Juvenile Justice

Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system needs an overhaul to address pervasive violence and racial disparities, according to a bipartisan task force report.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed the closure of the state’s only lockup youth facility, saying that shuttering it would pose a threat to public safety.

The legal system must be guided by data and facts. Too often, our justice policy decisions are driven by a gut instinct to punish, writes Lael E.H. Chester.

Perhaps the ninth time will be the charm for lawmakers who want to ban the routine shackling of juvenile defendants in Minnesota courtrooms. Every year since 2013, legislation to do so has fallen short.

Los Angeles County officials this week committed to a scaled-back version of the Youth Justice Reimagined Plan, a sweeping proposal to transform its juvenile justice system.

Legislation pending in the California Legislature would permanently bar child welfare and juvenile justice authorities from sending troubled youth to out-of-state residential facilities.

Maine lawmakers voted narrowly to close the state’s only juvenile prison, but it’s not clear the governor, a former prosecutor, will let it happen.

The latest federal numbers on juvenile incarceration have been released via the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, a data set updated for the Department of Justice every two years by the National Center for Juvenile Justice.