Juvenile Justice

A former youth social worker reckons with her involvement in an institution that often does irreparable harm to the children it is supposed to help.

At 15, Shane Kendall, an autistic child with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and intellectual impairment, allegedly fatally shot his mother. Despite Kendall’s disabilities, prosecutors charged him, as an adult, with murder. Before he turned 19, he died at the Fulton County Jail.

Poor educational opportunities in youth prisons lead to reduced earnings and increased unemployment later in life.

The third installment in The Imprint’s series on the fight to close California’s youth prisons.

Youth in solitary confinement wrote letters to save their lives. One lawyer responded.

How a scrappy group of parents played a key but lesser-known role in the pending closure of the Division of Juvenile Justice

Under state law, adult prison sentences are automatically enhanced based on prior youth adjudications. New legislation would rein in the practice and allow for reconsideration of extreme sentences.

First in a three-part series on a teenager with a tumultuous childhood sent to die in prison, and where his life would lead. The following narrative was compiled from interviews and court records.

Youth curfews don’t work. Over 11,500 kids were arrested in 2019 for curfew violations or loitering, per FBI data. Nearly 30% were Black.

An upcoming court ruling could decide the fate of a plan to detain “problematic youth” at a facility that previously housed prisoners awaiting execution.

Justices in the state’s highest court are weighing whether it is unconstitutional to sentence people convicted of murder and aged 18 to 20 to life without parole.

Art Acevedo’s recent comments reveal an official who, despite his “good cop” veneer, has played fast and loose with the facts when it comes to addressing public safety.

Several states, including Maryland, are considering bills to protect minors from abusive police interrogations.

At 15, Kenneth Lamont Robinson was convicted for murder under South Carolina’s accomplice liability law, despite not committing the shooting that killed Kedena Brown.

The D.C. Council is set to vote on a bill aimed at giving people who committed serious crimes before their 25th birthday an opportunity to petition a judge for resentencing.

A new study suggests that if counties—rather than states—bear the cost of incarceration, they may be less likely to incarcerate people.

A coalition of organizations is hoping Michael Toomin, who is also unwilling to implement diversion programs, loses his retention election.

We should demand that prison officials and our elected representatives honor their constitutional obligation to promote and support youth healing, growth, and change.

Experts say Black and Native children are disproportionately jailed either for status offenses or for technical violations of probation or parole—and that incarcerating them has far-reaching negative consequences.

Judge Mary Ellen Brennan jailed the 15-year-old, known as Grace, for violating her probation by not completing schoolwork. Last month, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered Grace’s immediate release, which Brennan said left her without the means to ‘issue consequences.’

The Michigan Court of Appeals ordered her immediate release pending an appeal of a circuit court judge’s decision to jail the teen, known as “Grace,” in mid-May.

Sixteen-year-old William Haymon has spent more than 500 days in an adult jail in rural Lexington, Mississippi. There are no state rules governing how long a person can be incarcerated without being formally charged with a crime.

Judge Mary Ellen Brennan sent the 15-year-old, known as Grace, to juvenile detention in May for violating her probation by not completing online schoolwork. On Monday, the judge said Grace was ‘blooming’ in the facility, despite arguments by Grace that she is falling behind.

State law requires all murder charges be automatically filed in adult court, regardless of age.

While adults in the county have been granted expedited release in groups, the juvenile court continues to review cases individually.

Tens of thousands of children are in congregate care settings around the country, and some have already started to get sick.

‘Continuing to maintain these youths in this hotbed of contagion poses an unconscionable and entirely preventable risk of harm,’ one lawsuit states.

The state’s attorney general decided to support resentencing hearings in two high-profile cases, though she had fought appeals in the past.

In a lawsuit, the boy’s family said he was repeatedly suspended, secluded, and violently restrained before he was ever given a special education evaluation.

A class-action lawsuit filed Saturday alleges that staff at a New Hampshire youth detention center subjected children to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse

District Attorney Michael O’Malley’s 2016 election was viewed by some as a win for Black Lives Matter, but the number of children transferred to adult court in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has increased more than 100 percent.

Christopher Lay grew up under the influence of a father who was mentally ill. Drawn into a crime at age 19, he’s now seeking a second chance that could help other young adults demand the same.

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Meralyn Kirkland got a call last Thursday about her granddaughter, Kaia Rolle. She was told that the 6-year-old girl had been arrested at her Orlando charter school and was […]

The Washington State Patrol has added thousands of old sealed juvenile records to a database it shares with law enforcement agencies across the country—erasing for many their chance of a clean slate.

Young people convicted as adults face a ‘life sentence’ of registry restrictions, attorneys say.

A member of San Francisco’s juvenile probation commission, a citizen oversight body, talked to the Daily Appeal about her decision to spend a day and a night inside the city’s juvenile hall.

A Pittsburgh public radio piece lacked critical reporting about the many problems with jailing children in adult facilities.

California is one of only six states that allow staff in juvenile facilities to carry pepper spray. But LA’s coming ban is still facing pushback.

16-year-olds won’t have to reappear in adult criminal court if they’re arrested when youth court isn’t in session.

Despite supporting Oregon’s new juvenile justice law, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is still fighting to keep people in prison who received life sentences as minors.