Juvenile Crime

Abused and charged with murder: 8-year-old boy shoots & kills father and family friend after 1,000th spanking

Susan Mernit | Posted 12.01.2008 | Media


Susan Mernit

If you are 8 years old and you have received 1,000 spankings since you were old enough to start counting them, what does that mean? It could mean yo...

Historically, Eight-Year-Old Killers Have Been Mythical

Rob Warden | Posted 11.09.2008 | Politics


Rob Warden

The confession of an eight-year-old boy to the murder of his father and another man last week in St. Johns, Arizona, is shocking. It also may be false.

Former San Quentin Warden Supports Prop. 5: Responsible Plan to Reduce Prison Overcrowding

Jeanne Woodford | Posted 10.28.2008 | Politics


Jeanne Woodford

Prop. 5 starts with youth. It launches the state's first system offering drug treatment for at-risk youth. Stop addiction early, and we reduce crime.

Does Britain Suffer From a "Stabbing Culture"? Let's Cut Through The Nonsense.

Alan Miller | Posted 08.14.2008 | Politics


Alan Miller

Britain is currently consumed with an extremely unhealthy obsession with knife crime. While many of the teens readily confess to 'not really knowing what is going on', so too do the police.

Mass Incarceration of Children Must End

J. Richard Cohen | Posted 07.03.2008 | Politics


J. Richard Cohen

This reliance on mass incarceration of children is not only cruel and counterproductive, it's extremely costly to taxpayers. And it damages our economy by sapping so much potential from our youth.

Reforming Juvenile Injustice

Carol Chodroff | Posted 07.02.2008 | Politics


Carol Chodroff

Our nation's juvenile justice policies are replete with contradictions between practices proven to prevent crime, and punitive laws politicians promote to get elected.

Department of Justice Imposes Litmus Tests When Helping Troubled Teens

Paul Peete | Posted 06.10.2008 | Home


Paul Peete

Hope for our troubled teens? Not if you are sexually active, Gay/Lesbian, and most of all, not assisted by Republicans

Congress Must Act to Protect Young Detainees from Abuse

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 05.19.2008 | Politics


Marian Wright Edelman

Our nation's juvenile detention system is in desperate need of massive reform. There are horrifying reports of the physical and sexual abuse of children and teens in juvenile correctional facilities.

Missouri's Humane and Sensible Approach to Juvenile Justice

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 03.17.2008 | Politics


Marian Wright Edelman

We should stop spending a fortune on traditional, non-therapeutic, correctional facilities and then releasing youth back into our communities with little done to address their rehabilitation and education needs.

Let's Put the "Justice" Back in Our Juvenile Justice System

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 12.03.2007 | Politics


Marian Wright Edelman

We can do better. Incarceration shouldn't be our society's first or primary response to a minority youth in trouble.

Young, Black and Locked Up

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 11.26.2007 | Politics


Marian Wright Edelman

Our ranking as the world's number one jailer represents a monumental national failure. We need to refocus what we do with the children we detain.

Why Civil Rights Leaders Didn't Get Jena 6 Defendant Mychal Bell Out of Jail

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted 09.21.2007 | Politics


Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The shame is that many of those who demanded Bell's freedom didn't put up a nickel to see that he got it.