Recent news

Tonight, voters approved a ballot measure that adds the City of Philadelphia Office of the Youth Ombudsperson to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, making it a permanent City agency. Young people in youth prisons, foster group homes, and behavioral health placements now have a permanent advocate they can reach out to report abuse or mistreatment without fear of retaliation.

Today, the court-appointed monitor overseeing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake submitted the second consecutive report finding “substantial compliance” with all measures. In 2018, the State agreed to regular monitoring as part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Wisconsin, Juvenile Law Center and Quarles & Brady LLP to address harmful conditions at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake. As the settlement allows, Defendants today filed an unopposed motion to terminate the court-ordered Consent Decree.

Today, Juvenile Law Center announced the appointment of its next Chief Legal Officer, Jessica Feierman. 

Today Juvenile Law Center released a report on the use of harmful fees and fines assessed against children in the juvenile justice system. The report, Heavy Burdens: The Weight of Juvenile Fees and Fines in the Keystone State, explains what juvenile fees and fines are, describes how they are used in counties across Pennsylvania, and makes the case why the state must abolish them.

Today, the court-appointed monitor overseeing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake submitted the first ever report that finds “substantial compliance” on all measures. The monitor’s appointment resulted from a class action lawsuit that ACLU of Wisconsin, Juvenile Law Center and Quarles & Brady LLP filed over eight years ago due to the conditions children faced at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.

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.

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. 

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