Resource Library
An evaluation report for the LEAP initiative Prepared for the Annie E. Casey Foundation June 2024.
On August 29, 2024, the Gault Center hosted a National Youth Defense Townhall focused on the role of youth defenders in transforming the juvenile legal system. The Townhall outlined a theory of change rooted in cultivating critical connections to create collective power for transformative change. In attendance were nearly 200 youth defense advocates from across…
Research and data on youth and delinquency is critical for identifying opportunities and developing strategies to support positive development through prevention and intervention. Responses to youth misbehavior by youth-serving systems — including education, child welfare, behavioral health, and justice systems — can play an important role in promoting or disrupting youths’ healthy social and emotional…
Between 2000-2022, there was a 75% decline in youth incarceration. However, racial and ethnic disparities in youth incarceration and sentencing persist amidst overall decrease in youth offending.
The evidence provided in this brief supports bold reforms for youth and emerging adults sentenced to extreme punishments.
In many states, and federally, police officers are permitted to use deceptive tactics to elicit confessions from youth under the age of 18. It is time to revisit this inequitable practice. Science and developmental research have conclusively established what we have always known- children are not little adults and in the context of police questioning…
The answer, then, is not to simply reform the system of punishment, but to stop surveilling and punishing kids and instead invest in the things that set kids up for success, like education, family support, and access to healthcare. We need to start seeing children as children, not as criminals, and giving them the tools…
Certain members of society are more vulnerable and require more protection than others; minors are but one example. Society recognizes the unique position of children and adolescents in other areas of law and investigatory procedures. That same recognition should be extended to custodial interrogations of minors charged with acts of juvenile delinquency so that appropriate…
In this Article, we call for greater nuance and careful treatment of rap-related evidence in the courtroom, which includes recognizing rap’s history, conventions, and practices generally, and acknowledging rap’s complicated and complex intersection with gangs specifically. Greater nuance and more careful treatment will enable courtroom members, including judges and jurors, to make better informed evaluations…
This paper analyzes how race and reproductive healthcare are used as carceral tools of racial oppression that emanate from slavery. I argue that both mass incarceration and the denial of reproductive health services for Black women must be abolished as a way of abolishing vestiges of slavery. Part II contextualizes the historical control of Black…
A robust literature is developing around how the stress of discrimination is implicated in individual- and group-level sleep disturbances, and how these disturbances contribute to the development of population-level sleep disparities over time. Although discrimination can be based on many individual and intersecting biases, like gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and education, in this article, we…
This Article suggests that doing non-extractive research, what some have called liberation science,7 involves transformation starting from the earliest stages of the research process to upend implicit hierarchies of knowledge and power. Part I of this Article explains the concept of wicked problems and documents the embedded wicked problem of structural racism. Part II focuses…
This article situates trauma within the Supreme Court’s mitigation framework for adolescents. The framework is based on the developmental research recognized by the Supreme Court in three landmark cases—Roper v. Simmons, Graham v. Florida, and Miller v. Alabama.
By understanding the conditions facing incarcerated youth, the responsibility of the justice system, and strategies designed to improve outcomes, stakeholders can make informed decisions. After arming readers with the historical timeline necessary to understand Texas’ complicated history with its juvenile justice system, LSJA’s Reimagining Reform report issues a challenge to stakeholders during a crucial time…
A decade after national protests catapulted the Black Lives Matter movement following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and four years after a national racial reckoning triggered by Minneapolis police officers killing George Floyd, lawmakers are wavering on their commitment to making the criminal legal system more just and effective. Many are…
This brief describes how states currently treat two categories of young people: youth who commit status offenses—behaviors that are not categorized as crimes—and young children who do not have the developmental capacity to fully understand the crimes they are committing. Through a 50-state scan of policy and practice, we detail how states respond to these…
The Black existence, in the United States of America, has always been regarded as a conditional right. Conventionally, Blackness must always be nonviolent and non-disruptive to safely exist. Because of this, Blackness cannot be confined to restraints and disrupts these conventions with acts of joy and creative expression. Black creativity is both unconventional and sacred.…
A new study by The Pew Charitable Trusts shows that young people assigned to probation after their first offense are more likely to be rearrested in the future, particularly for technical violations, than their peers diverted away from probation. The study, based on data provided by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) and analyzed by…
This report describes the process of developing or cultivating purpose and explains why purpose is one of the key aspects of healthy development in adolescence. Cultivating purpose is widely beneficial for adolescents, and it is particularly important for adolescents from traditionally underserved groups. Purpose is essentially a renewable resource that has the potential to benefit…
The focus of this paper is on the experience of Black adolescents who are growing up amidst evolving national beliefs about racism, ongoing political debate surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, and a growing national awareness about the experience of being Black in America.
Studies consistently confirm that incarcerating young people causes great harm, including increased victimization, recidivism, school drop-out, and long-term physical and mental health issues. Fortunately, research also identifies what young people need for positive, healthy development. Alternatives to incarceration, such as release schedules, should be crafted to ensure each young person has time for and access…
Challenging the Status Quo: Mobilizing Youth Defense Teams to Uphold Youth Rights & Uproot Injustice
This Racial Justice Webinar was hosted by the Gault Center and Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative on May 29, 2024. The webinar focused on a collective call to action for the youth defense community to transform the juvenile legal system by centering youth and their constitutional rights to freedom, liberty, and equality. This…