The widespread misconception means records that people think are blocked from view can come back to haunt them later in life.

King County (WA) juvenile justice and youth services leaders held a press roundtable last Friday, March 10, to provide the latest update on the newest programs focusing on community engagement and restorative justice.

Three states that have led a trend toward once again trying 16- and 17-year-olds as juveniles have seen falling juvenile crime and stable costs.

That’s a major finding of the Justice Policy Institute’s report, “Raising the Age: Shifting to a Safer and More Effective Juvenile Justice System,” according to the organization’s press release. The report, released March 7, looks at the results of “raising the age” in seven states that have done that in the past 10 years: Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

A controversial practice of routinely handcuffing and chaining children who appear in juvenile court has been stopped by Jefferson District Judge David Holton, to the delight of children's advocates and public defenders who have decried the practice since it began in 2011.

The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would make correctional officers in juvenile prisons mandatory reporters for child abuse and neglect.

HOUSTON (KTRK) --

ABC13 Investigates has learned Harris County's Juvenile Probation Department recently transferred dozens of severely mentally ill juveniles from a psychiatric hospital to the downtown detention center. The move comes after the department canceled its contract with the Harris County Psychiatric Center on January 31.

A proposal to limit the discretionary power prosecutors wield in charging juveniles as adults in Florida has surfaced once again in the Legislature.

For several years, versions of a bill to change how minors end up in adult court have failed. But state Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, a co-sponsor of this year's SB 192, said he is optimistic the measure will move forward this time given the shift in valuing rehabilitation over punishment.

In juvenile court circles, the program is loosely referred to as the mental health docket. Its more formal title is IDD, which stands for Individualized Disposition Docket. Loosely modeled after a similar program in California, it has been a quiet collaboration between the court, Lighthouse Youth Services, Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board and Mental Health Access Point. Based on early successes, it expanded to include the Pretrial Diversion Docket (PDD) that seeks to catch kids earlier in the court system.