Fighting Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System
In March, the Supreme Court heard one of the most widely anticipated cases of this term. In two related cases, Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, human rights attorney Bryan Stevenson argued that...
View ArticleJuvenile Justice Through the Lens of Photographer Richard Ross
It's hard to imagine life inside an 8x10 concrete cell, but for thousands of American minors, that's reality. They spend night after night locked inside a juvenile detention center. Photographer...
View ArticleSupreme Court Bans Life without Parole for Juveniles
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that mandatory life without parole sentences for children under 17 years old are unconstitutional. The ruling struck down statutes in 29 states that required life...
View ArticleRetro Report: When America Feared Juvenile Superpredators
This week, the Retro Report documentary team looks back at a perceived threat that dominated the late 90s.The story starts in 1994, when the murder of Robert Sandifer, an 11-year-old gang member who...
View ArticleFrom Schools to Prisons: Juvenile Justice in West Virginia
In the late 1990s, the United States started to rethink the country's juvenile justice system and the nation's process of rehabilitating troubled kids.As a result, the national youth incarceration rate...
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Transforming the Juvenile Justice System
When they're campaigning for election or reelection, politicians tend to talk a big game. They suddenly become crusaders for change, even if they've spent years mired in bureaucracy.Judge Denise...
View ArticleThe High Cost of Delayed Justice
Ten days before his 17th birthday, Kalief Browder was walking to his home in the Bronx when he was stopped by the NYPD. He was taken to the 48th Precinct and soon found himself in front of a judge,...
View ArticleFederal Juvenile Justice Control
Yesterday state and federal officials reached an agreement to limit physical force and significantly expand mental health services in NY’s juvenile justice system. Part of the agreement was a federal...
View ArticleCity Wants More Control Over Juvenile Justice
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Reverend Al Sharpton want to put the state out of the juvenile justice business. They say the City has achieved good results with a three-year initiative that has kept...
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Revamping Juvenile Justice Is Long, Difficult Road
When New York kids get convicted of a crime, they are either sent upstate to the juvenile equivalent of a prison, or allowed to stay at home enrolled in mandatory programs that aim to turn them into...
View ArticleCuomo Talks Rebuilding Empire at State of the State Address
In his first State of the State address on Wednesday afternoon, Govenor Andrew Cuomo laid out his plans for reorganizing New York state government, closing the $10 billion budget deficit, and acting on...
View ArticleCuomo's Juvenile Justice Overhaul
Jeremy Travis, president of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at CUNY, talks about Governor Cuomo's plan to reform New York State's juvenile justice system. Travis headed Governor Paterson's...
View ArticleChief Judge: NY Should Send More Teenage Offenders to Family Court
New York State's chief judge said the state should no longer try 16- and 17-year olds as adults in criminal courts if they are charged with less serious crimes."New York continues to expose teenagers...
View ArticleJuvenile Incarceration Not Paying off, Study Says
The nation's prosecutors should follow New York's example by sending more juvenile offenders to rehabilitation programs close to home instead of locking them up, a new report indicates.Bart Lubow, who...
View ArticleBringing At-Risk Teens Closer to Home: A Forum on Juvenile Justice at The New...
The Center for New York City Affairs hosted a forum on February 2 to review the connection between child welfare and juvenile justice in New York City and the state.The event, entitled “Ties That Bind:...
View ArticleCity to Take Custody of Local Juveniles from Upstate Facilities
New York City will soon take responsibility for its youthful offenders instead of shipping them to facilities upstate, an option that has been viewed as ineffective and costly. The change is something...
View ArticleSupreme Court Decision Review
Slate senior editor and legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick talks about Monday's SCOTUS decisions, focusing on those prohibiting life without parole for juvenile offenders and overturning campaign...
View ArticleCity Starts Taking Custody of Upstate Juvenile Offenders
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that the city's efforts to move juvenile delinquents from upstate facilities to placements in New York City where they will be closer to home is underway.Sixty...
View ArticleMore Young Offenders Diverted Away from Criminal Justice System
The city is keeping many more juvenile offenders out of the court system and sending them to community based programs instead.According to a paper released Monday by Child Welfare Watch, a non-profit...
View ArticleJuvenile Task Force Requires Personal Touch from Police
The NYPD is trying a unique approach aimed to cut down on the number of juvenile offenders in the city by targeting those most as risk.The goal of the Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program -- or J-RIP...
View ArticleChildren's Advocates Say Prison System Should Not Treat 16- and 17-Year-Olds...
