeing is a fear-mongering political strategy in which some elected officials are polling their next campaign on, and scaring the people of Connecticut into believing the myth that crime is up when all data shows we are at historic lows.

“Connecticut has the third highest disparities in youth incarceration between white youth and Black youth. We know that our state is incarcerating youth at record highs, but we’re also doing it to disproportionately punish Black children -- this has to end.

“We do not need a police state to deal with youth who feel their future is not valued because of the color of their skin and the place they were born and we should not deepen funding in the judicial system, or the militarization of our police. Investment is needed, we agree. However, we have been consistent in saying investment should be made into making our communities better places to grow up.”