Savannah gun violence: close-up of male hands aiming a black, semi-automatic gun off-camera to right of image

Touristy Savannah’s anti-gun violence campaign launches in fits and starts, with parents of the dead taking the lead

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“It is an act of senseless violence that puts innocent families and children in danger,” said Savannah Police Chief Roy Minter, at a press conference about the two 20-somethings murdered and the six others left with wounds that weren’t life-threatening. Savannah’s gun violence has soared, according to WTOC-TV’s May 2021 analysis of Savannah Police Department data, to its highest recent level since 2016.

Savannah gun violence: Neighborhood folks gather at outdoor display tables with items for sale and a large sign with red and black text

Researcher: Trauma and grief-fueled resilience among those who lose someone to gun violence hasn’t been adequately examined

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It’s not uncommon for those traumatized by gun violence to project what outsiders might view as a kind of superwoman or superman persona — one that can melt away at any given moment — whose complexities may not be fully understood. Those who fund scientific research largely have not seen fit to examine the toll on families devastated by gun-violence deaths.

youth justice disabled people legal guardianship: illustration of an antique 2-sided scale with colorful pastel cloud background

Opinion: Vulnerable youth need justice, and legal aid needs community

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Everyone deserves access to justice. Eight years ago, I took a chance that the community would show up to support legal services – and justice – for vulnerable kids and young adults. 

I’ll never forget the first client who walked through our doors or any of the clients I’ve represented. As I step down from leading Arizona Legal Women and Youth Services (ALWAYS) and turn the reins over to a brilliant successor, I can’t help but reflect on all that I’ve learned, felt, and hoped during my time running a legal aid center. At ALWAYS, we serve human trafficking survivors and children and young adults affected by homelessness, abuse, and the foster care system. With the exception of trafficking survivors, everyone we serve is 24 years old or younger.

COVID-19 analysis: Juveniles were restrained less; a fraction of parents didn’t know how to contact incarcerated children as in-person visits slowed during pandemic

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Fewer juveniles were placed in restraints and more reported that they’ve had positives dealings with staffers at juvenile agencies, according to April 2021 data voluntarily submitted by 148 pre-trial and other short-term detention facilities, longer-term correctional facilities, assessment and in-community residential programs in 32 states. Released in August by the Performance-based Standards Learning Institute, partnering with Vera Institute, the snapshots of data gauge COVID-19’s impact on  juveniles in those states and on their families who, with in-person visits banned during he pandemic, had to find other ways to connect.

JJIE Hub Latest Resources::Weathered Stone Slabs With the Words "Juvenile Court Entrance" Engraved

Latest on the JJIE Hub: Sept 2021

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Juvenile Justice Resource Hub curates research on juvenile justice policy and practice, reviews of innovative programs and various other explorations and advisories on topics including justice reform, mental and behavioral health, gun violence, foster care, racial and economic parity/disparities. 

California Study: black youth injured during police encounters at greater rates than others: police officer holding nightstick against neck of Black youth during arrest

California Study: Blacks were 19% of youth injured during police encounters; their injury risks were as much as 6.7 times higher than that of whites

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A University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health analyzed 13 years’ worth of hospital records for almost 16,000 patients aged 19 and younger, starting roughly in 2013. Black girls in those reports were injured more often than any group other than Black boys. Whites had the lowest injury rates among all races of youth, according to the analysis, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Pediatrics.

rethinking juvenile justice and schools report: chalkboard graphic of student walking towards justice building instead of school

Council of State Governments re-issues guidance to help probation offices and educators avoid over-penalizing juveniles for truancy alone

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Based on a September 2020 analysis finding that South Carolina schools in 2018 referred almost 61,000 students to juvenile courts solely for being excessively absent from school, the Council on State Governments Justice Center recently re-issued guidance for changing juvenile probation protocols that aim to improve the students' educational prospects and classroom attendance.

Juvenile crime statistics: Foot in black tennis shoe and white socks with silver metal restraining chain

Juvenile cases in 2019 dropped to the lowest level in last 14 years, federal data show

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Juvenile offenses involving property, drug and public order offenses, combined, declined in 2019 to their lowest levels since 2005, according to recently released National Center on Juvenile Justice data also showing that probation, rather than detention, increasingly was assigned in five categories of juvenile crime.