CARSON CITY — Nevada’s juvenile justice system may be getting an overhaul. The end result: Putting county and state juvenile justice officials on the same page.

A sweeping juvenile justice reform bill passed the Utah legislature this month and was enacted into law with broad support.

Sponsored by Representative Lowry Snow (R), House Bill 239 makes numerous changes to Utah’s juvenile code to keep lower-level delinquent youth out of costly detention and instead provide evidence-based, home-based counseling and supervision in the community.

State senators Monday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill that would ban any use of physical restraints, such as handcuffs or shackles, on children during a juvenile court proceeding unless it's shown there's an immediate risk of danger.

A new legislative report says that tracking court rulings and related judicial sanctions — such as probation, adult jail or prison — for juveniles directly filed into Florida’s adult court system is limited by a lack of accessible records.

The House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee on Wednesday voted to approve a bill that would raise the age of criminal responsibility in Texas from 17 to 18.  

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — For some juvenile offenders, their choice is straight out of Hamlet: to act or not to act.

Shakespeare & Company, a theater company in Lenox, Massachusetts, works with the courts to get youngsters who run afoul of the law sentenced to perform works of Shakespeare onstage as an alternative to community service or juvenile detention.

Court officials are urging lawmakers to approve what they called a long-overdue interim study of the state’s juvenile court system. The proposal follows a study conducted over the past interim on the adult correctional system.

As Policy Watch has noted in recent weeks, support for “raise the age” legislation seems to be growing in North Carolina among both political parties and law enforcement. This week, it’s getting another thumbs up from leaders in Wake County, which operates the state’s largest public school system. - See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2017/03/20/wake-county-leaders-push-raise-age-legislation/#sthash.H7kuVNmo.dpuf