All in Juvenile Justice News

NYC school arrests cut in half amid policing reforms

The number of arrests at city schools plummeted during the first months of the school year in the wake of recent reforms that discouraged arrests for more minor offenses, new data shows.

NYPD officers made fewer than 150 arrests in city schools between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019 — about half the number of arrests cops made during the same months the previous year. The number of court summonses for schoolkids fell even more dramatically — from 124 in the last quarter of 2018 to 51 in 2019, a drop of 59%.

Racial disparities panel releases report

Today Dr Etan Nasreddin-Longo, chair of the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel, will present the Panel’s report to the Legislative Joint Justice Oversight Committee. The report contains extensive recommendations to the Legislature regarding ways to ameliorate the racial disparities that exist in our criminal and juvenile justice systems. These recommendations include centralizing a bias incident complaint process, significantly expanding data collection efforts, and implementing reforms to reduce racial profiling. The report also discusses root causes of racial disparities and summarizes the Panel’s extensive policy considerations.

New York City Council Pushes De Blasio Admin: What’s the Plan for Troubled Youth Detention Centers?

New York City Council confronted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration today on a steady increase in the use of force in two youth detention facilities.

“We all agree there’s a problem, the numbers lay that out,” said Manhattan Councilman Keith Powers (D), chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, to a group of administration officials who appeared to testify. “What is the game plan between now and next year to improve those numbers? … What programs, services or staffing?”

‘Raise the Age' juvenile initiative in North Carolina begins in December

RALEIGH, N.C. - Significant changes to North Carolina's justice system for young offenders and sex-related offenses begin this weekend.

No longer will 16- and 17-year-olds be automatically tried in adult court for most nonviolent or less serious felonies as the state's long-awaited "Raise the Age" initiative takes effect. Victims of child sex abuse will have more time as adults to seek civil damages against perpetrators. And, a court decision preventing women from legally revoking consent is getting overridden.

Videos: Chaos, violence in Georgia’s youth prisons

At Georgia’s seven juvenile prisons, hundreds of surveillance cameras capture the daily violence and chaos that permeate the facilities. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained videos of several incidents involving the use of force by corrections officers at the Sumter Youth Development Campus in Americus. The state Department of Juvenile Justice obscured the faces of juveniles in the videos.