Victim Restitution Payments for Childhood Crimes Often Linger Into Adulthood, Analysis Finds

Eli Hager, The Washington Post •

“These are children in poverty making payments to multimillion-dollar corporations, under the threat of jail,” said Jessica Feierman, senior managing director of Juvenile Law Center, a legal advocacy group in Philadelphia. “If that’s intended to develop a sense of accountability, it’s not succeeding, because it’s asking kids to do the impossible.”

About the Expert

Jessica Feierman is the Chief Legal Officer of Juvenile Law Center, where she leads programmatic work and engages in impact litigation, amicus efforts, and policy reform to fight systems that harm children and separate families, focusing on the juvenile, criminal, and family policing systems. She has also published widely on these issues.