OJJDP and the Office for Access to Justice Highlight the Importance of Youth Defense

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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…

Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2021

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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%…

Ethnic Racial Identity Development Excerpts from Expert’s Mitigation Report

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Youth Reoffending: Prevalence and Predictive Risk Factors in Two States

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Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Processing of Delinquency Cases, 2005–2022

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Trends and Characteristics of Delinquency Cases Handled in Juvenile Court, 2022

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This one-page infographic from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention illustrates trends in delinquency cases in 2022.

Mathis v. United States Parole Commission – Court Decision

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From the memorandum opinion: “Two men on lifetime parole claim they face disability discrimination from two federal agencies that supervise them. So these men, William Mathis and Kennedy Davis (together, “the Parolees”), now sue those federal agencies, the U.S. Parole Commission and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, and the heads of those agencies…

Challenging the Status Quo: Mobilizing Youth Defense Teams to Uphold Youth Rights & Uproot Injustice

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This Racial Justice Webinar was hosted by the Gault Center and Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative on May 29, 2024. The webinar focused on a collective call to action for the youth defense community to transform the juvenile legal system by centering youth and their constitutional rights to freedom, liberty, and equality. This…

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Nation’s Juvenile Court Caseload

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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…

Mathis v. United States Parole Commission – Complaint

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From the preliminary statement: “This case, brought by a class of people who are or will be on parole or supervised release in Washington, D.C., challenges the failure of the federal government’s post-conviction supervision system to accommodate individuals with disabilities as required by federal law.”

Juvenile Court Statistics 2021

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In January 2024, the National Center for Juvenile Justice released their annual report detailing data trends in juvenile courts across the country from 2005 to 2021. This report provides a national snapshot of various trends in delinquency cases, including key demographic patterns across age, gender, and race at various stages of case processing. Notably, in…

Juvenile Amenability in Discretionary Transfers

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One in Five: How Mass Incarceration Deepens Inequality and Harms Public Safety

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Juvenile Defender Disposition Practice Tool

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Disposition determines the scope of the juvenile court system’s continued involvement in a child’s life and any infringements upon their liberty. While client-directed advocacy is important at all stages, it is critical at disposition, especially in cases when the client is facing a serious charge, has a significant court history, or is viewed as “high…

Youth Homelessness Infographic

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The Role of Juvenile Defense Counsel at Disposition

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An introduction to the role and obligations of the juvenile defender at disposition in juvenile court.

DOJ Dear Colleague Letter on Fines and Fees

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The Role of the Judge in Transforming Juvenile Probation: A Toolkit for Leadership

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From the introduction: “In the 2020 survey, an overwhelming majority of judges and probation administrators responded that efforts to promote probation practice changes should be grounded in research and be data-driven. In addition, most indicated that support for probation transformation would grow if reforms helped to address the challenge of improving racial/ethnic equity. More specifically,…

Young, Black, and Wrongfully Charged: A Cumulative Disadvantage Framework

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From the abstract: “The term wrongful conviction typically refers to the conviction or adjudication of individuals who are factually innocent. Decades of research has rightfully focused on uncovering contributing factors of convictions of factually innocent people to inform policy and practice. However, in this paper we expand our conceptualization of wrongful conviction. Specifically, we propose…

Eliminate Confinement as a Response to Probation Violations

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From the introduction: “This brief presents the research case for eliminating the use of correctional confinement or detention in response to technical violations of juvenile probation.”

Memorandum for Disposition Hearing

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Memorandum of Law in Support of Alternative Disposition Hearing Requested

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Motion to Rescind Commitment and Request for Hearing

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Sample Release Schedule Centering the Right to Play 

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This resource is part of the Youth Defender Advocacy Program (YDAP) curriculum, a specialized trial advocacy training program for youth defenders.

Making the Case for Young Clients: Supreme Court Quotes for Bolstering Juvenile Defense Advocacy

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This brief highlights the United States Supreme Court’s most important language in landmark cases about young people’s rights. These quotes can be used to bolster the arguments and pleadings of juvenile defense attorneys and advocates as they defend youth caught in the legal system.