Juvenile Law Center

We are hiring our next Chief Executive Officer.

Learn more here: https://jlc.org/chief-executive-officer

The deadline for applications is September 16th.

Chief Executive Officer | Juvenile Law Center OVERVIEWJuvenile Law Center fights for rights, dignity, equity, and opportunity for youth. We work to reduce the harm of the child welfare and justice systems, limit their reach, and ultimately abolish them so all young people can thrive.

Please take a moment to read this letter from Juvenile Law Center Board President Dr. Tami Benton.

https://jlc.org/news/sue-mangold-retire-juvenile-law-center

OP-ED ALERT!

Youth Advocacy alumni Bree Hood is raising awareness around the need for improved benefits access for young people impacted by the child welfare system.

https://imprintnews.org/opinion/foster-youth-need-better-access-to-the-benefits-theyre-owed/250926

Pennsylvania has a long history marked by the abuse and maltreatment of children in detention/placement facilities.

Sadly, we are not surprised by the recent allegations of s*xual abuse in facilities across the state. These facilities are inherently unsafe, and we know that youth do better in their homes and communities.

It is time that we prioritize the safety, well-being, and success of our youth by enacting legislation such as HB 1381 that will help keep youth out of the system, and HB 2175 that will create an independent Office of the Child Advocate to monitor conditions in facilities.

CBS 21 News looks into the history of abuse at PA juvenile detention centers A lawsuit against the Department of Human Services was filed Wednesday, alleging 20 cases of s*x abuse took place at state-run juvenile detention centers.

We applaud the ABA for passing a resolution at its most recent meeting urging the adoption of laws and policies prohibiting law enforcement from lying or making false and unauthorized promises of leniency to young people under 18 during the course of interrogation.

But we also share the views of this commentator who rightly asks, is this really a thing? - https://abovethelaw.com/2024/08/aba-asks-cops-to-pretty-please-stop-lying-to-children-to-extract-bogus-confessions/

It is, and we need to do much more than pass resolutions to make it stop.

Read the new ABA Resolution here - https://www.americanbar.org/news/reporter_resources/annual-meeting-2024/house-of-delegates-resolutions/517/

ABA Asks Cops To Pretty Please Stop Lying To Children To Extract Bogus Confessions Apparently this is something we needed to say out loud in 2024.

Please take a moment to read this exciting announcement from CEO Sue Mangold and Co-founder/CLO Marsha Levick regarding Juvenile Law Center's 50th anniversary and a look to the future!

Dear friends, colleagues, supporters and partners in the fight for children’s rights | Juvenile Law Center As we approach Juvenil

Breaking: “We continue to be living in a moment where children remain unsafe in many facilities that are regulated at the state level," said Marsha Levick, Chief Legal Officer of Juvenile Law Center. The lawsuit is still ongoing against Glen Mills and former staff.

Pa. settles with former Glen Mills students for $450,000, creates new monitoring procedures Glen Mills Schools closed in 2019 after an Inquirer investigation revealed decades of violence against boys sent to the reform school in Delaware County.

CW: Horrific accounts of abuse. This is why we fight to have fewer children in the system, in PA and nationwide. Youth prisons are no place for kids.

Nearly 70 more accusers come forward to say they were s*xually abused at Pa. juvenile facilities The accusations span 10 different placement facilities across Pennsylvania, with accusers saying they were groped, molested, r***d, or beaten by staffers.

An interview with Marsha Levick on the value of the new NeuroLaw Library:

New Resource Brings Adolescent Brain Science Into Juvenile Court The NeuroLaw Library offers free scientific resources for court officials, incarcerated people and families involved in juvenile justice.

We really appreciate this shout out from our fantastic board member Marque Richardson and we celebrate this new season of Unprisoned!

‘Unprisoned’ Season 2 is ‘Healing Black Families’ - Los Angeles Sentinel Tracy McMillian and Marque Richardson discuss rehabilitation and mental health awareness.

July is Disability Pride Month. Disability is far too often used as an excuse to treat disabled children and parents as inherently unfit. We reject narratives that treat youth disability as a problem to be solved or managed. Disabled youth—like all youth—must receive the support they need within their homes and their communities rather than in pathologizing, carceral, congregate settings.

