In the wake of the deadly shooting that took the lives of 19 elementary school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the first major piece of federal legislation to address gun violence since the 1994 assault weapons ban. On June 25, 2022, President Biden signed the BSCA into law. Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Pub. L. No. 117-159, 136 Stat. 1313 (2022).
This year, Juvenile Law Center will honor Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg as joint winners of the 2024 Leadership Prize. Scott and Steinberg have co-published critical papers on adolescent development and brain science that have inspired lawyers, judges, and lawmakers across the country to re-examine their pre-conceived notions about adolescent development, children’s rights, and the possibility of envisioning a more developmentally-appropriate approach to youth crime and delinquency.
“This ban’s broad prohibitions are particularly dangerous for an especially vulnerable population – youth experiencing homelessness, who are disproportionately youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth with foster care experience.”
In April of 2007, I was sentenced to a youth forestry facility for mocking my vice principal online.
I was sentenced by the now infamous former judge Mark Ciavarella, who is now serving a lengthy prison sentence for his role in the construction of a for-profit juvenile detention center.
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