AUSTIN — Five of the top employees at the youth lockup north of Dallas have been terminated amid ongoing efforts to right the state's juvenile justice agency.

Staff at L.A. County's juvenile halls and camps use pepper spray on kids too often, too quickly, and in situations when it isn't necessary, according to a report issued by the county's inspector general.

Advocates for juvenile justice reform are both optimistic and wary of a proposal to put the California Health and Human Services Agency in charge of the state’s juvenile justice system.

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris have hired the nation’s leading juvenile justice statistician to help find potential problem areas of inequality and disproportionate minority contact within Juvenile Court.

Several lawmakers, Delegate Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond,  Mike Mullin, D-Newport News and Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, have introduced bills that would limit criminal charges for student misbehavior or classmate beefs.

The bills filed in both the House and Senate would prohibit students from being found guilty of disorderly conduct in school. It’s a charge that could carry jail time.

At long last, federal law on a key juvenile justice policy has been dusted off. On December 21, the day the government shut down, President Trump signed into law the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018, an update to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which was passed in 1974. It had not been reauthorized since 2002.

Youths awaiting trial in Orleans Parish will no longer be detained simply because their families can’t afford to post bond, New Orleans Juvenile Court judges said.

Delaware’s Family Court started to examine its juvenile drug court program in 2016. It found the number of youth needing the program is dropping because they’re being diverted from the criminal justice system.

WASHINGTON, D.C. ― The Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has released Juvenile Arrests, 2016.

Findings presented in this bulletin show that the number of juvenile arrests in 2016 was at its lowest level since 1980, with much of the decline occurring within the past 10 years.

About 9.8 percent of Texas students were listed as special education in 2016-2017, but 18.4 percent of students sent to alternative schools run by local juvenile justice departments that school year were in special education. They accounted for about 17.7 percent of students placed on out-of-school suspension and 16.3 percent of students sent to district-run disciplinary schools.