by Bernice Singh, LSPC Senior Policy Fellow
As a second-year policy fellow with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) and All of Us or None, my work continues to center the dignity, humanity, and rights of system-impacted youth and families. This legislative cycle, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with a powerful coalition of organizations. I facilitated this year’s Day of Empathy Juvenile with Dream.org to advocate for two critical bills introduced by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan: AB 1646, also known as the Hug Act, and AB 1647. Together, these bills represent a meaningful step toward reimagining how California treats young people in custody not as offenders to be punished, but as youth deserving care, protection, and opportunity.
AB 1646, the Hug Act, builds on California’s existing Youth Bill of Rights by addressing something both simple and profound: human touch. While current law guarantees youth the right to visitation, it falls short of recognizing the importance of physical connection during those visits. The Hug Act would ensure that young people in juvenile facilities have the right to engage in nonsexual physical contact like a hug with their loved ones. That may sound small to some, but in a system that routinely dehumanizes youth, this is transformative. Physical touch is essential to emotional well-being, particularly for young people navigating the trauma of incarceration. By requiring facilities to create policies that allow for this contact, the state is acknowledging that rehabilitation is not possible without connection.
AB 1647 addresses another critical gap in the system: the protection of young people’s rights during transfer proceedings. Under current law and case precedent, statements made by youth during transfer hearings or to probation officers are not supposed to be used against them in later criminal proceedings. However, this protection has not always been clearly codified. AB 1647 makes that protection explicit in statute, ensuring that youth are not punished for participating in processes that are supposed to assess, not incriminate, them. This is about fairness, due process, and recognizing that children should not be held to the same standards or consequences as adults.
These bills are larger than just policy proposals: They are part of a broader movement to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and interrupt cycles of harm that disproportionately impact Black, Brown, and low-income communities. During our recent advocacy and lobby day, I stood alongside fellow advocates, organizers, and directly impacted leaders as we met with legislators to push for these changes. We spoke not just from data and policy analysis, but from lived experience and community truth.
What became clear in those conversations is that too often, systems respond to youth behavior with punishment rather than support. Schools push students out instead of pulling them in. Communities are over-policed and under-resourced. And once a young person enters the system, it becomes difficult to find their way out. That is why policies like AB 1646 and AB 1647 matter; they are interventions at critical points in that pipeline.
But policy alone is not enough. We must also shift our mindset. We need to operate from the belief that all youth are sacred. That means every young person, regardless of their circumstances, deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, and care. It means recognizing that behaviors labeled as “criminal” are often a response to unmet needs, trauma, or systemic inequities; not a justification for lifelong punishment.
Breaking the school-to-prison pipeline requires investment in youth, not incarceration. It requires us to fund education, mental health services, community-based programs, and family support systems. It requires us to listen to young people and include them in decisions that affect their lives. And it requires us to hold systems accountable when they cause harm.
As a policy fellow, I am still learning how legislation is crafted, how advocacy is organized, and how change is made. But what I know for certain is that proximity to the issue matters. Working alongside system-impacted individuals and families has grounded my understanding of policy in real life. It has shown me that behind every bill is a human story, and behind every statistic is a young person with potential.
AB 1646 and AB 1647 are about more than legal reform. They are about redefining justice. They are about ensuring that when young people come into contact with the system, they are met with humanity instead of harm. And they are about building a future where fewer youth enter that system in the first place.
Our youth need us not just to advocate for them, but to stand with them. To challenge systems that fail them. To create pathways that support them. And to never lose sight of their inherent worth.
Because all youth are sacred.
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