Youth Justice

How Does Wisconsin Fare in Reducing Youth Confinement? Good News – Bad News!

A recently released report from the Sentencing Project, Declines in Youth Commitments and Facilities in the 21st Century, summarizes the dramatic declines in youth confinement that have occurred across the country over the last decade or so. This is not news to those who have followed the trends of dramatic declines in juvenile arrests...

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It is Past Time to get Youth out of Adult Confinement Facilities

A new report by the Campaign for Youth Justice, a nationwide initiative focused on removing youth from the adult criminal justice system, demonstrates failures in keeping youth housed in adult prisons safe. Specifically, the report focuses on states’ compliance to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which provides that youthful...

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Wisconsin Juvenile Justice Numbers Continue to Decline

For well over a decade, trends in Wisconsin's key juvenile justice numbers have followed the national trends by continuing to decline. That trend continued through 2014 in which there were fewer juvenile arrests (only about 1/3 the number in 2002), a lower juvenile arrest rate (less than ½ of what it was in 2005), and fewer youth...

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No Magic Birthdays!!

Borrowing from Jeff Butts, the notion that there is no such thing as a “magic birthday” struck me when I read that Governor Malloy of Connecticut announced a new initiative to look at reforming the justice system for 18 to 24 year olds. Recall that Connecticut recently raised the age of adult jurisdiction from 16 to 17 and then 17 to 18...

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