What to Expect When Attending Juvenile Court: Practical Guidance for Immigrant Youth and Families Interacting with the Juvenile Justice System

This resource from Citizens for Juvenile Justice offers practical guidance for immigrant youth and families interacting with the juvenile legal system.

From the resource:

“A young person learning that they are being summoned to appear in juvenile court can be stressful. This is especially the case when a young person is from an immigrant background, as court involvement can carry any number of collateral consequences that can have a significant impact on that young person’s present and future outcomes. This includes the possibility of detention, deportation or permanent barriers to gaining lawful status in the United States for youth from immigrant backgrounds, especially those who are undocumented. This document provides an overview of the juvenile court’s delinquency process and factors that a youth and their parent or guardian should consider while navigating the juvenile court process in order to, as much as possible, mitigate the possibility of harmful consequences that could result from court contact.”