In a US Supreme Court decision (J.D.B. v. North Carolina) released today, the Court ruled (5-4) that a youth’s age does need to be considered as a factor when giving Miranda warnings – particularly as it relates to a youth’s ability to understand whether or not they are “in custody” and can adequately exercise consent to be questioned. ...

Rock County is highlighted in the latest issue of the DMC Action Network e-Newsletter, reviewing some of the progress made over the past couple of years in creating alternatives to detention, implementing sound screening and assessment practices, and reducing reoffending.  Much of this progress began under the leadership of Jason Witt,...

In action yesterday, the Joint Finance Committee approved Governor Walker’s recommendations related to two key issues for juvenile corrections: (1) Approving the daily rates for services provide by the Division of Juvenile Corrections, and (2) Approving the consolidation of three juvenile correctional institutions (JCIs) – closing Ethan...

Over many years of working in juvenile justice, I found that people outside the system (and some inside as well who would express dire predictions like “..watch out, this summer will be really bad") assumed that summer would be a high time for juvenile arrests and detentions. Yet our own internal data as well as anecdotal information...

One of the more contentious debates about the relationship between crime and incarceration has centered on what the nature of the link is between increased/decreased crime rates and increased/decreased rates of incarceration. Does locking more people up reduce crime? Is there a demonstrable or direct relationship between the two?The...