From the Introduction: “Although California needs to make major improvements to its indigent defense system, the most overdue and pressing starting point is to ban flat-fee contracts. In this report, we explore why many California counties rely on flat-fee contracts, analyze recent contracts in counties that do not have a dedicated public defender’s office, and…
From the introduction: “A subset of the research that has been conducted on the effects of counsel at first appearance in criminal cases examines the effects of providing counsel to individual defendants on the system itself, rather than the effects on the individuals. As discussed below, this research shows that providing counsel at first appearance…
This resource is part of the Youth Defender Advocacy Program (YDAP) curriculum, a specialized trial advocacy training program for youth defenders.
This report details the results of the first-ever state-wide Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) survey administered to people currently incarcerated for crimes they committed as children (under eighteen). The trauma measured from ACEs surveys include physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; physical and emotional neglect; separation from parents; mental illness or substance abuse in the home; parent…
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Institute of Justice released a fact sheet highlighting key delinquency caseload trends from 2021. There were 437,300 delinquency cases in the United States, down by 39% from 2020, contributing to an overall decline in delinquency cases since its peak in 1997. In 2021, 44%…
The Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute released a report detailing survey results of nearly one thousand Native youth on their needs and priorities across issues that matter most to them. This survey was built and disseminated by Native youth leaders who worked in partnership with CNAY staff to practice and…
This resource highlights research demonstrating the critical importance of community-based alternatives that promote positive youth development and, in turn, public safety. Specifically, this resource outlines a sampling of studies establishing the importance of fresh air and free time; counseling; sports and extracurricular activities; and family, community, spiritual, or other mentorship activities for youth to thrive. This…
This resource was created as part of the 2022 Racial Justice Training Series, co-hosted with the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative. Advocates and experts gathered each month to discuss a chapter of Prof. Kristin Henning’s Book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. Watch recordings of the monthly webinars and see other…
This one-page infographic from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention illustrates trends in delinquency cases in 2022.
A decade after national protests catapulted the Black Lives Matter movement following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and four years after a national racial reckoning triggered by Minneapolis police officers killing George Floyd, lawmakers are wavering on their commitment to making the criminal legal system more just and effective. Many are…
This brief describes how states currently treat two categories of young people: youth who commit status offenses—behaviors that are not categorized as crimes—and young children who do not have the developmental capacity to fully understand the crimes they are committing. Through a 50-state scan of policy and practice, we detail how states respond to these…
School districts historically approached conflict-resolution from the perspective that suspending disruptive students was necessary to protect their classmates, even if this caused harm to perceived offenders. Restorative practices (RP) – focused on reparation and shared ownership of disciplinary justice – are designed to address undesirable behavior without imparting harm. This study looks at Chicago Public…
This one-page infographic illustrates statistics from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Juvenile Residential Facility Census
This one-page infographic from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention illustrates statistics on waiver from juvenile to criminal courts.
This research article explores the history of girls prosecuted as adults in courts across the United States. It explores the effects of childhood trauma and victimization on brain and physical development and the connection to involvement in the criminal legal system as children. The article describes the results of a survey of young women who…
The COVID-19 pandemic, declared a public health emergency in the United States on March 13, 2020, had an impact on the policies, procedures, and data collection activities of juvenile courts relating to the referrals and processing of youth. Mitigation efforts such as stay-at-home orders and school closures impacted the volume and types of law-violating behavior…
This report presents the evolution of the second look movement, which started with ensuring compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Graham v. Florida (2010) and Miller v. Alabama (2012) on the constitutionality of juvenile life without parole (“JLWOP”) sentences.12 This reform has more recently expanded to other types of sentences and populations, such…
A concentration of a few states has unevenly complied with Miller and the possibility of resentencing provided by Montgomery. Some states have refused to comply at all. This uneven implementation of the Miller decision has a particularly profound impact on racial disparities among those serving JLWOP. An analysis of those deemed worth protecting from JLWOP…
