Marsha Levick took her seat at a conference table at the Juvenile Law Center on a recent Wednesday for what would be one of her last meetings. She walked colleagues through the basic principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1989 treaty that laid out, in clear terms, what the world said it owed young people.
Diana Dombrowski and Emily R. Siegel, Bloomberg Law •
Kristen Yeckley was not happy with her 13-year-old daughter.
The principal called on a September afternoon and said the teen was in trouble for having a vape in her Ohio middle school. They searched her gym and school lockers, according to court filings.
State lawmakers held a hearing Tuesday on a set of bills intended to reduce burdens on students and families involved in Pennsylvania’s juvenile court system.
A new report by the Juvenile Law Center found that fines and fees that courts charge juvenile offenders leave many in debt, harming their chances of becoming productive adults.
Youth should not be tried in adult court because it does not promote rehabilitation, does not deter youth crime, and imposes immense harm on children. The United States has a long history of over-criminalizing and policing youth, especially Black and Brown youth. Despite the formation of a separate juvenile court system specifically designed to “treat, rather than punish,” this over criminalization and policing has resulted in youth being pushed into the adult criminal system.
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.
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.
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.
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