The rise of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is built upon a matrix of interests— economics, privatized corporate prison practices, law enforcement, government complicity and penal models of school reform (Meiners, 2011). The rise of zero tolerance policy in American public schools (Smith, 2015) and heavy investment in the carceral state (Meiners, 2011) significantly contribute to what is now known as the School-to-Prison Pipeline. The United States holds a world record in the number of children and youth it imprisons. On any given day some 60,000 youths are locked up (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 2015). Youth with emotional and learning disabilities, particularly from communities historically subject to racial, ethnic, gendered and/or socioeconomic inequity are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system (American Civil Liberties Union, 2016). Inspired by John Dewey’s definition of art as a means to gain experience and to problem-solve across multiple domains (Dewey & Barnes, 1929) this study explores how film and photographic data are used in a multidisciplinary project titled Juvenile In Justice. Created by professor and photographer, Richard Ross, this project documents American youth in facilities that “treat, confine, punish, assist and, occasionally, harm them.” Juvenile In Justice features a cross-section of audio-visual essays selected from decades of material in an online portfolio which Ross routinely updates at: http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com. Two overarching questions are addressed in the analysis of his project (1) what kind of information does Ross capture about the juvenile justice system, and (2) how does the project facilitate participation and reciprocity with the youth who contribute and/or feature in the footage? Conceptually framed by critical race theory, intersectionality (Meiners, 2011; Winn, 2014), citizenship rights (Minnow, 2008; Somers, 2008) and post-structuralism, the study locates the juvenile justice system as a Panopticon or “laboratory of power” (Foucault, 1977) within the carceral state. The independent lens of the academic photographer— and the deeply personal stories narrated by project participants— disrupt and expose the panoptic schema. Ross reframes who is observing whom and demonstrates the power of film and photography to capture intimate and expansive levels of detail within each mise-en-scène. If, as Dewey has claimed, art-based experiences offer “the most effective mode of communication that exists” (Dewey & Barnes, 1929) then multidisciplinary, innovative research methods are critical to redressing the dangerous conditions and potential harm and expense produced by the American juvenile justice system.

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