The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/juvenile-justice/)
Florida and eleven other states still allow prosecutors to file juvenile crime cases directly in adult courts. Critics say the practice disproportionately affects minorities.
A strengthened federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is overdue for approval by Congress, say Vincent Schiraldi of Harvard’s Kennedy School and Marc Schindler of the Justice Policy Institute. They urge a conference committee to close a loophole involving “status offenders.”
A federal law giving funds to states for juvenile justice reform hasn’t been reauthorized since 2002. Now, it finally goes to a Senate-House conference committee.
The U.S. Supreme Court said states must review the rehabilitation progress of juvenile lifers. But an AP investigation shows the process has bogged down in many states.
President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are skeptical of federal involvement in local law enforcement matters. Sessions has signaled he will cut back on investigations of discrimination or excessive force by local police and courts. If local officials are so alarmed by Sessions, Shelby County Mayor Luttrell said, it only makes sense the oversight responsibility should be handled locally, not by people in Washington, D.C.
A redesigned New York City program aimed at helping at-risk youth learn work ethics and job skills while performing community service in their neighborhoods helped divert hundreds of young people from further involvement in the justice system, says a report released June 28.
Following U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Pennsylvania’s top court says there is a presumption against life-without-parole sentences for juveniles.
To mark Father’s Day on Sunday, The Beat Within, a San Francisco-based prison writing workshop, asked inmates of juvenile detention facilities to “write the letter you always wanted (or maybe never wanted) to write” to their Dads. Here’s a first sampling of the letters they produced.
Despite U.S. Supreme Court rulings, nearly three dozen inmates in Colorado are behind bars for terms of 50 years or more. Critics say the high court may have to consider the issue again.
New York City ‘violence interruptors’ now use social media to intervene when online conflicts threaten to spill over into violence. Mike Perry and Samuel Jackson tell Crime Report editor Stephen Handelman how they do it in the latest episode of “Criminal Justice Matters.”