News – The Gault Center

Summer 2026 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find a broad range of youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. Below are some notable resources from the past few months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates. Please note that some of these resources are only…

The Gault Center’s Mary Ann Scali and Sarah Johnson Interviewed for a Story on Transfer and the Youth Justice Policy Landscape

Executive Director Mary Ann Scali and Senior Youth Defense Counsel Sarah Johnson were interviewed by Stateline regarding the Youth Justice Landscape, and transfer policies across the country. From the Article: “’Transfer of youth to adult court is bad public policy,’ said Mary Ann Scali, the executive director of The Gault Center, a national organization that…

More Than a Name: The Gault Center and the Future of Youth Defense

The Gault Center’s Executive Director Mary Ann Scali joined Executive Director John A. Tuell from the National Resource Center for the Transformation of Youth Justice in their podcast, “Youth Justice Transformation in Action.” Mary Ann shared the Gault Center’s vision for the 60th Anniversary of the In re Gault decision, what it means to be…

The Role of Youth Defenders in Abolition

HyeJi Kim, at the Gault Center, wrote an essay on the critical role of youth defenders in building toward an interdependent future, where all children and youth are free to thrive. This essay is an ode to the youth defense community and offers a widened lens of how our work can fit into a broader…

The Gault Center’s Mary Ann Scali Interviewed for a Story on Conditions in an Ohio Correctional Facility

Executive Director Mary Ann Scali was interviewed by USA Today regarding conditions of confinement concerns at Ohio’s Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility. Staffing shortages, extensive use of solitary confinement, and staff conducting rounds via video instead of in person are a just a few of the issues that have been reported by young people and…

Spring 2026 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find a broad range of youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. Below are some notable publications from the past few months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates. Please note that some of these resources are only…

New Report: Revolutionizing Probation from Punishment to Community-Led Safety

We are delighted to share Part I of our new report and executive summary, created in partnership with Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout (YEAH Philly), as part of our Juvenile Probation Accountability Coalition (JPAC). Part I of our report summarizes youth perspectives on juvenile probation based on 25 interviews with youth across the country who experienced…

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 this post from Players Coalition supporting…

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…

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,…

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…

2025 End of Year Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post, our summer 2025 update, you will find some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

Summer 2025 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post, our summer 2025 update, you will find some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

Spring 2025 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post, our spring 2025 update, you will find some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

Winter 2025 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post, our winter 2025 update, you will find some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

Fall 2024 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post are some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

Summer 2024 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post are some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

Spring 2024 Resource Library Updates

The Gault Center has been regularly updating our Resource Library, where you will find up-to-date youth defense resources to enhance your practice and advocacy. In this post are some notable publications from the past couple of months that may be of interest to youth defense advocates.

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.

Announcing: New Resource Library

Over the past few months, we’ve been rebuilding our resource library to make it easier for defenders to find what they are looking for in our library. We have now finished our rebuild, and we are happy to announce that the new Resource Library is now live!

Gault Center op-ed in Teen Vogue

In this piece, HyeJi speaks directly to adolescents, to provide young people with empowering information to make change.