A long-awaited, 72-bed home for youthful offenders convicted of serious crimes is complete and ready to open in Avoyelles Parish. A key feature of Louisiana's 15-year-old effort to overhaul its juvenile justice system, the Acadiana Center for Youth is intended to provide a therapeutic environment for kids in southwest Louisiana. 

For the foreseeable future, though, the center is more likely to be used as an emergency shelter in a disaster, if anything at all, according to a spokesman for the Division of Administration. 

Much of the legislative action is a response to Fight Club, published by the Times/Herald last year. The six-part series examined pervasive violence within juvenile lockups and residential programs — some of it instigated by workers and rewarded with treats — widespread sexual misconduct, medical neglect and lax personnel practices that encouraged the hiring of unqualified workers with unsavory pasts.

SEATTLE - For more than seven hours Monday protesters opposed to King County’s new juvenile courthouse and jail chained themselves together outside the construction site and blocked the heavy equipment from coming and going.

They yelled, chanted and held up signs. It marked the second time in weeks that protesters have blocked traffic in an effort to stop the nearly $200 million facility from being built. The protest is in its sixth year.

Alabama lawmakers are one step closer to overhauling the state’s juvenile justice system after the House passed a bill aimed at keeping low-level offenders out of detention. Thursday’s vote was 69-20 after more than three hours of heated debate and multiple amendments.

School district leaders in two Eastern North Carolina counties are partnering with local law enforcement to keep students who commit low-level offenses out of court.

Costly residential facilities are being replaced with effective community-based programs

Children entrenched in Arkansas' juvenile probation system often find themselves without needed help because of overworked officers and judges who won't change the way they handle cases.

Symon Gooding had been on the fast track at the Department of Juvenile Justice, having been promoted twice in as many years. With her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice — and credits toward a master’s in public administration — she seemed precisely the type of person administrators were looking for. They called her an agency “treasure.”

But in her upward climb in law enforcement, Gooding applied for a higher-paying job at the Miami Gardens Police Department that required a polygraph test.

Dozens of juveniles were charged last year in Chicago for allegedly pointing guns at motorists and stealing their cars, but most were not detained longer than 24 hours, according to court records obtained by the Sun-Times.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – A state lawmaker and reform groups are pushing to bar officers from carrying pepper spray in juvenile jails in California, one of six states that still allow employees to patrol with the caustic chemicals in youth detention facilities.

Gov. Greg Abbott is replacing two top officials for the scandal-plagued juvenile justice agency still adjusting to a new executive director who took the helm last month.

The shooting of 16-year-old Joseph Haynes during a scuffle with 43-year-old Deputy Richard Scarborough outside a magistrate’s courtroom in the Franklin County Courthouse Downtown on Jan. 17 has prompted an online petition demanding, among other things, that deputies no longer carry guns in Juvenile Court.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The ACLU of Ohio and the Juvenile Justice Coalition have asked officials to expedite reforms to the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center and hire an outside expert to assess conditions at the facility.