James Bell on KALW Your Call Radio with David Muhammad, new Alameda County probation chief, on a show dedicated to Juvenile Justice.

James Bell quoted in new report by NAACP called MISPLACED PRIORITIES.

Today, we’re going to look at Santa Cruz County, which went from having an overcrowded juvenile hall to becoming a national model for alternatives to incarcerating kids. KALW’s Rina Palta has the story.

In low-income communities already reeling with double-digit unemployment, news that your state plans to trim several million dollars from juvenile corrections might not cause much outcry except for the loss of jobs. But consider the implications.

A generation after record levels of youth crime spurred a nationwide movement to prosecute more teenagers as adults, a consensus is emerging that many young delinquents have been mishandled by the adult court system.

Today the W. Haywood Burns Institute (BI) received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, selected by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Research shows that Native Hawaiians are more likely to be incarcerated than other racial or ethnic groups in Hawaii

The Global Interdependence Youth Summit, September 9-13 will engage young people from many countries both in their own activities and in its panels and seminars.

CA Unable to Meet Needs of Rising Number of Girls in Juvenile Justice System

The BI is seeking applicants for two positions. While each position will have similar duties there is a distinction in emphasis and skill set for each. One manager should have a particular interest in training and curriculum development while the other manager should have an interest in community organizing and engagement.

Following the premiere, Ella Baker Center Executive Director Jakada Imani will moderate a panel discussion with: Youth From the Video, Chief Probation Officer Sheila Mitchell, Hattie Tate, Raquel Mariscal, Zachary Norris, James Bell

The NAACP is celebrating its 101st year anniversary in Kansas City, MO, and kicked-off its second century with the ACT-SO competition and performance that attracts hundreds of the nation's most gifted students to compete in arts, technology and academics.

For too long, "tough on crime" political rhetoric has resulted in juvenile justice laws that are bad for youth and that ultimately increase crime. Research has proven there are better, more effective ways to deal with youth offenders, and it is time for Congress to act to improve our nation's juvenile justice system.

California is close to being the first state to pass a bill that would provide review and the possibility of parole for juvenile life without the possibility of parole cases. Senate Bill 399 passed in the State Senate and cleared the first hurdles in the Assembly.

On Tuesday, June 29 at 3:30 p.m., a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee is scheduled to mark up the FY 2011 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which will provide funding for all federal juvenile justice programs.

After struggling for years to treat young criminals in razor wire-ringed institutions, states across the country are quietly shuttering dozens of reformatories amid plunging juvenile arrests, softer treatment policies and bleak budgets.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that juveniles who have not killed may not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. James Bell, executive director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute, says the ruling continues to establish jurisprudential precedent acknowledging that youth should be treated differently than adults.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that juveniles may not be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole unless guilty of homicide, declaring unconstitutional a sentencing practice that has been adopted by some states but, the court said, was "rejected the world over."

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) spoke today about reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) in an interview on Juvenile Justice Matters, the radio show of a D.C.-based advocacy group The Campaign for Youth Justice.

A few weeks prior to his birthday, a judge had sentenced Jonathan to a 30-year-long bid in a Missouri adult prison for shooting another teenager. Wednesday was the first full committee hearing of the Congress considering the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). McClard's passion for the issue indicates that if she has anything to do with it, a strong reauthorization of the act will be passed by Congress, further strengthening the minimal protection for youth affected by laws that seem oblivious to their age.

In Cook County, almost six thousand juveniles were held in detention in 2008. But for every white kid in detention, there were twenty-nine black kids.

If u were an activist or an organizer in 1999-2000, chances are you were working to defeat Prop 21 and know how unified we were in the Bay Area. In the 10 years since, we miss that kind of spirit but we know all those amazing people are still around. Many of those who were on the front lines at the time or who had begun their activism will be telling their stories in combination with digital images.

Please contact your Representatives to urge them to attend the House Education & Labor Committee full committee hearing, “Reforming the Juvenile Justice System to Improve Children's Lives and Public Safety” on Wednesday, April 21st at 10:00 am in 2175 Rayburn House Office Building.

This position is being established to increase our capacity to track, analyze and engage policy advocacy regarding a wide variety of topics involving youth of color in trouble with the law. In addition, this position is expected to support data and policy analysis in local BI sites as needed.

A new interactive map of juvenile justice disparities across the country has become available to the public. The tool also provides state-by-state statistics, like California's drug arrests between 2003 and 2006, which show that the number of African American youth arrested increased by six over that period, while the number of Latino youth arrested for similar offenses decreased by 21.

