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...

Earlier today the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Omer Ninham's life without parole. Ninham was only 14 (1998) when he committed the crime and was sentenced to life without parole in 2000. There have been advances in our understanding of adolescent brain development since his life sentence was imposed. For example MRI studies which show...

While those of use working in the juvenile justice system often see the behaviors and challenges that children with mental health problems bring to us, we often see them too late, perhaps do a cursory job of assessing needs, and often turn to an ill-equipped service system too late. Advocates note that (1) only a small percentage of...

We have been pointing out all the signs of good news – of success – in the juvenile justice world in recent years. With fewer and fewer kids being placed in secure institutions, arrest rates declining, detention populations declining, and formal delinquency petitions declining, something seems to be working. But that apparent good news...