Jackson woman starts own juvenile justice campaign, will have Tuesday kick-off

After years of advocating for reform to the country's juvenile justice system as a spokeswoman for a national campaign, Tracy McClard of Jackson has launched her own organization.

To celebrate and raise awareness about her campaign -- Families and Friends Organizing for Reform for Juvenile Justice -- McClard is hosting a kick-off event at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. The two-hour event will feature a panel of five national and state experts on the justice system as well as two men who were incarcerated as teenagers.

The organization is also called FORJ-MO, in honor of her son Jonathan (FOR Jonathan). He went to prison in late 2007 at age 17 for shooting another teenager at a Jackson car wash and committed suicide in January 2008.

McClard, who has testified and told Jonathan's story before lawmakers in Washington, D.C., says keeping juveniles in adult facilities doesn't give them opportunities for rehabilitation. Instead, they're often locked up and forgotten about, she said.

"My main goal is to reach out to other families that are going through this," McClard said. "[FORJ-MO] is in Missouri right now, but I have every intention of it spreading to other states."

Invited to speak on the event's panel are St. Louis parent Stan Greer, whose teenage son died in prison after nine years of incarceration, and Bob Perry, a coordinator for a state initiative that focuses on families being involved with their children if they're transferred to an adult prison.

Also on the panel will be Joshua Kezer, who at the age of 17 was wrongly convicted of the murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless, and Rick Walter, the Scott County sheriff who reopened the case, leading to Kezer's exoneration.

McClard also invited Dwayne Betts, author, poet and the Campaign for Youth Justice national spokesman, to be the panel's keynote speaker. McClard is still a spokeswoman for the Campaign for Youth Justice, based in Washington, D.C.

Betts said McClard creating FORJ-MO is a "phenomenal" step in the right direction to help Missouri families and to educate lawmakers on reform to the juvenile justice system.

"You look at Missouri, and it's one of the most impressive models for juvenile justice right now, but she's saying more needs to be done," said Betts, who was incarcerated at age 16 and spent more than eight years in prison. "It'll be an interesting movement, because it's a very interesting moment in our nation as a whole."

Perry said his role on the panel may be different from others because he doesn't hold a position on whether a juvenile should stand trial as an adult. Perry does, however, favor Missouri's approach to juvenile justice.

"Our state has the best approach to making the decision on whether or not a young person should be transferred to adult court. That's made on a case-by-case basis in a hearing in juvenile court," Perry said.

He said McClard's organization puts an important focus on families and that he was pleased to speak on the panel.

"My heart goes out to her. ... It's sad to hear of outcomes like that, but it's a real complex issue and there's not going to be any easy answers to some of these kinds of questions," Perry said.

For more information about McClard's organization or the event, visit www.forjmo.org.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent Address:

300 N. Ellis St., Cape Girardeau, MO