Juvenile Justice

A new video has been released in which OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan describes the significance and necessity of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) in light of its 50th anniversary. Watch the video here.

From the office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention: “OJJDP is accepting applications for its Spring 2025 volunteer internship program for law students interested in the youth justice and child welfare fields. Interns will conduct legal research and analysis; gain insight into … Continued

The National Center for Juvenile Justice has released “Juvenile Court Statistics 2021.” This report describes delinquency and petitioned status offense cases handled in U.S. courts with jurisdiction over juvenile populations between 2005 and 2021. Access the report here.

The guide can be found here, with HTML and PDF downloads available.

The Sentencing Project released a report that finds a large portion of people sentenced to die in prison were emerging adults 25 and younger when sentenced to life without parole (LWOP), despite irrefutable evidence that their younger age contributes to … Continued

by The Annie E. Casey Foundation: https://www.aecf.org/blog/reviewing-the-evidence-how-youth-incarceration-undermines-public-safety Explains the issues with incarceration and the ways it affects a youth in their daily lives. Also discusses ways to reduce the incarnation of youths. Read the article HERE.

By Richard Mendel: The article argues that incarceration is ineffective in reducing crime and ineffective in reforming juveniles. List the reasons why incarceration does more harm to juveniles than reform as well as ways to tackle this issue. Read the … Continued

By metrostaff : The New Jersey Attorney General announced new strategies and programs to help interactions with juveniles and any youth that are likely to commit crime. This provides conversations on mental health, alternative ways to arrest a youth, role-playing … Continued

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The Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) released a new guide on authentic youth engagement through relationships with youth members. Youth Partnership: A Call to Action for State Advisory Groups highlights ways that State Advisory Groups can form new partnerships with youth, further … Continued

The Sentencing Project is pleased to share our new report, “Diversion: A Hidden Key to Combating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice,” available here: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/diversion-a-hidden-key-to-combating-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-juvenile-justice/ And please take a look at the early media coverage on the study from … Continued

Annually, over 53,000 youth are prosecuted and sentenced as adults in the United States, a practice that research has shown is tremendously harmful to young people and that undermines public safety. New Jersey law mandates that youth waived to the … Continued

Read the article HERE

The New Jersey Assembly passed S896/A2396, a bill to make public defender services free for youth under 18 – an issue highlighted in the Making Them Pay report by the Institute’s Camden Youth Council. Youth should never have to pay … Continued

Starcia Ague is helping make the world a better place with her activism and art. She is a true visionary who has made a career of lifting up others. The movement she started resulted in Washington State completely rethinking it’s … Continued

Today, the Center for American Progress released a new report examining the administration and state of educational supports for students in the juvenile justice system as well as what supports exist to help students transitioning out of detention. The report … Continued

The ACLU of New Jersey and its co-counsel Disability Rights Advocates and Proskauer Rose LLP filed a federal class action lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) and Department of Education (NJDOE) for failing to provide a free, … Continued

In 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture deemed the use of solitary confinement against youth and individuals with mental health disabilities as torture. READ ARTICLE

Our recent publication, “Police-Free Schools,” discusses jurisdictions across the country that have removed police from schools as well as some information regarding the advocacy that led to these wins and what resources have been put in place in the wake of … Continued

Hello & thank you for joining NJJN for our recent webinar: You can watch the replay on YouTube below. Got questions or want to stay in touch with NJJN? Sign up for our email list or reach out to us … Continued

https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Commentary-Arresting-young-children-is-cruel-16136996.php

2020 has been a year of pandemics, of uprisings, of tackling racism head on and planting seeds of transformation. To that end, we at NJJN aimed to cultivate content highlighting our members’ work across the country to deconstruct the systems … Continued

PREVENTION AND PRE-ARREST DIVERSION: AN NJJN POLICY PLATFORM INFORMED BY YOUNG JUSTICE LEADERS From the National Juvenile Justice Network. Read the document HERE

