As I approach my retirement, I am facing two directions. I am looking back over the past near decade that I have served as CEO of Juvenile Law Center, and I am looking forward to Riya Saha Shah leading the office as the next CEO, our 50th Anniversary and the work ahead in 2025. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as a leader at this amazing organization and I retire with confidence, knowing that Riya will be a terrific CEO and the team is doubling down in the fight on behalf of youth in the juvenile legal and foster care systems. They will need the support of all of us-- our collaboration, and financial investment-- in 2025 and beyond!
I became the director at Juvenile Law Center in October 2015. Just a few months later, in January 2016, the Montgomery v. Louisianna case, which Juvenile Law Center co-counseled, came down and made the previous 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama retroactive. Montgomery meant that more than 2,000 people serving mandatory life without parole who were sentenced as youth were eligible for resentencing hearings. In the years that followed, our partners hosted an anniversary party every January to commemorate the Montgomery decision. Every year, I snapped a group photo of those who were sentenced to die in prison who are now back in the community. In the initial year, a few attorneys and advocates gathered around a small cake in a small conference room. Then resentencing hearings geared up and people started coming home. My most poignant experiences during the past nine years have been seeing the growing number of people now back in the community. They are starting families, working alongside us in advocacy, and purchasing their first homes. One past client joined our Board of Directors! The photo now needs a wide lens to capture the more than 200 people who have returned to Philadelphia. Across the country over 1,000 people previously sentenced as youth to life without parole have been resentenced and released.
Juvenile Law Center enters 2025 with 23 cases in 13 jurisdictions across the country. Many of these cases continue the work of bringing adolescent developmental science into caselaw as we did to eliminate the death penalty in Roper v. Simmons in 2005 and in both Miller and Montgomery. We are also heightening our focus on state constitutions and state supreme courts, pivoting to meet new challenges. In 2025, we will also be releasing a package of resources about transfer- the process of trying youth as adults and imposing adult sentences. The resources cover all 50 states so will be useful to advocates across the country who are using developmental science to advocate that kids should be treated as kids.
In 2016 we also released Debtors’ Prison for Kids? The High Cost of Fines and Fees in the Juvenile Justice System. That report on the abusive fines and fees charged to youth and families (even those determined to be “indigent”) launched our work to eliminate fees and fines in the juvenile justice system. With our partners, we launched the Debt Free Justice Campaign. In very challenging political times, in state legislatures across the country, we have worked with local youth and families to eliminate fees and fines in 23 states. This has discharged over $700 million in debt off the backs of teens and their parents trying to survive and rebuild their lives. In 2025, we will be working in five additional states: Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Our Youth Advocacy Program has evolved during my years as director at Juvenile Law Center: this year, we added four fellowships for alumni to be embedded in each of our four project teams. They serve as effective liaisons to other youth advocates and alumni and as critical members of our project teams. In October, we released Broken Promises: Futures Denied, the second edition of Broken Bridges: How Juvenile Placements Cut of Youth from Communities and Successful Futures. Both publications highlight harms to youth in institutional settings in the juvenile legal system; the second additional also addresses problems youth experience in group homes in the child welfare system. This new edition also updates information on abuse and educational deprivation and includes a new focus on the mental health needs of youth in placement and the discrimination against LGBTQ youth. The youth advocates and alumni who wrote the publication bravely share their traumatic experiences in placement; they use those experiences to inform their powerful recommendations to transform the systems. Download it, read it, share it! We will continue to disseminate it in 2025 and use it as a call to action!
As I look back on every memorable success, I am also looking ahead with Juvenile Law Center to the work that continues. My deepest appreciation to all of you who have supported me and supported our work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I leave this job as passionate as ever about the fight for young people. As Juvenile Law Center celebrates its 50th Anniversary year, it inspires the hope of a world which treats children as children and fights for each and every young person. Another world is possible for our youth, and with your support we can get there. Consider a gift today.
