fees and fines: Man with gray hair counts dollars and coins at table

Moratorium on Juvenile Court Fees and Fines Can Ease Family Burdens During COVID-19

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As the COVID-19 pandemic explodes into a full-blown public health and economic crisis, states around the country are beginning to recognize that now is not the time to assess and collect fees and fines in the criminal legal system. These emergency reforms are win-win: Families keep the money they need for daily survival, and criminal courts free up their time and attention to concentrate on more pressing issues.

COVID-19: Boy on skateboard on basketball court

Isolated in a Harlem Youth Shelter: One Youth’s Tale of COVID-19

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First, it was just a headache. A migraine burrowing into his forehead, one that heated and cooled his body, made the room spin a little. But he didn’t usually have migraines. The dizziness and the onset of nausea felt wrong. Like they could be something more. On the outer edges of New York City, as the sound of sirens had started to become more frequent, a troubling thought came to his mind.

Connecticut Advocates Worried About Youth in Adult System ‘Vulnerable’ to COVID-19

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The public won’t know their names, their ages nor why they were behind bars. They won’t hear their interaction with the person whose job is to check them for symptoms weekly. Nor will they hear the thoughts running through their minds as they sit in their cell, isolated from the unprecedented chaos outside.

collaborate: Sad teenager girl in medical mask behind bars.

Pandemic Is Chance For Leaders to Collaborate on Transforming Youth Justice

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From Louisiana to New York, juvenile detention centers are reporting more staff and children testing positive for COVID-19. Incarcerated youth are extremely vulnerable to infection. We know these numbers will only continue to get worse unless youth justice systems act immediately. Releasing youth from locked facilities where social distancing is impossible or avoiding sending them there in the first place is critical. This is why even those of us who have experience running such facilities are calling for action.

solitary: Man in car marked NJJJC looks out the open front left window.

COVID-19 Isolation for Youths Raises Concerns in New Jersey

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On July 11, 2019, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy used the power of his pen to seize a unique political opportunity: putting his signature on one of the most ground-breaking laws in the country limiting the use of solitary confinement for juveniles.

doctors: A teenager with a ponytail on his head, wearing a medical mask, sits and uses a mobile phone. Horizontal bars in the background.

Doctors Call for Releasing Youth from Secure Custody During COVID-19 Crisis

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Across the world, we are all racing to save the most vulnerable in our societies from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, however, we are leaving some of our children trapped with nowhere to turn, nowhere to run.

juvenile justice staff: a young woman in a prison cell

Staff, Youth at Enormous Risk of COVID-19 in Correctional Facilities

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(This column is dedicated to the memory of Paul DeMuro, who passed earlier this week from a non-COVID-19 related illness. Paul was a longtime leader and mentor to so many in the work to reduce incarceration and improve the lives of young people and families in the justice system.)

On April 1, Kenneth Moore, a youth development representative at Washington, D.C.’s juvenile justice agency died of COVID-19. Kenneth was the first correctional officer in the nation to succumb to the virus. Today, many more staff and youth inside correctional facilities are sick and dying. I had the privilege of helping lead the District’s juvenile justice agency, the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), between 2005 and 2010.