By Andrea Cipriano, The Crime Report, May 7, 2020 On any given day, approximately 43,600 people younger than 18 years of age are held in youth detention facilities across America. Even under normal circumstances, many detention facilities are unable to provide a clean and safe environment for these young individuals, and the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the trauma these children experience in detention, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Incarcerating young people...

By Vivek Sankaran, The Chronicle of Social Change, May 17, 2020 During a recent training , a judge showed us a glimpse of his future courtroom and what awaits us when juvenile courts reopen. A plexiglass shield will separate the judge from the litigants. Attorneys will spread out across the courtroom. Parents and children will be seated apart from their own attorneys. Everyone will wear masks. What I saw frightened me. This can’t be our new normal in child welfare. Even before the pandemic...

From Public Policy Institute of California, June 16, 2020 About the Program While the COVID-19 pandemic has required changes to law enforcement and correctional policies, widespread protests over the police-involved deaths of African Americans have intensified concern about racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal justice system. In recent years, California has implemented significant reforms that, while not motivated by racial disparities, are narrowing them. PPIC researcher Brandon...

By Brian Richart, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, July 27, 2020 Probation in California has the responsibility of treating and supervising our community’s most high-needs and high-risk youth. We take our role in promoting healthy, prepared and positive adolescents seriously and provide each youth the supervision and support services they need to help guide them into adulthood. The use of individualized, evidence-based practices to advance the long-term well-being of youth is...

By Ashley Smith-Juarez, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 2, 2020 As a society, we owe a special commitment to youth in custody. Incarceration of any kind causes very real trauma and doing so at a time when young people are growing and learning only compounds the trauma. Our juvenile justice system must seek not to punish, but to support these children’s social, emotional and educational development. In normal circumstances, our national juvenile justice system does not always...