Recent news

Dr. Amanda Alexander is the founding Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center and is currently a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School. Holding both a PhD in International History from Columbia University and a JD from Yale Law School, Dr. Alexander is committed to ending mass incarceration.

Washington, D.C. (April 20, 2023) – Youth advocacy groups today celebrated the release of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) “Dear Colleague” letter encouraging states and localities to eliminate fines and fees imposed on youth in the juvenile legal system. The new guidance revises and updates a 2016 letter the DOJ issued regarding fines and fees imposed on adults and a 2017 advisory about juvenile fines and fees.

When Philadelphia passed a bill in December to make permanent a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone younger than 18, city officials said it would help keep kids safe and out of trouble. But James Aye has seen otherwise.

Peter Leone, a professor emeritus of special education, was awarded the 2023 Leadership Prize by the Juvenile Law Center for decades of research on educational services for youths with disabilities in institutional settings and for those excluded from schools.

Xavier McElrath-Bey, Co-Executive Director of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) and Co-Founder of the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN), is being honored as a recipient of Juvenile Law Center’s 2023 Leadership Prize. In his work with CFSY, Xavier played an instrumental role in abolishing life without parole for youth in Nevada, Utah, Arkansas, South Dakota, and North Dakota.

Advocates with the Delaware Campaign to End Debtors’ Prison (CEDP) are celebrating a new law that will help restore driving permissions for people coming out of the criminal justice system. After nearly three years of lobbying lawmakers to make the change, HB 244 was approved last year and is now in effect.

The number of young Americans in juvenile detention dropped by 77 percent over the last two decades, from more than 100,000 to just over 25,000, according to federal data published late last year. Despite this huge reduction due to changing laws and policies, experts say young people still face stubborn barriers that make it more difficult to successfully reenter society after their release from incarceration.