News & Blog Posts
10 Things I’m Thankful for as a Youth Defender
by Kristina “KK” Kersey, Sr. Youth Defense Counsel Several Thanksgivings ago, perhaps fueled by too many Hallmark movies, I suggested we go around the table and say what we were thankful for. I was feeling misty-eyed, Norman Rockwell, The Best Man Thanksgiving vibes until…
Tales from the Gault: 10 of the Scariest Things about the Juvenile Legal System
by Kristina “KK” Kersey, Sr. Youth Defense Counsel When I was in high school a group of friends and I went to track down “Hookerman” on some abandoned train tracks in Northwest New Jersey. The story was that a train conductor lost his hand…
Back to (Defending Youth in) School
by Kristina “KK” Kersey, Sr. Youth Defense Counsel I always loved back to school. It was a time of Lisa Frank, Trapper Keeper, and weirdly attractively smelling erasers. Teachers, the Dow Jones of school supplies, forecasted how many pencils I would need. Back…
10 Things States Got Right in Youth Defense
by Kristina “KK” Kersey, Sr. Youth Defense Counsel Some people collect shot glasses or magnets from their travels. Me, I collect enviable local youth defense jurisprudence. *Due to Covid restrictions, these states were visited via Zoom. Washington Despite what my research—reading Twilight…
Keeping up with the Joneses: 10 Things I Kinda Maybe Don’t Hate About Jones
by Kristina “KK” Kersey, Sr. Youth Defense Counsel When I first read Jones,2 I said a bad word. Now, this isn’t what we in the biz would call aberrant behavior, as I am from New Jersey. However, really, Kavanaugh?! It is hard to…