What is Black Lives Matter? Black Lives Matter is a global organization whose mission is to dismantle white supremacy and bring awareness and change into the local systems (ex. police) that continuously affect Black communities. The organization also focuses on … Continued

Open to parents, caregivers, and family of youth involved in the justice system interested in reforming the juvenile justice system in New Jersey. Registration is recommended, as food will be served. Learn More…

On October 1, YJAM (Youth Justice Action Month) begins again. Since 2008, youth justice advocates around the country have come together to organize events and online activities to raise awareness and inspire action on behalf of young people impacted by … Continued

WASHINGTON (April 17, 2019) — In an effort to identify alternatives to adult incarceration for youth, the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is learning from stakeholders across the country about their efforts to serve youth charged as adults across a continuum … Continued

By Erin DelmoreCorrespondent “Youth prisons are failing our children in this state, but particularly our children of color,” explained Andrea McChristian from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. If you take a look inside New Jersey’s juvenile justice system you’ll … Continued

View the attached file

WASHINGTON (Aug. 28, 2018) — With adult jails housing an increasing number of state prisoners, and the population within juvenile detention facilities shrinking, now is the time to reassess the way youth prosecuted as adults are incarcerated in America.  An overwhelming … Continued

NJPC New Jersey Youth Justice Initiative (NJYJI) is a grassroots family and youth-driven justice program, which seeks to improve outcomes for justice-involved youth and ensure leadership opportunities for youth and family members on all levels of decision making. NJYJI represents … Continued

By Jamal Lewis, New Jersey Parents’ Caucus “Am I going to die in prison?”  I was arrested and charged with committing my offenses at the age of 16. I was transferred into the adult criminal justice system at the age … Continued

Office of Justice Programs sent this bulletin at 07/30/2018 08:00 AM EDT NEW GUIDE PREPARES JUVENILE OFFENDERS FOR REENTRY WASHINGTON – The Office of Justice Programs’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention today released Reentry Starts Here: A Guide … Continued

In 2017, NJJN members were at the forefront of advancing major youth justice reforms in states and localities around the country. In this snapshot, we highlight a sampling of primarily legislative initiatives that were signed into law in 2017 and … Continued

It happened in New Jersey and is happening in Contra Costa County, in the San Francisco Bay Area. A class action lawsuit was filed in August 2013 by Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates, on behalf of a teenage girl and two … Continued

Dr. Peter Langman offers a website and free public resource containing over 400 documents (totaling about 57,000 pages) relating to school shootings, school shooters and the prevention of rampage attacks HERE.

OVC is pleased to announce the release of the 2017 National Crime Victims Rights Week (NCVRW) Resource Guide. NCVRW will be commemorated April 28, 2017, and the resource guide promotes this year’s theme, ”Strength. Resilience. Justice.The Guide provides all the materials … Continued

WASHINGTON (May 6, 2013) – Today the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ), an advocacy organization dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system, released a new report, Family Comes … Continued

NJPC Youth Coalition Member D.M. writes about his life in New Jersey’s mental health, child welfare and juvenile justice system. Read the entire article HERE.

WASHINGTON – Most states continue to house youth in adult prisons, putting them at risk for physical and sexual abuse, says a new report. But as the number of youth in both juvenile and adult facilities decrease, states have the … Continued

States that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act have unprecedented opportunities to connect adults released from prison or jail with needed physical and behavioral health services and social supports. This population – disproportionately male, minority, and poor – … Continued

This issue brief highlights the key findings of a national survey conducted in partnership with the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators of all 50 state agencies, to better understand the extent states are currently providing incarcerated youth with access to … Continued

he Bill will raise the age of adult court waiver, eliminate disciplinary confinement in the juvenile justice system, and ensure due process before youth can be transferred from juvenile to adult facilities. Read more HERE.

