Despite progress in recent years, Arkansas' youth justice system is still rife with problems, a new report shows -- namely, keeping kids locked up too long, even for misdemeanors; poor oversight; a lack of use-of-force training for officers; and insufficient data-keeping that prevents the best use of resources.

Constantine reveals $4 million proposed budget to fund programs aimed at helping achieve his goal of 'zero youth detention.'

Major portions of San Diego’s juvenile detention facilities sit empty. And it’s not just San Diego. Falling crime rates, combined with more money for prevention and a changing juvenile justice culture, have virtually emptied California’s juvenile halls.

Children under 13 who are accused of crimes will no longer be locked up in Cook County.

Under a law passed unanimously Wednesday by the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the county will find alternatives to detaining kids arrested in the county.

Three new reports and interviews with former staff document overcrowding and severe staffing shortages at the Youth Study Center.

Under the settlement, the county also will pay $240,000 to four juveniles who were held in solitary confinement at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Concluding that they do more harm than good, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court has abolished court fees for juvenile delinquents.

The DMC sub-committee found that the failure to appear in court rate for youth of color was double that of white youths, a factor that contributed to the lower rate of reduction in detentions for youth of color. In fact, 66 percent of the youth in detention for failure to appear over a two years period were youths of color. The county juvenile services office has since revised that process to make it easier for youths to appear in court, thereby “dramatically” reducing numbers.

TOPEKA – Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex (KJCC) is garnering national accolades for a program aimed at reducing the number of female offenders requiring interventions for suicidal or self-harming behaviors.

COLUMBIA, SC - Teenagers at the Department of Juvenile Justice got a special piece of plastic Wednesday; an identification card. The department says the ID is a key tool in helping the teens get on their feet after leaving DJJ.

Not wanting to hammer all teens with harsh penalties when they are caught sending nude photographs, the Ohio House voted unanimously on Wednesday to support a lesser penalty for young first-time offenders.

A newspaper investigation has found that one in five victims of possible child trafficking in Kansas are placed in juvenile detention, a process that experts say hampers the effort to heal them.

Like many of the challenges facing the nation’s collective corrections system, such as overcrowding and sentencing disparities, these issues arose mostly in response to the “get tough on crime” political environment that emerged in the 1980s in response to rising crime rates and spreading drug-related violence. The pendulum has begun to swing back toward moderation, and in 2017 several state legislatures passed significant reforms to their juvenile justice systems. 

ROCKFORD — Young adults charged with misdemeanor crimes could have their cases transferred to juvenile court under legislation being considered by the Illinois House.

A bill co-sponsored by state Rep. Litesa Wallace, D-Rockford, would give judges the authority to decide whether 18-, 19- and 20-year-old defendants should have their misdemeanor cases heard in juvenile court.