Carolyn DiPaoloThe first “Stop Throwing Rocks at the Chain Gang” event was Saturday in West Palm Beach.
Saturday’s Stop Throwing Rocks at the Chain Gang summit offered wisdom and warnings to young people and ways for the community to help.
Here are four takeaways from Saturday’s criminal justice panel, which kicked off the day organized by Donte and Yolanda Bates, co-founders of the nonprofit Love, Hope and Healing, Inc.:
- The severity of mandatory minimums and zero tolerance laws. Assistant Public Defender and Chief of Youth Defense Maegan Young sees middle schoolers racking up a criminal record for something they may not even realize could be a crime: texting a threat to do harm at school or sharing a fight video or an indiscreet Snapchat of their boyfriend or girlfriend.
- “I’m speaking to the kids now. You don’t get second or third chances as a 14- or 15-year-old kid,” Riviera Beach Police Chief Michael Coleman said. “Now they’re going to adjudicate you as an adult for serious crimes.”
- Show up for a family member. Circuit Judge Bradley Harper said he often sees young people in his courtroom without anyone except perhaps a mother or grandmother to support them. “As a community, I implore you to stand by them,” defense attorney Young said, “even when they do make mistakes and they possibly may end up serving some time.”
- Show up for jury duty. The Palm Beach County court system has to call 100 jurors to get 20 to appear, the judge said. “When you fail to show up to serve on that jury, you have thrown away your responsibility to your community,” he said.
- Show up at a school board meeting to advocate for reading programs. The chief pointed out that half of all third-graders in Palm Beach County public schools cannot read at grade level. “There are two schools in my city that are at 19%,” Coleman said. “If you can’t read at third-grade level, you will have a hard, hard life.”
What they’re saying: “We wanted to create an environment where everybody – not just the youth – could learn,” Donte Bates said Monday. “I was so happy to see regular people who came out of nowhere, and they want to be involved.”
What’s next: Enrollment is open for Love, Hope and Healing’s youth summer camps at Keiser University and Palm Beach State College. More information is available here.
The second annual summit will be April 18, 2026.
I am a co-founder, writer and editor for Stet News. I am also a former senior editor at The Palm Beach Post. For 20 years, I oversaw some of the most consequential stories published by the paper, including the “Corruption County” reporting project that led to multiple arrests of elected officials. I am a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013. I live in West Palm Beach with my husband, Bill DiPaolo.
