Dr. Peter Leone is Professor Emeritus of Special Education in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education at the University of Maryland, and serves as a member of the Juvenile Services Education Program Board for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services and previously served on the Board of Directors of the Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools for 12 years. Dr. Leone has spent almost 50 years working to support the well-being and educational rights of youth with lived experience in the child welfare and juvenile legal systems.
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.
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.
On December 20th, 2022 Juvenile Law Center launched our Digital Youth Advocacy Toolkit. This resource offers downloadable templates and support to people looking to start or strengthen their own youth advocacy programs, drawing on Juvenile Law Center’s years of experience with its own Youth Advocacy Program. Leading up to launch day, I had the opportunity to sit down with the Youth Advocacy Program Senior Manager, and author of the Digital Youth Advocacy Toolkit, Cathy Moffa. Below is an excerpt of our conversation.
Meryem Dede, Bay to Bay News - Delaware State News •
This past October, Delaware took a big first step forward in helping families across our state. Last year, Delaware was named one of the worst actors in the nation for tacking fines and fees onto criminal convictions or delinquency adjudications, ranking 47th out of 51 jurisdictions. No more. On Oct. 3, Gov. John Carney signed House Bill 244, making big changes for justice-impacted people around the state by addressing the harmful effects of these fees and fines.
I write with deep gratitude for your support and to ask you to again invest in us as we fight for rights, dignity, equity, and opportunity for youth. Please partner with us as we work to reduce the harm of the child welfare and justice systems, limit their reach, and ultimately abolish them so all young people can thrive.
An issue as serious as sexual violence requires a response rooted in evidence. A common response nationwide is the practice of placing youth on sex offender registries. However, this fails to advance public safety or prevent sexual violence and has devastating consequences for registered youth and their families.
Sign up to get breaking news from Juvenile Law Center.
