Amidst the COVID pandemic, the racial justice reckoning in our hearts and in our streets, and the increasingly toxic rhetoric of the 2020 elections, many of us are looking for ways we can step out of our usual routine, make connections despite our COVID precautions, and perhaps learn something new…

Over the next four months, through a series of online events and blogs, we will look back on our 45 years of advocating for rights, dignity, equity and opportunity for youth in the child welfare and justice systems. Amidst COVID-19 and the racial reckoning underway in our country, it is…

When the COVID crisis hit the United States, Juvenile Law Center sprang into action. We know from decades of experience that youth in the child welfare and justice systems are particularly vulnerable because they are in the shadows. …

Unable to practice social distancing. Unsanitary conditions. Insufficient access to soap and water for handwashing. Isolated from family and community. These are the daily realities for youth in the child welfare and justice systems during this pandemic. Residential facilities are breeding grounds for the contagion since youth share sleeping, living…

JUVENILE LAW CENTER COVID-19 STATEMENT During the global crisis that is COVID-19, we urge the protection of our country’s most vulnerable youth — particularly those in the child welfare and justice systems. States should: -Ensure youth in foster care have a safe place to live, especially those at risk of homelessness; -Remove children who can be returned to their communities from incarceration and institute safety measures to protect youth who remain; and

“My greatest fear was that they would forget I was in there.” I keep replaying these words as I consider the urgent needs of youth in the justice and child welfare systems during this COVID-19 pandemic. These are the words of a colleague reflecting on his time in solitary confinement…

As we begin the week of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for introduction of the Justice for Juveniles Act by Congresswomen Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) with bi-partisan support from co-sponsors Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), John Katko (R-NY) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA). The bill increases access to the courts for…

As Youth Justice Action Month comes to a close, one experience really epitomized the spirit of the month-long effort to elevate and amplify work on youth justice for me. I am the co-editor of the law school casebook, Children and the Law, published by West Academic Publishing Company. My co-editor’s…