The Campaign for Youth Justice has issued a policy survey report, Removing Youth from Adult Jails: A 50-State Scan of Pretrial Detention Laws for Youth Transferred to the Adult System, which highlights state readiness to remove children under age 18 from adult jails. The brief was released in response to the passage of the JuvenileRead More

Marcy Mistrett and Naomi Smoot write in the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange about the broad range of changes contained in the JJDPA Reauthorization, and the resulting critical need for support to states as implementation begins. They call on the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to partner with states to ensure that adequateRead More

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice have rescinded the Federal School Discipline Guidance. The action was taken four days after the Federal Commission on School Safety released recommendations that called for the removal of the critical civil rights guidance, and also made recommendations to arm school staff and “harden” schools. Click here to readRead More

16 Years Since Last Authorization On December 13, 2018, Congress passed H.R. 6964 with broad bipartisan support, and the President signed the bill into law the following week. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, first passed in 1974, was last reauthorized in 2002 and expired in 2007. In the interim, the Office of JuvenileRead More

By Annie Waldman for ProPublica ProPublica’s analysis shows that the Trump administration is less likely than its predecessor to find wrongdoing by school districts on issues ranging from racial and sexual harassment to meeting educational needs of disabled students. Click here to read the story.

The Missouri legislature has voted to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction from 17 to 18. That leaves only 4 states – Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and Wisconsin — that still try all 17-year-olds as adults. The bill now goes to the Governor for signature. Click here to read more from the Missouri Raise The AgeRead More

With the recent closing of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, Connecticut has become the first state in the country to completely eliminate the youth prison model. Congratulations to the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance for their years of advocacy work, and a special shout out to the Tow Foundation, whose dedicated partnership contributed to this historicRead More

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded the Department of Justice’s critical guidance on the use of costs, fines and fees for youth in the juvenile justice system. The guidance, which clarified existing law, was written by the Justice Department’s Office for Access to Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and Office for Civil Rights under theRead More

The Campaign for Youth Justice has released a new report, Raising the Bar: State Trends in Keeping Youth Out of Adult Courts. This is CFYJ’s fourth state trends report, covering legislative victories from January 2015 through August 2017. Click here to access the report.

By Justin George for The Marshall Project A rundown of the nine ways Trump has upended the criminal justice landscape during his first year in office, from rejuvenating the War on Drugs to remaking the U.S. court system. A short postscript highlights numerous efforts to continue reforms at the state level. Click here to readRead More