Five Years Later: An Update on the Kansas Youth Defense Assessment 2025

The Gault Center released an update on the state of youth defense in Kansas, which centers the perspectives and experiences of young people impacted by the juvenile legal system, through a collaborative effort with Progeny, a youth-adult partnership in Kansas, TerraLuna Collaborative, a research consulting group, and Mulberry Art Gallery, which focuses on supporting emerging youth artists of color. Youth leaders at Progeny interviewed other young people who had experienced the juvenile legal system in Kansas about their experiences in the system and specifically with their youth defense attorney to shed light on the gaps, challenges, and opportunities to improve youth defense in the state. The interview findings were then shared with youth artists, who developed artwork (highlighted throughout the report) to represent the collective experiences of young people in the juvenile legal system across the state. This report powerfully outlines the lived experiences of young people through their own words about client communication, shackling, case preparation, courtroom experiences, hearings, costs and fees, and racial justice advocacy. This report serves as an important tool for youth leaders and policy advocates to improve the youth defense delivery system in Kansas and offers an example for other jurisdictions working with or interested in partnering with youth leaders to drive policy change based on youth experiences and perspectives.

Read the original 2020 assessment of youth defense in Kansas here.