A year and a half after Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R - South Dakota) assigned a widely praised package of juvenile justice reforms, South Dakota school administrators say the law has left them with few options for addressing truancy, underage drinking and other smaller offenses by students.

Not many teenagers are convicted of sex offenses in Iowa's adult courts — Polk County had just one such conviction last year — but there’s a big debate over what should happen when that occurs.

New report documents urgent need to replace youth prisons with rehabilitation-focused alternatives

Juvenile justice advocates at this two-day conference call the statistics alarming. In New Jersey, African-Americans and Latinos make up 87 percent of the juveniles “waived up” or tried as adults for certain crimes if a county prosecutor requests it and a judge approves it. If convicted, those juveniles serve sentences in adult prisons.

“They can tell if you care or if you don’t.”