Juvenile Justice Information Exchange | Juvenile Justice News for People Who Care About Children and the Law

Week in Review: Pleas for Asylum, Interviews with Inmates

By: Staff | October 17, 2014

This week in juvenile justice: "If you lock people up and don’t teach them something, it’s a lose/lose situation." — "There were things going on at Rikers that were pretty horrific, and one of them was the conditions in the adolescent jail." — Collateral consequence laws do not provide definitive results. And more ...

OP-ED: Can Reform Efforts Strengthen Justice System?

Because we work from the desire to create more just and less alienating ways of interacting, we often find ourselves worrying about our overall impact in complex situations. Above all we wish to avoid doing further harm, but that isn’t always easy to determine.

Collateral Consequence Laws: Harsh Add-Ons or Necessary Crime Deterrents?

The report states that about 70,000 people are released from prisons annually and roughly two-thirds are rearrested within three years of release.

Even when adult or juvenile inmates are freed, many remain shackled by laws that make it difficult for them to get welfare, vote, obtain a drivers license and find stable housing and employment. These laws are called collateral consequence laws — formal restrictions on a person following their conviction.

Looking Ahead: What Should OJJDP, Policymakers Do for Juvenile Justice?

Juvenile justice policy at the federal level is in a state of uncertainty right now.

More Headlines

The Interview: New Yorker’s Jennifer Gonnerman on Rikers

OP-ED: Police Still Getting Away With Murder

OP-ED: Ripple of Hope for Dual Status Youth

FEATURED

[Photos] Homeless After Class

While many university students were concerned about parking or trying to avoid long lines to get their books, Jalyn was trying to find a place to live. She and her family have been homeless since the summer of 2012. Some days she is able to eat twice a day, others only once. Her financial aid was put on hold because she has not been able to confirm a home address in Georgia.

In Their Own Words, Inmates Discuss the Riddle of Juvenile Justice

By: Yunjiao Amy Li | October 14, 2014

The John Howard Association of Illinois, an independent prison watchdog and justice reform advocate, recently published a report introducing ways to reform the criminal justice system for youth prosecuted for serious offenses. Continue Reading →

A Life-and-Death Struggle for Asylum in America

By: Susan Ferriss and Amy Isackson | October 13, 2014

At dusk in Los Angeles, Maria, 15, waits for word on her plea for asylum from extortion and gang threats in El Salvador.

To win asylum, or refugee status, even children have to go beyond simply proving that they’re being truthful about terrifying experiences. Continue Reading →

A Statistical Reality Check on Kids Crossing the Border

By: Susan Ferriss | October 13, 2014

410 minors applied for asylum in 2013. More then 1,500 applied during the first nine months of the 2014. Continue Reading →

Week in Review: Prison Reform, Homeless Students and Youth Employment

By: Staff | October 10, 2014

This week in juvenile justice: Louisiana’s prison reform efforts haven’t gone nearly far enough, according to people close to the system. In New York, officials from Rikers Island announced plans to eliminate such confinement for 16- and 17-year-old inmates. The difficult circumstances of two homeless KSU students are shown in the latest photo essay by JJIE's BOKEH. A report chronicles the journey of six young serious offenders through Illinois’ criminal justice system. Continue Reading →

OP-ED: Even Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect — And That’s OK

By: John Lash | October 10, 2014

It is often uncomfortable to be viewed as an “expert,” especially when you know more than anyone that you don’t have specific answers to their situation. Continue Reading →

Guns, Race and Children: Facing Up to the ‘Ugly Truth’

By: Katti Gray | October 10, 2014

“A mother who loses a child, in the end, is a mother just trying to heal—no matter where she comes from or what color her skin is,” said Sybrina Fulton, mother of the slain Florida teen for whom the foundation is named. Continue Reading →

Field Notes: ‘You are conscious, but you are not intelligent’

By: John Maki | October 9, 2014

The report: “In Their Own Words” chronicles the journey of six young serious offenders through Illinois’ criminal justice system, from arrest to incarceration.

Last week, the John Howard Association, Illinois' only nonpartisan prison watchdog and justice reform advocate, released “In Their Own Words, a report that chronicles the journey of six young serious offenders through Illinois’ criminal justice system, from arrest to incarceration. Continue Reading →

No Country for Young Men

By: Dana Goldstein | October 8, 2014

Kenneth “Honey” Rubenstein juvenile detention facility in Davis, West Virginia. The five-year old, $24 million facility sits on 50 acres and has a campground that residents can use under supervision.

West Virginia confines juveniles at a rate 42 percent higher than the nation, and has had the largest jump in youth incarceration since 2001. The state places offenders as young as 10 in facilities such as detention centers and group homes. Continue Reading →