CA juvenile system: Multicolored illustration of around 25 yung faces behind vertical bars

Opinion: A Case for Better Funding of California’s Community Alternatives to Juvenile Detention and Probation

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Supporters of the juvenile justice status quo wrongly claim that community-based organizations are not yet strong enough to serve all youth who may otherwise cycle through juvenile courts, detention centers and on and off parole rosters. Ideally, opponents to reform say, youth would be served by nonprofits close to home, but that cannot happen until enough suitable nonprofits are available. This line of thinking ignores the community-based direct services already offered in many areas, from life coaching in Oakland to legal support in Los Angeles. Failing to adequately support these existing community services keeps us stuck in a cycle of waiting. Instead of waiting for community-based organizations to grow above and beyond their present capacities, how about we actually do the work required for their growth?

Immigrant children left at border: Woman with long, dark hair in red top sits at table crying with hands folded on table.

Watchdog: US Forced Deported Parents to Leave Kids Behind

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog says the Trump administration, under its practice of separating families at the border, forced migrant parents to leave the U.S. without their children, contradicting claims by officials that parents were willingly leaving them behind. 

NY mental health school budget cuts: Ypung, dark-haired girl in light blue shirt wearing mask, sits at desk with head on arms

Mental Health Cuts in Poorest New York City Schools Amid Pandemic

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As the pandemic raged across New York City in spring 2020, Jose Rivera trekked from the Bronx to Coney Island, Brooklyn to Far Rockaway, Queens, dropping off 100 computer tablets and dozens of food vouchers to public school students, including undocumented Yemenis and Bangladeshis and their families. 

South Carolina's juvenile prisons director: Sitting wearing dark suit, white shirt and glasses, South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Director Freddie Pough testifies in front of state lawmakers in Columbia, S.C.

Lawmakers Grill South Carolina’s Juvenile Prisons Director

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina legislators are pushing to replace the director of the state’s embattled juvenile prisons, who stumbled through more than three hours of questioning last week.

New Mexico Second Chance Law Fails: New Mexico State Capitol tan adobe building front exterior, Santa Fe, NM

Ban On Juvenile Life Without Parole Fails In New Mexico

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A bill that would have prohibited life sentences and mandated earlier probation eligibility for juveniles has failed to become law in New Mexico, exposing deep rifts between those seeking judicial reform and victim advocates. 

Teen Life Sentence Unjust: Life Without Parole text overlay on white hallway lined with barred prison cells

Opinion: High Court’s Recent Juvenile Lifer Ruling is Barbaric

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The U.S. Supreme Court last month affirmed that lifetime imprisonment without the possibility of parole is just punishment for Brett Jones, who was convicted in 2005 of murdering his grandfather, a tragedy that the then 15-year-old said was an act of self-defense. 

lawyers for juveniles trained for racial justice trials: officer arresting a 14 year-old black boy

Opinion: Lawyers for Juveniles Trained in Racial Justice Trials

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In my 15 years of working with youth who cycle through the criminal justice system — initially as a social worker and, now, as a lawyer — I’ve represented exactly two white clients. Mainly, my clients have been Latinx kids and Black kids like that one whose tragic story I’ve partly shared. Too often, Black and Latinx kids aren’t granted the same allowances, including diversion from incarceration, that are given to white youth deemed guilty of the very same infractions. 

Part of the solution lies in projects such as Ambassadors for Racial Justice, which trains juvenile defenders across the nation on how to combat systemic racism through case advocacy, community activism and legislation. Georgetown Law Professor Kristin Henning launched the program and National Juvenile Defender Center Executive Director Mary Ann Scali has been a driving force in its development; both of have been battling racial inequities in the juvenile legal system for more than 25 years.

COVID19 Analysis-Record high blacks and low of white in juvenile facilities

Covid-19 Analysis: Record High of Blacks, Low of Whites in Juvenile Facilities

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The tally of Black youth detained in juvenile facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic reached a record high last January, while the same count for white youth was the second lowest since the Annie E. Casey Foundation started tracking that data. The foundation’s most recent monthly analysis showed that, as of Feb. 1, whites had spent less time in detention than Blacks, who also were incarcerated for longer periods than they’d been detained before the pandemic started. Aimed at measuring the pandemic’s impact on 144 juvenile justice systems across 33 states, the Casey Foundation survey started in March 2020. 

By its most recent count, during January 2021, there was a:

6% decline in the population of non-Latinx white youth in juvenile detention. 2% uptick in the population of Latinx youth in juvenile detention.

racial equity youth probation: graphic of gavel of juvenile justice and scales of justice

Opinion: Analysts Propose Racial Equity in Youth Probation

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In 2018, about 6 out of 10 youth found guilty of an offense – more than 130,000 young people nationally — were placed on probation. Black youth have continued to be overrepresented among youth on probation, and at every point in the justice system. Structural racism drives harsher treatment of Black youth, who are more likely than white youth to be arrested, incarcerated, placed on probation and, when they don’t meet the terms of probation, plunged deeper into the criminal justice system. What’s the result? Black youth comprised just 14 percent of the general population, but 36 percent of youth on probation and 41 percent of incarcerated youth. 

To help probation departments reduce the scope of probation, especially for Black youth, we just released a new, research-informed framework.

wi-fi Homeless shelters: Teen boy in mask wearing dark hoodie sits at table facing open laptop

Court: New York City Must Give All Homeless Shelters Wi-Fi

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New York City must finish installing Wi-Fi in shelters for homeless families and domestic violence victims by Aug. 31, according to a settlement reached this week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The order will benefit more than 11,000 homeless children living in some of the 240 family shelters across the city’s five boroughs -- which count a total of 110,000 homeless students -- who’ve struggled with remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.