This position will primarily support 5 staff members. The Administrative Assistant will report directly to the Senior Assistant for Administration and be responsible for providing impeccable administrative support to both internal and offsite staff. Among other responsibilities, he or she will:

In the basement of a church near the Capitol, a congregation of juvenile justice advocates, adult and adolescent, geared up to go ask legislators to support the closings and consolidations of four juvenile placement facilities, which are proposed in the 2010-2011 Executive Budget.

Is it time for the United States to haul in its law-and-order approach to adolescent misbehavior? Time for principals to stop sending students to court for run-of-the-mill fist-fights or mouthing off? For police to stop dragging kids to court over status offenses and disorderly conduct? For juvenile courts to stop imposing probation on youth wholesale, and for juvenile corrections systems to reduce their stubborn reliance on training schools?

The San Francisco-based W. Haywood Burns Institute, using statistics gathered by the federal government, released an interactive map Wednesday showing the youth incarceration rates in all 50 states.

The San Francisco-based national nonprofit W. Haywood Burns Institute (BI) is announcing the availability of the first-ever “Racial and Ethnic Disparities Juvenile Justice Data Map” on its website, http://www.burnsinstitute.org. Laura John Ridolfi, BI Law and Policy Analyst, will hold a media conference call tomorrow to explain how to utilize the State Data Map to find juvenile justice information.

Three decades ago, the federal government signed into law an act that provided rights and protections to juveniles in detention. Today, the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA) is overdue for reauthorization. S. 678 must be passed to continue to:

This new legislation creates a Class A misdemeanor penalty for what it dubs “criminal street gang initiation.” Those who are charged would face as much as a year in jail if convicted of initiating a person and if the initiation created a risk of “physical injury.” So what’s the problem with this bill? The New York Police Department and prosecution don’t have to prove with witness testimony that the injury took place during initiation.

There was no profanity, no hate. Just the words, “I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 ” scrawled on the classroom desk with a green marker. Alexa Gonzalez, an outgoing 12-year-old who likes to dance and draw, expected a lecture or maybe detention for her doodles earlier this month. Instead, the principal of the Junior High School in Forest Hills, New York, called police, and the seventh-grader was taken across the street to the police precinct. Alexa’s hands were cuffed behind her back, and tears gushed as she was escorted from school in front of teachers and — the worst audience of all for a preadolescent girl — her classmates.

Ayrillyn Pierre, 11 years old, was arrested last month and charged with simple battery after a passer-by saw her and another preteen girl fighting at a bus stop.

TROY ERIK ISAAC was 12 years old and one week into a court-ordered detention for vandalism when he was sexually assaulted by an older, bigger boy. It would not be the last time. "I was effeminate, thin and looked vulnerable," he says now, 24 years after the fact. "Nobody tells you when you go in, 'You better be careful.' "

But instead of being arrested, Ben got a civil citation through the experimental program aimed at giving kids a second chance the first time they get into a brush with the law.

Last year, Burns released Adoration of the Question, a paper that called on states to move beyond half-hearted attempts to address racial disparities. The San Francisco-based nonprofit recently followed up that paper with The Keeper and the Kept, which spells out exactly how Burns believes systems can make real and lasting changes in regard to DMC. After reading the most recent Burns piece, JJ Today e-mailed some questions for Bell, who responded thoroughly.

Rehabilitative approaches work better than punitive ones in reforming juvenile offenders. So why don't more states adopt them?

A Jackson mother who has been advocating for change in the juvenile justice system since her son, Jonathan, committed suicide in prison in January 2008 is thrilled to see progress on a 35-year-old piece of legislation getting a facelift by lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

More than 12% of youths in juvenile prisons are sexually abused while in custody there, according to a Justice Department study out Thursday, and the vast majority of cases involve female staff and boys under their supervision.

Although the growth of imprisonment was down in 2008, the number of incarcerated people is still on the rise, according to an analysis released today by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI).

THE SENATE Judiciary Committee should embrace a bill scheduled for debate on Thursday that institutes needed reforms in how the nation deals with youth who run afoul of the law.

On Thursday, December 10th, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider S. 678, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2009. This critical legislation may be undermined by the addition of amendment expected to be offered by Senator Sessions (R-AL) that would increase the number of youth tried as adults and/or that would remove a judge’s discretion to determine whether to prosecute a youth in adult court. Such an amendment would directly contradict the goals and purposes of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.