Recent news

On January 5, 2014, the New York Times published an editorial entitled Zero Tolerance, Reconsidered, decrying zero tolerance policies in schools. The editorial echoes other recent commentary as well as numerous studies and reports making the same point. Sadly, despite widespread demands for change, we see little progress on the horizon and the stories continue to make headlines.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a provision that provides health insurance to some former foster youth until age 26.  This provision became effective on January 1, 2014. 

The following documents have been released by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to provide guidance to stakeholders, including youth, on the implementation of this provision.

We are excited to share with you the newly released movie trailer for "Kids for Cash," featuring Juvenile Law Center's own Marsha Levick and Bob Schwartz. This critically acclaimed film will be premiering in theaters in February 2014. The film chronicles the infamous Luzerne County "kids-for-cash" case and is a powerful indictment of America's love affair with zero tolerance policies, our destructive school-to-prison pipeline and misuse of the juvenile justice system. 

Juvenile Law Center goes international! 

In a response to the Department of Health and Human Services about a project on personal searches of young people in custody, Elizabeth Daly, the Acting Commissioner for Children in Tasmania, Australia, cited an article written by Juvenile Law Center Supervising Attorney Jessica Feierman and Staff Attorney Riya Shah on strip-searching youth in detention.

Here at Juvenile Law Center, we're gearing up for a busy December. Below are details on three not-to-be-missed educational events taking place next month. 

On November 14, 2013, Juvenile Law Center Supervising Attorney Jessica Feierman facilitated a national webinar, "The Uninterrupted Scholars Act: Promising Information-Sharing Practices."