Recent news

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.”

A growing body of research shows that juvenile offenders are immature and impulsive. But in spite of landmark Supreme Court rulings, many so-called juvenile lifers are growing old behind bars.

Richard L. Berkman, retired Dechert LLP partner and longtime civic leader, and Toni Seidl, longtime advocate for children and social justice, have made a landmark series of charitable contributions totaling $900,000 to three leading legal nonprofits in Pennsylvania: the Public Interest Law Center, Education Law Center-PA, and Juvenile Law Center. These gifts will fuel critical work on behalf of children, youth, and communities facing systemic injustice. 

Juvenile Law Center has been a national leader advocating for the rights of young people in the justice system for 50 years. One of the ways in which Juvenile Law Center is unique, however, is in the role it has played shaping international law, policy and thinking on juvenile justice and in inspiring those who advocate for justice for children. This has happened in three principal ways.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are debating juvenile justice reform proposals aimed at improving Pennsylvania’s approach to supporting youth offenders and holding providers and public officials accountable.

Young people also shared their report Broken Promises: Futures Denied, which details the harms of the Commonwealth’s juvenile detention system