Marie N. Williams, Author at Juvenile Justice Information ExchangeJuvenile Justice Information Exchange

girls and women: Sad teenage girl looking thoughtful leaning head against wall

Measuring the Wrong Things: Incarcerated Girls Are Not ‘Statistically Insignificant’

By Marie N. Williams | May 22, 2019

Last month the Stoneleigh Foundation and the Maternity Care Coalition held a policy forum intended to highlight the extent to which the U.S. overincarceration crisis is defined in terms of boys and men, often giving short shrift to the plight of justice-involved girls and women. The plenary sessions and workshops challenged attendees to think about how practice and policy might be altered to better serve women and girls.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA downtown city skyline

Philadelphia Demonstrates That Lasting Change in Juvenile Justice Will Be Incremental

By Marie N. Williams | March 1, 2019

On Feb. 6, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner unveiled his office’s new policies to further reduce the number of children sent to juvenile placement in the city. Flanked by nationally recognized advocates from the Juvenile Law Center and City Councilwoman Helen Gym, who herself recently...

electronic monitoring: Home arrest, prisoner is monitored by electronic device on ankle and foot, vector illustration.

Electronic Monitoring Is Neither Effective Nor Humane

By Marie N. Williams | November 19, 2018

In the 1960s, when electronic monitoring (EM) was developed by Robert and Kirk Gable at Harvard University, Robert Gable says they envisioned it as a way to monitor juvenile offenders and “to give rewards to [them] when they were where they were supposed to be …

ballot measure: Magnifying Glass and document close up

Most Juvenile Justice Reforms Happened at State Level This Election

By Marie N. Williams | November 9, 2018

Tuesday evening’s midterm elections were among the most closely watched in recent memory, in large part because of its potential implications at the national level. And there was certainly plenty of news there, but perhaps the bigger, untold story is what happened in the states. Some of the results may indicate a more progressive and comprehensive approach to justice and related issues.

community-based programs: Sad teenager boy worried looking through window

Can We Improve Outcomes for Justice-involved Youth by Keeping Them Closer to Home?

By Marie N. Williams | September 17, 2018

Everyone who has ever watched a movie, read popular crime fiction or who has even a layperson’s knowledge of the criminal justice system has probably heard the phrase “being sent up the river.” Its origin is a reference to Sing Sing Prison, north of New York City on the Hudson River.

Philadelphia Taking Big Step Into New Era of Prosecutorial Progressivism

By Marie N. Williams | March 1, 2018

It isn’t often that a district attorney’s race draws as much national attention as the one in Philadelphia did last fall. While much of the country was bemoaning the new national rhetoric that indicated a sharp departure from America’s centrist values on crime and punishment, Philadelphia was singing a different tune.

Seven people, both male and female, white and people of color, sit around white table talking. Another building can be seen via large window.

Youth Who Help Reformers Must Be Treated As Partners, Not Tokens

By Marie N. Williams | January 2, 2018

Policymakers, practitioners and advocates seeking to improve the juvenile justice system have increasingly acted on calls from youth and their families to make “no decisions about us, without us.”

Role of Law Enforcement in Our Schools Can Be Supportive, Benign

By Marie N. Williams | September 1, 2017

As fall rolls around, parents and young people are preparing for a new school year. So too are teachers, school administrators and, in many places, school-based police officers and school resource...

Why Immigration Policy Should Matter to Youth-Serving Systems

By Marie N. Williams | August 9, 2017

Immigration policy, once thought of as almost purely a federal government issue has, in the past several years, become one of increasingly local concern. During the 2016 presidential election cycle...

Start Small: The Key to a More Gender-Responsive Juvenile Justice System

By Marie N. Williams | April 3, 2017

Attorneys often lack the training or tools to apply a trauma-informed and gender-specific approach to case investigation and sentencing advocacy for young female clients. As a result, courts may not receive critical information they need to make informed, and potentially mitigated, sentencing decisions.