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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s point person overseeing the rollout of the juvenile justice reform known as “Raise the Age” will leave his post this month to join the staff of a major foundation.

After three years on the job, the Milwaukee County official who oversees juvenile justice finds his system at a crossroads. The Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill last March closing two youth prisons after a criminal probe and multiple lawsuits alleged abuse and neglect of youth, alarming lawmakers.

It’s time to close this nation’s youth prisons. They don’t serve their purpose: keeping our neighborhoods safe and helping young people turn their lives around. They fail to fulfill this core mission despite costing $150,000 per youth per year.

New York politicians and youth advocates celebrated a major juvenile justice reform this week. The state was one of only two that treated all older teens as adults in the eyes of the law until Monday, when Gov.

New York City’s child welfare system funding survived the state legislature’s efforts to close a $4.4 billion deficit, but the city will be on its own to handle ballooning juvenile justice costs, imperiling sweeping reform efforts from recent years.

Close to Home, New York City’s effort to keep incarcerated juveniles in nearby rehabilitative facilities, imperiled by recent budget decisions on the state level, have demonstrated signs of success while juvenile incarceration and arrest rates continue to decline.

In what many New York City officials and youth advocates see as a startling and possibly cynical move, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) is pushing a budget proposal that eliminates the $41 million in state funding for a popular city program aimed at improving life outcomes for juvenile offenders.