Shaping Tomorrow: The Next 50 Years of JJDPA
How the JJDPA Changed Youth Justice in States
Five Things About Youth and Delinquency
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…
Read MoreMathis v. United States Parole Commission – Court Decision
From the memorandum opinion: “Two men on lifetime parole claim they face disability discrimination from two federal agencies that supervise them. So these men, William Mathis and Kennedy Davis (together, “the Parolees”), now sue those federal agencies, the U.S. Parole Commission and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, and the heads of those agencies…
Read MoreBrief of Amici Curiae of Williams Institute Scholars in Support of Petitioner and Respondents in Support of Petitioner
Brief of The Trevor Project, Juvenile Law Center, and National Center for Youth Law as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner and Respondents in Support of Petitioner
Ten is Too Young: South Dakota’s Need for a Legislative Amendment Raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility to Fourteen
From the abstract: “South Dakota, like many other states, allows young children to be introduced to the criminal justice system at a very young age. Although South Dakota originally focused on managing children’s misbehavior, the law has evolved in a way that punishes kids for being kids. Despite recent reforms to handle juvenile delinquency in…
Read MoreFlorida – Only Young Once: The Systemic Harm of Florida’s School-to-Prison Pipeline and Youth Legal System
Florida routinely pushes Black children out of schools and into a legal system with well-documented harms. In recent years, the state has made significant investments in school law enforcement and self-proclaimed “tough love” youth legal system policies, purportedly in the name of public safety. However, these investments have yielded a system that disparately disciplines, arrests,…
Read MoreIn Deep Trouble: Surfacing Tech – Powered Sexual Harassment in K-12 Schools
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) released a report on the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on students in schools. CDT surveyed students, teachers, and parents to understand the prevalence of deepfakes and related issues in K-12 schools. The report offers an overview of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), the impact of current responses…
Read More[Connecticut] Manson Youth Institution: Settlement Agreement
On August 29, 2024, the DOJ and the Connecticut Department of Correction entered into a settlement agreement with the following goals: “(1) ensure that children at Manson are not subjected to prolonged and improper isolation; (2) ensure that children at Manson receive appropriate mental health care; and (3) ensure that children at Manson receive appropriate…
Read MoreYouth Justice By The Numbers
The Sentencing Project released an updated snapshot of youth arrest and incarceration rates, revealing that youth arrest rates have declined 80% from 1996 and youth incarceration declined 75% between 2000 and 2022. Despite these shrinking rates, the juvenile legal system is still marked by significant racial and ethnic disparities. Black youth are 4.7 times more…
Read MoreJuvenile Sex Offender Registry Affidavit of Patricia Coffey, Ph.D., and Odile Rodrik, M.S.
This affidavit compiles key research on adolescent brain development and the harms of juvenile sex offense registration and concludes that young people should not be placed on sex offender registries. Specifically, this affidavit highlights research showing that registration requirements are ineffective in keeping communities safe and lowering recidivism rates, in addition to research demonstrating that…
Read MoreStill Cruel and Unusual: Extreme Sentences for Youth and Emerging Adults
The evidence provided in this brief supports bold reforms for youth and emerging adults sentenced to extreme punishments.
Read MoreABA Resolution 517 on Police Questioning of Youth
The American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution urging all governmental authorities to enact laws and policies prohibiting police from utilizing deceptive practices during youth interrogations. Relying on adolescent development research and recognizing the inherent vulnerabilities of youth during police interrogations, the ABA outlines that “it is beyond dispute that interrogations of adolescents by law…
Read MoreSafe Havens II Interactive Report
State v. Fletcher, 555 P.3d 1046 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024)
Policing and Punishing Childhood
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…
Read MoreLGBTQIA+ Youth Rights and Issues
From the introduction: “This Article discusses the myriad challenges lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQIA+) youth face in the United States (U.S.). The Article focuses on issues LGBTQIA+ (the “plus” holds space for other sexual identities not represented within the acronym) youth confront in school as well as the issues faced by families with…
Read MoreBrief: Charting U.S. Minimum Ages of Jurisdiction, Detention, and Commitment
Reimagining Reform: Strategies for Sustainable Change in the Texas Youth Justice System
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…
Read MoreIncarceration & Crime: A Weak Relationship
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…
Read MoreResilience and Community Care Toolkit
Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach
Razing and Rebuilding Delinquency Courts: Demolishing the Flawed Philosophical Foundation of Parens Patriae
2023 Youth Policy Advances
The National Youth Justice Network released a report detailing legislative trends on youth rights from 2023. This report highlights key gains made by several states around juvenile court fines and fees, expungement, transfer, and youth interrogation among other issues, and flags several regressive legislative trends rooted in harmful narratives about young people. This overview of…
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