Adolescent Development
From the Summary: “This report examines the devastating impact of New Jersey’s waiver practices, a system that disproportionately harms youth of color, sidelines judicial oversight, and prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation. It explores the systemic failures that lead to the prosecution of children as adults, the profound human costs for the youth and their families, and…
From the introduction: “Friendships gain new importance and intensity as we become adolescents. Healthy friendships can lead to higher academic achievement, less risky behavior, and greater overall wellbeing and can influence our future values and identity. They can even have positive effects on mental health well into adulthood. Providing opportunities for young people to form…
This resource is part of the Youth Defender Advocacy Program (YDAP) curriculum, a specialized trial advocacy training program for youth defenders.
One-page infographic on the seven key developmental needs of adolescence.
From the conclusion: “For the reasons discussed, Miller and its progeny have rendered Eads’s term-of-years sentence invalid under both the Michigan Constitution and our state’s proportionality requirement. He is entitled to be resentenced in a manner that comports with this jurisprudence and duly accounts for his youth and its attendant characteristics at the time he…
From the introduction: “In August 2024, the Office for Access to Justice hosted its quarterly convening with national public defense organizations to discuss youth public defense. During the convening Rachel Rossi, Director of the Office of Access to Justice and Liz Ryan, Administrator of Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, heard from members of…
In this amicus brief (and a companion brief filed in Michigan v. Andrew Czarnecki), Fair and Just Prosecution urges the Michigan Supreme Court to extend 19- and 20-year olds its finding that life without parole sentences for young people violate state and federal constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
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…
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…
The National Institute of Justice issued five key findings from research and data on youth and delinquency. The findings include: 1) risk-taking behaviors are a normal part of adolescent development; 2) risky behaviors increase through adolescence and then decline over time as youth mature; 3) few youth are arrested for any crime, and even fewer…
From the abstract: “South Dakota, like many other states, allows young children to be introduced to the criminal justice system at a very young age. Although South Dakota originally focused on managing children’s misbehavior, the law has evolved in a way that punishes kids for being kids. Despite recent reforms to handle juvenile delinquency in…
The American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution urging all governmental authorities to enact laws and policies prohibiting police from utilizing deceptive practices during youth interrogations. Relying on adolescent development research and recognizing the inherent vulnerabilities of youth during police interrogations, the ABA outlines that “it is beyond dispute that interrogations of adolescents by law…
This report describes the process of developing or cultivating purpose and explains why purpose is one of the key aspects of healthy development in adolescence. Cultivating purpose is widely beneficial for adolescents, and it is particularly important for adolescents from traditionally underserved groups. Purpose is essentially a renewable resource that has the potential to benefit…
The focus of this paper is on the experience of Black adolescents who are growing up amidst evolving national beliefs about racism, ongoing political debate surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, and a growing national awareness about the experience of being Black in America.
In this session of our 2023 Racial Justice Training Series, Prof. Kristin Henning, Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law, and Mary Ann Scali, Executive Director of The Gault Center, will be joined by Dr. Linda Caldwell, Emeritus Distinguished Professor in the Dept. of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at The…
School-based arrests have long made up a substantial number of cases in the juvenile legal system. This is particularly true for Black, Native/Indigenous, and Latino students; immigrant students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and other historically marginalized students. Despite significant decreases in the rate of serious crimes and violence on school campuses over the past…
In this final session of our 2022-2023 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning, Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative at Georgetown Law, and Mary Ann Scali, Executive Director of the Gault Center, were joined by Clarence Ford, Social Justice and Wellbeing Advisor at the W. Haywood Burns Institute; Prof.…
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Mary Ann Scali were joined by Dr. Juan Del Toro, researcher in applied developmental psychology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Dr. Tiffani J. Johnson, Assistant Professor in the…
