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Jonathan Cristall is a leading expert in youth safety, digital citizenship, and violence prevention. As a prosecutor and author of What They Don’t Teach Teens, Cristall is dedicated to equipping young people with the tools they need to navigate today’s challenges, offering practical insights on critical topics such as online safety, sexual consent, and building healthy relationships. His engaging presentations provide students, parents, educators, as well as law enforcement, with actionable strategies to address issues like social media use, peer pressure, and personal boundaries.
WHY
Book
Jonathan
FOR YOUR EVENT?
“Jonathan's well-honed presentation was truly an enriching experience. His delivery was engaging, savvy and well-informed. His material expanded our awareness about online safety. It brought our Parent Teacher Student Association to a new level.”
—Amy Mueller, PTSA Coordinator, Palisades High School
WHO
Books
Jonathan
?
Cristall’s expertise makes him a valuable speaker for schools and organizations looking to empower teens to make informed, responsible decisions while promoting safer, more supportive communities. These organizations include:
Michigan State Police
Common Sense Media
Nebraska Community Aid and Juvenile Justice Conference
Arkansas Department of Education
LA Unified School District
Palisades High School Parent Teacher Student Association
Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences
National League of Young Men
Jack and Jill of America
Village School Alumni Parent Group
Beverly Hills High School
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Get Inspired
TO BRING
Jonathan
TO YOUR NEXT EVENT!
SPEAKER
Topics Include
Health & Wellness
Culture, Climate & Community
Leadership, Law & Policy
Grooming & Exploitation
Sexual Abuse Prevention
Digital Safety & Online Threats
Bullying & Cyberbullying Prevention
Suicide & Mental Health Support
Signature
PRESENTATIONS
Click on the titles to learn more about each signature presentation and fill out the form below to book for your next event.
What They Don’t Teach Teens
60-minute Workshop
This workshop provides an overview of the three parts of What They Don't Teach Teens:
Street Safety and Safer Police Interactions
Sexual Violence and Misconduct
Digital Pitfalls & Best Practices
An excellent choice for parents and educators, it is highly recommended that participants are provided with a copy of the book in advance or at the time of the workshop.
Workshop includes discussion of prospective lesson plans for educators regarding the above topics.
Healthy Intimate Relationships & Connections
60-minute Workshop
Topics covered in this workshop include:
Sexual consent (what it is, what it is not, how to ask for it, circumstances in which consent cannot be obtained)
Dating violence (what it is, how to identify it, how to safely seek help for yourself or a loved one)
Sextortion, AKA online sexual blackmail (what it is and how to best protect yourself)
Sexual harassment in a school environment (what it is, how to identify it, how to combat it, how to safely seek help)
The importance of finding a trusted person when support is needed
Digital Pitfalls & Best Practices
60-minute Workshop
Topics covered in this workshop include:
Potential pitfalls of smartphone cameras (focus on laws/consequences of underage sexting, sextortion, and revenge porn)
How to protect one's digital footprint (focusing on what employers and college administrators want to see/not see in a candidate's footprint)
Digital citizenship
Cyberbullying
Protecting one's digital privacy
The importance of finding a trusted person when support is needed
Safer Police Interactions
60-minute Workshop
Topics covered in this workshop include:
Your rights under the 4th Amendment (police searches) and how to exercise them most safely
Your rights under the 5th Amendment (police questioning) and how to exercise them most safely
What to do and what not to do when stopped by police while in a vehicle or on foot
Racial injustice in policing and how it may impact invocation of your rights
How to differentiate between detentions, consensual encounters, and arrests
The game changer if you break the law: you've turned 18
Safer Get-Togethers
60-minute Workshop
Topics covered in this workshop include:
Sexual consent and the consumption of alcohol (or other drugs)
Situational awareness at parties
Bystander intervention techniques and 911 immunity (Good Samaritan) laws
Social host liability laws (when adults can be held liable for underage drinking that occurs in their homes)
Potential consequences of using a fake ID
Your rights when police show up at the party and want to search or question you
Streat Safety: Where Your Life Travels Take You
60-minute Workshop
Topics covered in this workshop include:
Situational awareness as the backdrop to your personal safety
The power of your intuition to keep you safe
Ways to stay safer from gun violence
Street robberies for your stuff or for you
Alcohol dangers
Driving dangers
*Generally all workshops are appropriate for ages 12 through adult.
Testimonials
We bring Jonathan to Beverly High to help our students (and their parents) develop 21st century life skills. Each time Jonathan presents, the response was phenomenal. Our students are engaged and the parents are thrilled.
— Ali Norman-Franks, Beverly Hills High Intervention Counselor
Speaker
BIOGRAPHY
Jonathan Cristall, Esq., is a veteran prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles. He is the author of the multiple award-winning book, What They Don't Teach Teens. Cristall's book—written for both teen and adult readers—and his related speaking events teach young people (and the adults who care for them) physical, digital, emotional, and legal life safety skills to better navigate the pitfalls of modern adolescence.
Being a teenager has never been easy. And, in fact, it was downright difficult for Cristall as he spent his own teen years in Los Angeles, taking unnecessary risks and getting into avoidable trouble. Decades later, long after turning his life around, he recognized that his teenage children and their peers were facing new risks, expectations, and laws that simply didn't exist for previous generations of teenagers—things like understanding the ways a damaged digital footprint can alter your life; the statements or actions that may amount to sexual harassment; the potentially severe consequences of underage sexting; the point a sexual interaction "goes too far"; the safest way to handle oneself when stopped by the police; navigating the complexities of cyberbullying; and so much more.
Cristall began searching for a book that would help his children better understand the "how-tos" and "how-not-tos" of coming of age today. Finding nothing, Cristall utilized his experience as a prosecutor, sexual violence prevention instructor, and a troubled teen to write the book he was seeking: What They Don't Teach Teens. His regular speaking presentations about the topics in the book provide practical guidance, thoughtful insight, and simple-to-use tips and tactics that empower tweens, teens, and young adults to make good choices now and into the future.
In addition to many awards and formal recognitions for his public safety work as a prosecutor, Cristall is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal from the Los Angeles Police Commission—the highest honor bestowed on non-sworn law enforcement personnel. Other organizations from which Cristall has received distinctions include the Police Officers Association of LA County and the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
What They Don't Teach Teens is similarly laureled as a recipient of the Gold Winner award from both the IPBA Ben Franklin Awards for Best Parenting & Family Book and the NIEA Awards for Best Parenting & Family Book of 2020. Additionally, What They Don't Teach Teens won a Silver medal from Forward INDIES Awards in the Family & Relationships category.
Cristall works and lives with his family in Los Angeles.