The National Institute of Justice issued five key findings from research and data on youth and delinquency. The findings include: 1) risk-taking behaviors are a normal part of adolescent development; 2) risky behaviors increase through adolescence and then decline over time as youth mature; 3) few youth are arrested for any crime, and even fewer…
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…
This User Guide provides advocates with a step-by-step outline of how to actualize the vision of the National Youth Defense System Standards to equip and invest in youth defense teams to fight for the liberation of all youth. The User Guide outlines constitutional rights detailed in the System Standards, provides a checklist to assess the…
No. 3:22-cv-00573 (M.D. La. 2023). The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in a civil lawsuit addressing the constitutional rights of youth who had been adjudicated delinquent and transferred to the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s former death row building, known as Angola. In their statement, the United States asserted that youth are particularly…
Off. for Access to Just., U.S. Dep’t of Just. (2023). The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice issued this report as a follow up on the department’s Fines and Fees Dear Colleague letter. The report spotlights jurisdictions that have eliminated fines and fees for youth and adults through various mechanisms and highlights…
Outlines steps that states must take to comply with the minimum requirements of the U.S. Constitution to protect the rights of youth facing deprivations of liberty.
