Juvenile Justice

Ohio made a strong move Wednesday toward becoming the 24th state to ban sentences of life without parole for crimes committed when the defendant was a juvenile.

The handful or two of people already serving such sentences in Ohio, and a number of others serving de facto life sentences, could be eligible for parole if the bill is passed by the Ohio House and signed into law.

As the number of youth locked up in Los Angeles County’s detention facilities plunged to a historic low during the pandemic, costs have soared, renewing calls to strip funding from the Probation Department and shutter increasingly expensive juvenile halls and camps.

‘Velmanette builds the wagons, puts them on the road, and then everybody else jumps on them’

There’s a poorly lit, windowless courtroom in lower Manhattan that rarely attracts an audience.

The National Center for Youth Law is bringing in a longtime fighter for child, youth and community justice as the Oakland, California-based organization’s second in command.

Shakti Belway, a graduate of Stanford University’s law school like the center’s director, Jesse Hahnel, brings with her deep experience in community law, litigation, direct representation, policy development, legislative reform and strategic mobilization.

In the past two decades, there has been an increasing interest in the linkages between schools and carceral settings, or what has been termed, the “school to prison pipeline.” Much writing and activism around this topic has focused on severing those linkages in the K-12 context, often overlooking the other end of the pipeline (prison).

Kenosha, Wis., dominated headline news in late August, due in part to the actions of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of Illinois, who was arrested for allegedly killing two protesters and injuring a third.

Eight states are developing pilot programs to educate young expecting parents about their  responsibilities, including how to manage their finances, emotions and relationships.

The grant money for the programs will come from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

During a historic period of protest over police brutality and racial injustice, the California Legislature has sent a slate of juvenile justice bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. The modest set of proposed laws would scale back the role of probation officers working with youth who haven’t been arrested, better protect minors who are interrogated by police and forgive fines and fees levied on low-income families.