Recent news

Yesterday Juvenile Law Center partnered with Temple Law Review for its Annual Symposium. This year, in celebration of 50 years of Juvenile Law Center, the theme was “Youth Justice in a New Era: Reflections on State Constitutional Litigation, Abolition, and Movement Lawyering." This blog reflects on the role of movement lawyering in pursuit of family preservation. April Lee of Philly Voice for Change participated on the movement lawyering and abolition panel discussion.

Today, the court-appointed monitor overseeing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake submitted the first ever report that finds “substantial compliance” on all measures. The monitor’s appointment resulted from a class action lawsuit that ACLU of Wisconsin, Juvenile Law Center and Quarles & Brady LLP filed over eight years ago due to the conditions children faced at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.

Vast majority of youth strip searches reviewed by Child Protection Ombudsman found no contraband Staff at Colorado’s juvenile detention centers violated policies meant to protect youth during strip searches more than 1,000 times during nine months between 2023 and 2025, according to a new review by the Child Protection Ombudsman of Colorado released Tuesday.

This week, Juvenile Law Center and Temple Law Review are hosting a symposium reflecting on 50 years of children’s rights advocacy and how to use different strategies in the future. As we prepare for the symposium, I am sending an important message to law students – the future of the legal profession.

Jamie Silvonek, who admitted helping her soldier boyfriend murder her mother when she was 14, is seeking to have her 35-years-to-life sentence changed to a term that would allow her to leave prison much sooner. With every other appeal option exhausted, Silvonek, now 24, is seeking commutation, a process that could eventually end with the governor of Pennsylvania signing her release papers.

On May 30, 2025 Juvenile Law Center submitted a commutation petition to the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons on behalf of Jamie Silvonek, 24, of Upper Macungie Township, PA. If the Board recommends commutation, it will go to Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) for final decision.

At 14, I was sentenced to 35 years to life in an adult prison for my role in my mother’s murder. After exhausting all other options, I am seeking the commutation of my sentence to life on parole.

Crime is down overall in Detroit — but according to police, not for the city's youth who've experienced a particularly bloody summer.

Last week, in a news conference filled with lies and disinformation, President Donald Trump chose to double down on failed policies of the past. In the face of a steeply declining crime wave, the administration has decided to federalize the D.C. police force and call out the National Guard to patrol the D.C. streets and chase down “roving bands of youth.”