One model for engaging young people to be more civically minded and to help them develop a critically conscious sociopolitical identity is through youth organizing and participatory action research. Over the last 3 years, I have worked with Leaders Organizing 2 Unite and Decriminalize (LOUD) members—a majority of which we system-involved—who have worked toward creating a more socially just and humanizing juvenile justice system through youth activism and youth participatory action research (YPAR). Through this process, youth have developed their sociopolitical identity by finding their voice, speaking out against injustices, and raising awareness on critical issues that are needed to reform the juvenile justice system, where minoritized youth are overrepresented, sentenced longer, and face more severe punishments. Thus, this paper seeks to address the processes of YPAR that empower system-involved youth to advocate against racist policies and challenge the oppression found in the juvenile justice system.

通过青年的组织和参与性行动研究，可以使青年人更具公民意识并帮助他们发展批判性意识的社会政治身份的一种模式。在过去的三年中，我曾与负责组织2个团结与非犯罪化（LOUD）成员的领导者合作，他们中的大多数是我们系统参与的，他们致力于通过青年行动主义和青年参与式运动建立更加社会公正和人性化的少年司法系统行动研究（YPAR）。通过这一过程，青年人找到了自己的声音，大声疾呼反对不公正现象，并提高了对改革少年司法制度所需的关键问题的认识，从而发展了自己的社会政治身份，在少年司法制度中，少数民族群体的代表人数过多，被判处更长的刑期，并面临更严厉的刑罚。因此，