Players Coalition Supports Maryland’s Limiting Automatic Charging of Youth as Adults

The Gault Center is so grateful to partner with Players Coalition to strengthen youth rights in Maryland! Players Coalition “exists to end social injustices and racial inequality so future generations have the opportunity to thrive without barriers.” Players Coalition has been supporting youth justice advocacy since 2018. Please see today’s post from Players Coalition, supporting…

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Op Ed on Public Defense Day and The Gault Center’s Work in Kansas

In 2020, the Gault Center was invited by the Kansas Supreme Court to conduct a Statewide Assessment of its youth defense delivery system. Since that time, the Gault Center has been working with partners in Kansas to build a statewide Youth Defense System, and in 2025, released a five-year follow-up assessment in partnership with Progeny…

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2026 Ambassadors for Racial Justice

We are excited to introduce the 2026 Ambassadors for Racial Justice (ARJ). During the year-long program the Gault Center and Georgetown Juvenile Justice Initiative partner with a cohort  of 10 youth defenders selected as Ambassadors for Racial Justice to lead and develop strategies to combat racial inequities in their respective jurisdictions and nationally.  Ambassadors participate in guided discussions, webinars,…

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JPAC in the Philadelphia Inquirer

The Gault Center and Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout (YEAH Philly) are partnering together to launch the Juvenile Probation Accountability Coalition (JPAC). JPAC will focus on exposing the harms of juvenile probation, amplifying alternative models, and advancing local policies and practices that move us beyond punishment-based juvenile probation. Our aim is to create a national…

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Youth Defense System Standards

A specialized corps of zealous youth defenders can unlock young people’s constitutional rights and wield the power to challenge and dismantle institutionalized oppression. For youth defenders to effectively do this work, states must invest in well-resourced youth defense delivery systems to comply with their constitutional mandates. The National Youth Defense System Standards outline steps states must take to satisfy the minimum requirements of the U.S. Constitution to fully safeguard the rights of youth in the juvenile legal system.

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