We recognize and celebrate the many Black and Brown and trans and q***r activists who founded and are at the forefront of the disability justice movement—a movement that pushes us to examine our beliefs about disabled people and to work toward a future where communities center cross-disability access that meets people where they are and provides the supports they need to thrive.

We recognize that to truly make the aims of this movement a reality, we must embrace disability justice as a framework for transformation. Policies and budgets nationwide and at the state and local level must increase access and opportunity for people with disabilities. We must also examine the role of racial capitalism in creating and upholding systems that value people based on their ability to produce rather than on their inherent worth as people. We commit as an organization to fight for that future in our work, and to challenge ourselves internally to be an accessible, inclusive, and affirming work environment for people with disabilities.

Get to know our 2024 Summer Interns!

On the left: Arielle Jackson, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, 2L

"What excites you about working with Juvenile Law Center: What excites me most about working with JLC is knowing that the work I am engaging in is making a larger systemic impact to reduce the harm that is caused by the child welfare and juvenile legal systems. I am able to research policy and legal initiatives that I am passionate about specifically relating to the intersections of the dual system, reducing racial disparities, and keeping youth out of adult prisons."

Favorite hobby: Trying new restaurants

Top right: Kassidy Mahoney, University of Chicago, 2L

"What excites me most about working at Juvenile Law Center is learning about and contributing to the interconnected strategies the organization uses to reduce the harm of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and work towards the abolishment of those systems so that young people can thrive within their families and communities. I'm especially excited about Juvenile Law Center's passion for uplifting youth-led advocacy and learning about the multitude of ways a legal education can be used to fight for equity in the face of systemic inequality. It's an honor to work at the first nonprofit, public interest law firm for children in the country.

My favorite post-work pastime is spending time with my cat, Pasta!"

Bottom right: Myah Grimm, University of Minnesota Law School, 3L
"I’ve always wanted to work in criminal law, but working with youth provides a unique opportunity to make changes in both the juvenile and adult systems by working to ensure that youth remain under juvenile court jurisdiction. the organization's focus on impact litigation and policy work are what drew me to this organization! Fun Fact: My favorite hobby is dancing!"

Powerful new op-ed from Alex and Qilah on the urgency of passing comprehensive juvenile justice reform in Pennsylvania. Take a look.

"HB 1381 wants to end direct file to adult court, put caps on juvenile probation, require a juvenile to consult with an attorney before waiving their rights, prohibit solitary confinement for children, get rid of most court fees for kids, end forced admissions for first-time offenders, provide more protections for children with disabilities, stop criminal prosecution of children under age 10, and expand the use of diversionary informal adjustments for low-level offenses.

We may tell you 1,001 times how harmful the system is, but now we want people to know how this bill can help the system and our youth. Ending mistreatment of children who are more likely to already have life harder than other kids is the start of helping children who need it most. Our youth need everyone to have their best interests at heart like they would for their own children. No kid deserves to be treated this way.

It’s time to see these reforms become law."

Guest Commentary: Treat Justice-Impacted Kids as … Kids Two Philadelphia women incarcerated in their mid-teens ask for support for comprehensive juvenile justice reform bill in Harrisburg

Come join our team! We are looking for a Project-Based Fellow. Read more here:

Project-Based Fellow | Juvenile Law Center Juvenile Law Center is accepting applications for recent law school graduates or students who seek a project-based fellowship funded by an external organization or law school, e.g. Skadden Fellowship, Equal Justice Works, Independence Foundation. With support of Juvenile Law Center, the candidate wi...

A win for youth yesterday. RI Supreme Court upheld lower court ruling that the state’s parole statute, recently amended to provide opportunity for parole after 20 years for any offense committed before age 22, regardless of number of charges/offenses.

We filed an amicus brief in support of four model prisoners whose grants of parole release under the new law had been challenged by the State because they each had been sentenced to multiple consecutive sentences.

'Time to release him': RI Supreme Court rules Mario’s Law applies to its namesake. The high court rejected the state’s arguments that the law did not apply to people like its namesake Mario Monteiro.

As PA legislative cycle wraps dor summer, some great news to share! The bill to create a PA Office of the Child Advocate passed the House! This is a huge win for youth in the Commonwealth. Time to get it done in the Senate and thanks to all the yes votes:

House Roll Calls - 2023 RCS# 1338

We are absolutely devastated by this loss. In Grants Pass, we filed an amicus with the most organizations we’ve assembled in our history with partners . We will continue to fight for the rights and dignity of youth experiencing homelessness.

