Casey Foundation Recognizes Juvenile Law Center for National Juvenile Justice Reform Work
At this year's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) Intersite Conference, held in Atlanta on April 16-18, Juvenile Law Center received the "Gloria J. Jenkins Award for Outstanding Contributions to Juvenile Justice Reform by a Community Organization."
The award recognized our system reform efforts, particularly our amicus curiae briefs to the United States Supreme Court in cases that have significantly benefited juveniles, including Roper v. Simmons, Graham v. Florida, J.D.B. v. North Carolina, and Miller v. Alabama, as well as our ongoing litigation and advocacy work related to the Luzerne County "kids-for-cash" scandal.
JDAI is a national, site-based reform initiative. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has led JDAI for over 20 years. JDAI promotes changes to policies, practices, and programs to reduce reliance on secure confinement and reduce racial and ethnic disparities, among other goals.
The Casey Foundation currently funds the work of Supervising Attorney Jessica Feierman and Zubrow Fellow LT Tierney to develop a policy guide that will enable states to embed JDAI's core principles in state law, regulations, or court rules. The guide—designed to sustain states' JDAI reforms and bring them to scale—will be published later this year.
At the April JDAI conference in Atlanta, Jessica and LT led a panel discussion about the policy guide and the benefits and challenges of using both regulatory and statutory change to advance detention reform.