Racial and Ethnic Disparities
From the Introduction, developed by the Association on American Indian Affairs: “This guide offers practical, real-world tips to help you work more effectively with Native youth involved in the justice system. It explains why working with Native Nations is not only important—but also different from working with other agencies or partners in your county or…
On June 26, 2026, Joshua Dankoff and Leon Smith from Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ) offered a training for the Gault Center’s New England Region on mapping and resisting local law enforcement collusion with ICE in Massachusetts and beyond. The training walked through CfJJ’s report that culminated from over 90 public records requests submitted to…
The California 5th District Court of Appeal held that the defense was entitled to discovery related to racial disparities in plea deals to voluntary manslaughter, finding that defense’s statistical evidence showing that Latine individuals in Kern County were more likely to be charged with murder and receive longer sentences than white individuals satisfied the “plausible…
This report by Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ) investigates the level of information sharing and collusion between police and courthouse staff with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Massachusetts. CfJJ filed more than 90 public records requests in the state and found that police and courthouse staff regularly share information with ICE, effectively becoming…
This report from the Sentencing Project provides an overview of restorative justice (‘RJ’) diversion programs including research on the results of these programs, the advantages of RJ diversion programming over court involvement, benefits to victims, and recommendations for implementing RJ programs. From the Executive Summary: “Restorative justice (RJ) diversion programs address adolescent lawbreaking outside the court system using a process designed to address victims’ needs and repair the harm caused by youth misconduct.…
Examines young people’s experiences on juvenile probation and the racialized history of juvenile probation in our country.
This one-pager from the Juvenile Law Center can be used as an educational tool for judges, policy makers, community members and other decision makers when talking about transfer to adult court. From the one-pager: “Policies that try children in the adult court system fail to consider the harms of youth transfer, the unique developmental characteristics…
“The modern American criminal justice system emerged not simply from Progressive-Era reform, but from the intertwined projects of eugenics, psychiatry, and legal modernism. Drawing upon archival, historical, and doctrinal sources, this Article reveals how early twentieth-century reformers—including judges, criminologists, and social scientists—recast criminal law as a mechanism for identifying and controlling hereditary “defect.” Under the…
“What makes a conviction wrongful? Developments in DNA science have led to a wave of exonerations over the past thirty years, revealing sources of error in the criminal legal process. Innocence organizations proliferated to represent people whose convictions could be overturned by newly discovered evidence. This is vital work for the individuals who are released…
From the Introduction of the report by the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law: “The paper proceeds as follows: • Part I describes current community supervision technologies, including location tracking, alcohol monitoring, and drug testing, and the reliability concerns with each. • Part II describes and compares the…
“Juvenile sex offender registration was never a natural fit for the youth justice system, but in the digital age, it has become deeply harmful. What began as a paper-based precaution has evolved into a sprawling digital regime that permanently brands adolescents at the most formative stage of life. This Article examines how technological change has…
This letter written and submitted to the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on behalf of the Gault Center, outlines its reasons for supporting Maryland Bill No. 323 (named the Youth Charging Reform Act), which would limit the types of cases eligible for automatic transfer to adult court. From the letter: “The Gault Center: Defenders of…
This sample motion argues for special discovery and dismissal and/or suppression based on a claim of selective prosecution in a jaywalking case. Highlighting local police data on racial disparities in jaywalking-related stops, this motion argues that police conduct had a discriminatory effect on Black youth in Cincinnati, in violation of their state and federal equal…
This supplemental memorandum is related to the sample motion to dismiss and/or suppress evidence based on selective prosecution, which argues for special discovery and dismissal and/or suppression based on a claim of selective prosecution in a jaywalking case. This supplemental memorandum outlines Ohio’s Equal Protection guarantee in the context of the impact of implicit racial…
This proposed draft of a legislative “findings and declarations” document for a youth detention and disposition reform bill in California affirms the legislature’s commitment to make placement in juvenile detention “the exception, not the rule.” The draft findings rely on research regarding the impact of detention on young people, racial justice, developmental science, and California…
The Supreme Court of Washington found a Miranda violation based on a totality of the circumstances analysis, which the Court noted must include consideration of race and age. The Court stated in relevant part: “The United States Supreme Court has established that in determining whether a suspect is in custody under Miranda, we must “‘examine…
The Fifth District Court of Appeal held that gang enhancements may form the basis of a petition for habeas relief and appointment of counsel under the state’s Racial Justice Act. The court stated in relevant part: “The present petition alleges racially disparate treatment, and it identifies the statutory subsections implicated as the basis for the…
The Ohio Department of Youth Services released a report capturing data on youth who were charged with firearm-related offenses as part of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). “According to 2024 data submitted by Ohio JDAI sites, there were a total of 866 admissions to detention for a firearm-related charge. The majority of admissions to…
This report from the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth provides a national overview of the progress states have made post-Montgomery in changing sentencing laws for young people in adult court facing life without parole and other lengthy sentences, and opportunities for continued legislative, legal and policy change. From the resource: Ten years ago, the…
This report, written by the Sentencing Project, highlights the harmful practice of direct file, or “auto-charging” youth in adult court. This national analysis looks at the practice of direct file and the pervasive harms that it has on the wellbeing and future thriving of young people and makes recommendations for states to limit pathways for…
This report, by The Sentencing Project, examines the changes in involvement of women and girls in the criminal and juvenile legal system over the past quarter century. The report includes data examining the rise of women and girls’ incarceration in jails, state and federal prisons, residential placement centers, as well as women under the control of the U.S. Corrections systems through probation or parole., This…
From the abstract: “This Note provides a general review of the current state of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), including Illinois state regulation and past federal regulation attempts. This Note asserts that even as datasets become more diverse and “fairer,” FRT may still have discriminatory impacts on minority populations, as evidenced by a few highlighted examples…
“Suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests: These exclusionary and overly punitive disciplinary responses disproportionately impact Black students and have become normalized throughout the nation. In reality, school pushout, or the disciplinary sanction of removing students from the classroom, contravenes the very purpose of public education to prepare children to engage as full citizens in our democratic…
In October 2025, the Gault Center convened over three hundred youth defense lawyers and advocates at our annual Youth Defender Leadership Summit. Together, we practiced the cultivation of community in service of building a more just, more liberated, and more human humanity for all children and for us all. This resource captures the shared learnings…
The Sentencing Project released an updated snapshot of the numbers of youth in the juvenile legal system from 2000 to 2023, finding significant declines in youth arrests and incarceration, though racial and ethnic disparities persist. The report calls for the need to continued shrinking the juvenile legal system by increasing informal or diversionary responses to youth arrests. Introduction: “Youth arrests and incarceration increased dramatically in the closing…