Supreme Court says ban on homeless camping does not violate Constitution The court was reviewing laws from Grants Pass, Ore., at a time when states and localities are struggling to deal with a growing number of unhoused individuals.

Breaking: please read our Teen Vogue op-ed from Jessica Feierman with our partners Lambda Legal. As we wait for the decision it's urgent to consider what's at stake for youth experiencing homelessness.

The Supreme Court Might Make It Okay to Criminalize Homelessness The case poses unique challenges for unhoused young people.

Join us for this exclusive screening!

Restorative Justice for Youth: A Screening & Discussion of JUSTICE, USA Join the Stoneleigh Foundation & the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth for a screening & discussion of the documentary JUSTICE, USA.

The #1 cause of homelessness in the US is the lack of affordable housing, according to research from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Relying on jails and fines will never solve the homelessness crisis, but providing people with housing with services will.

In the case of , the Supreme Court must prohibit cities from ticketing, arresting, or otherwise punishing people for sleeping outside when they have no other safe option. The results of this case will impact the 250,000+ people living outside as well as the millions of Americans who are just one missed paycheck away from homelessness.

Learn more: johnsonvgrantspass.com

Check out this exciting new resource from the MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior!

We believe in and are proud amici partners in the Grants Pass case.

We appreciate this new legislation from Senator Bob Casey and Representative Tony Cardenas. The fewer children in prison, the better.

Casey, Cárdenas Introduce Legislation to Limit Youth Incarceration for Minor, Non-Criminal Offenses | U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and U.S. Congressman Tony Cárdenas...

This is yet another wrongheaded and reactionary rollback to critical juvenile justice reform. We need law and policy that reflects neuroscience and developmental science and .

More young people could be tried as adults in N.C., per bill Cooper’s office didn’t immediately respond Wednesday.

Throwback to the powerful piece Youth Advocate Sasha wrote about the challenges of being q***r in youth prison. This Pride, let's not forget about what LGBTQIA+ youth are experiencing in youth detention.

Being Q***r in a Juvenile Detention Center: A Survivor's Story Sasha doesn't want other LGBT youth in placement centers to endure what she did.

June is Pride month. This year, we are wondering what Pride means for youth impacted by the criminal, juvenile, and family policing (child welfare) systems.

What does Pride mean when a judge’s assumption about your s*xual orientation or gender identity can lead to inappropriate placement in treatment for youth with s*xually problematic behaviors?

What does it mean when coming out in a congregate setting means you are treated as a threat to the other youth and are therefore placed in isolation?

What does Pride mean when punishment for any perceived misbehavior can include restricted access to gender-affirming clothing, makeup, and accessories?

What does it mean when the people tasked to protect you do not care when you have been s*xually assaulted, asserting that you wanted, liked, or deserved what happened?

What does it mean when 515 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills were introduced in legislatures across the country in 2024 and 34 passed, restricting access to healthcare in prisons, prohibiting support in schools, enabling discrimination, and more? Trans and q***r youth, especially Black and Brown trans and q***r youth, are overrepresented in state systems and are some of the most vulnerable youth in them.

Juvenile Law Center works every day to reduce state-imposed harms. Ultimately, abolishing these punitive systems is the only way to truly secure the safety of all young people. We will highlight critical voices of q***r and trans youth impacted by these systems this month. Please stay tuned.

Breaking: Read today’s op-ed from our CEO Sue Mangold sounding the alarm on the danger of rolling back key juvenile justice wins - in Maryland and nationwide.

Commentary: Maryland juvenile justice laws repeat failed policies The “tough-on-crime” approaches to juvenile justice signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore have proved ineffective in the past because they fail to adequately consider the root causes of youth crime, the CEO of the Juvenile Law Center says.

We appreciate that there are some wins amidst the losses highlighted here. But as state after state attempts to reverse critically important policies for youth justice that centered brain and developmental science, our work to fight back is more urgent than ever. Please join us in the fight to treat kids as kids and against kneejerk policy shift by following us on social and joining our email list.

Greater focus on crime sparks another wave of juvenile justice bills • Stateline This year, nearly every state has considered juvenile justice legislation, with varied outcomes.