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How the Location of Milwaukee County Children's Court Might Hinder Crucial Family Engagement

For the past six months, our Precious Lives series has told stories of how children in the Milwaukee area are affected by gun violence. There is an increasing number of children becoming victims of gun violence as well as a rise of young people being involved in violent crimes.

An article in the July issue of Milwaukee Magazinemakes the point that the location and nature of Milwaukee County's children's court may inadvertently be playing into the problem. The juvenile court, unlike the adult court in the county, is located at the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa. Writer Erik Gunn believes that's where the issue begins. 

"If you're making it more difficult for people to get out to Wauwatosa for the existing children's court, then it becomes that much harder to engage that family on an ongoing basis," Gunn says.

"Children's court was really trying to be about preventing recurrence of crime by focusing on the troubled individual," he says.