Watch the video

An Update on Nationwide Juvenile Justice Reforms to Protect Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System In New Jersey, the Governor recently signed Senate Bill 2003. This bill includes numerous provisions that drastically improve juvenile justice in New Jersey. First, this … Continued

This legislation was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin. Among other provisions, it would: end juvenile life without parole in the federal justice system by … Continued

A special education student, Jennings qualified for extra help in school. Those services should have carried over to the justice system, but Jennings said he never even attended class while in jail. Now 20, he is still unable to read … Continued

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill that aims to strengthen protections for youth who enter the criminal justice system cleared a key congressional committee today. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved by voice vote the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization … Continued

Fellowship Develops Emerging Professionals of Color in Juvenile Justice Reform (Elizabeth, N.J) Kathy Wright, Executive Director of the New Jersey Parent’s Caucus, has been chosen to be a fellow in the Youth Justice Leadership Institute. The Institute is a prestigious … Continued

What are some areas where youth justice advocates can work with law enforcement leaders to increase fairness and promote “Engaging Law Enforcement on Youth Justice Reform,” which focuses on some of the best starting points for collaborative work on reform. NOTE: … Continued

Experienced lawyers thought Christene Wood was out of her mind when she mounted an appellate challenge to a juvenile certification decision—a process that allows children as young as 14 to be tried as adults for felony offenses. Read more:

Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced a bill that aims to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), our country’s broadest federal juvenile justice law. The measure, which was first enacted 40 years ago–and … Continued

Mentally Ill juvenile was kept in isolation for at least 178 of the 225 days he was in the custody of the justice commission, the suit claimed. At one point, he was locked in his cell for 22 consecutive days, … Continued

Education programs in juvenile justice systems across the United States are not providing incarcerated youth with the skills and education they need to reenter school and society, a report from the Southern Education Foundation finds. The report,Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform … Continued

Youth, family and juvenile justice advocates endorse reintroduction of bill to support states efforts to improve their juvenile justice systems, protect kids, and build safer communities WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 30, 2015) – Juvenile justice advocates across the country applaud Senator Charles … Continued

Our view: Congress can begin to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by approving the Youth Promise Act this year 3:36 p.m. EDT, July 11, 2014 For far too many young people who get caught up in the criminal justice system, an … Continued

Download the 34 page package with detailed instructions from the New Jersey Judiciary “How to Expunge Your Criminal and/or Juvenile Record” HERE.

Identifying youth prisons as “inhumane, ineffective, wasteful factories of failure,” Annie E. Casey Foundation President and CEO Patrick McCarthy calls for the closing of these institutions. During a recent TEDx talk to an audience of governors and legislators, McCarthy pledged … Continued

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, lists juvenile justice among his top legislative priorities, heartening juvenile justice advocates. Beth Levine, Grassley’s press secretary, told JJIE Tuesday that he considered juvenile justice one of several … Continued

The Fall 2013 issue of “Journal of Juvenile Justice” features articles that focus on early diversion and assessment to screen youth out of the juvenile justice system, the lack of research on teen courts and recidivism, the effectiveness of intervention programs and … Continued

One night in Match 2013, a 17-year-old named Kenny was walking with a friend through farm country in Reilly Township, Ohio. The boys had been drinking and were checking car doors in the hope of finding a little money when … Continued

In 1987, 21-year-old Paul Wright entered a maximum-security prison in Washington state for first-degree murder. Wright, then a military police officer, was incarcerated after he attempted to rob a cocaine dealer by the name of Curtis Smith. During the hold-up, … Continued

The report offers first-of-its kind analysis that details how the juvenile justice system does more to feed the nation’s vast prison system than to deter or redirect young people from system involvement; and demonstrates the incredible damage the system causes … Continued

In July 2013, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) released content from four listening sessions conducted throughout 2011 with families who had direct contact with the juvenile justice system. The report relays key comments and highlights from … Continued

In a new publication, the Juvenile Law Center shares its findings that the vast majority of states are failing to protec highly sensitive information contained in juvenile court records, creating barriers to education, employment and success for American youth. Failed Policies, … Continued