A coalition of civil rights groups and children's advocates are asking Albany to raise the age when young offenders are arrested and prosecuted as adults.Every year nearly 50,000 children ages 16 and...
View ArticleU.S.-China Competition; Wave, a Memoir about the 2004 Tsunami; "Kids for...
Geoff Dyer, former Beijing bureau chief for The Financial Times, talks about how China and the US are competing for global influence. Sonali Deraniyagala talks about Wave, for this month’s Leonard...
View Article"Kids for Cash"
In the wake of the shootings at Columbine, a small town in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, elected a charismatic judge who was determined to keep kids in line. Under his reign, over 3,000 children were...
View ArticleTeen Accused of Killing Classmate Appears in Family Court
Noel Estevez, the14-year-old accused of stabbing a classmate to death last month at his Bronx intermediate school, appeared in Family Court for a scheduling hearing Monday. Attorneys for the teen and...
View ArticleChief Judge on Punishing Juvenile Offenders
Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York , talks about the policy of punishment and why he thinks the age of criminal responsibility needs to be raised.
View ArticleCuomo Wants to Treat More Offenders as Juveniles
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that he wants to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. The move would shift non-violent offenses for those under 18 to family court and...
View ArticleSCOTUS: Ban on Life Sentences for Juveniles Can be Retroactive
Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.Today, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a ruling that should set free more than 1,300 prisoners who were sentenced to life without parole as...
View ArticleA New Hope for Juvenile Offenders Serving Life Without Parole
Click on the audio player above to hear the full interview.When Erik Jensen was just 17-years-old, he was sentenced to life without parole for a murder he witnessed but did not commit. He turned to his...
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Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and more than 60 percent of those inmates are African-American and Latino—despite the fact they make up only 30 percent of the...
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Should a juvenile sex offender be locked up indefinitely?
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioGWEN IFILL: Next: the difficult question of how to deal with people convicted of sex crimes, specifically what to do with young juvenile offenders. Should they be...
View ArticleKids in Prison: We Profile a Former Inmate, Now That He's Out
Trevor shot a gang member six times when he was a minor, 17. He served eight-and-a-half years and while in prison, he turned his life around.But he still has a criminal record and that's making it hard...
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Kids in Prison: Getting Tried as An Adult Depends on Skin Color
When Jamal was 14 years old, he wore the same outfit to school everyday and went without meals at home. One day he went walking around Union, N.J., looking for a way to get money.“I seen a guy and I...
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Kids in Prison: Germany Has a Different Approach, Better Results
Whenever Terence leaves his prison cell at New Jersey State Prison, there are guards on each side of him in helmets and bulletproof vests with their batons out. “It’s traumatizing,” said Terence. He's...
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Kids in Prison: Getting Tried as an Adult Means a Longer Sentence
To celebrate his 21st birthday, Terence got himself a honey bun at New Jersey State Prison and decorated it with peanut butter.“That was my birthday cake,” Terence said. “Did a little creative design...
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Kids in Prison: Guards with Helmets vs The Jolly Lumberjack
When Jamal arrived at an adult prison in New Jersey when he was 15-years-old, he said guards taunted him.“They’ll all be lined up, sitting there with their gloves on, stretching their gloves out,...
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Should juveniles be incarcerated with adults?
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioBy Ivette Feliciano and Zachary GreenIVETTE FELICIANO: 22-year-old Asad Giles feels lucky to have his job as an administrative assistant in this Midtown Manhattan...
View ArticleKids in Prison: NJ Supreme Court Halts Life Sentences
The New Jersey Supreme Court is closing a loophole that had allowed juvenile offenders to spend their whole lives in prison. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed life in prison for young people,...
View ArticleNJ Juvenile Life Sentences Decision Now Goes to Legislature
A New Jersey Supreme Court decision to halt life sentences for juvenile offenders will now go to the state legislature. The ACLU of New Jersey case was brought on behalf of around 60 inmates who were...
View ArticleTask Force Aims to End Incarceration for Young Girls
A task force filled with academics, high-ranking city officials, a judge and youth advocates wants to reduce and ultimately end incarcerations for girls under the age of 16.Recent statistics show...
View ArticleA Week Late Governor Cuomo Announces Budget Deal
It's a week late, but Governor Andrew Cuomo says he and legislative leaders have agreed on a budget plan.The Democratic governor says the proposal includes $1.1 billion in new school spending, the...
View ArticleParents of Jailed Teens Find Comfort at Monthly Meetings
The parents of high-school-age inmates on Rikers Island can't call their children to see how they're doing. And sometimes the incarcerated teens won't call their parents. "There was a time when my...
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