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.
Advocates for child welfare reform rallied in the Capitol Monday to urge the legislature to establish a permanent child advocacy office that is not subject to the whim of a governor.
My name is Jared Cooper. I was arrested and thrown into the criminal justice system at 18 years old. Through fighting for my life and freedom, I was able to break the shackles that so effortlessly tried to hold me back. Now, my primary focus in life is health and wellness, and I currently do restorative work with a nonprofit organization, Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YSAP) and advocacy work as a member of Advocates for Youth Justice with Juvenile Law Center’s Youth Advocacy Program.
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