California Department of Justice

Just one day after advocates for juveniles locked up in Los Angeles County during the coronavirus pandemic appealed to the California Supreme Court for relief, the state’s top prosecutor has reminded local officials they can act more swiftly to release prisoners in perilous conditions.

Back in 2015, when serving as the attorney general of California, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris decided to make justice for children a priority of her office’s work.

A bill winding its way through the California legislature would bar the juvenile justice system from hearing most cases of children younger than 12, an idea that has sparked a fierce backlash from district attorneys.

According to new analysis of state data by a Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) researcher, rates of arrest for California youth and young adults declined again in 2015, continuing a steady decline over the past several decades.

Projected on the enormous screen at the front of the room was a blue-tinged image of a brain scan with a seemingly simple phrase next to it: “Changing Minds.” The striking image and accompanying messages are still being developed by national nonprofit Futures Without Violence (Futures) for a public outreach campaign about the complex issue of childhood trauma.

On Feb. 12, California Attorney General Kamala Harris held a press conference in Los Angeles to announce the creation of a “Bureau of Children’s Justice” with goals ranging from reducing truancy and combatting “childhood trauma” to improving the foster care and juvenile justice systems.