This report, a product of The National Council of La Raza and the Campaign for Youth Justice, examines recent information about Latino youth in the justice system with a specific focus on youth tried as adults. In addition to providing a detailed overview of racial disparities and structural racism in the justice system, this report looks at a variety of national initiatives that have been successful at reducing racial inequities in detention facilities among Latino youth.

Across the nation, juvenile courts and corrections systems are littered with poorly conceived strategies that increase crime, endanger young people and damage their future prospects, waste billions of taxpayer dollars, and violate our deepest held principles about equal justice under the law. This Casey Foundation issue brief outlines federal policy recommendations for reforming the juvenile justice system.

In the 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book, the Annie E. Casey Foundation essay focuses on juvenile justice reform. This fact sheet presents six key challenges and points toward solutions that are proved reforms to improve the outcomes of the juvenile justice system for youth, families, taxpayers, and communities.

Although about 20 percent of all youth will become at risk of disconnection at some time before reaching the age of 25, only 5 to 7 percent will reach age 25 without connecting in a meaningful way to employment and social support systems. This slide deck is a field scan of what selected school districts, foundations, and nonprofit organizations are doing to reconnect these young people to school and other social networks so that they are prepared for careers and further education. Individual slides can be taken from this deck and used in presentations.

Harlem Children’s Zone,®Inc. has experienced incredible growth - from the number of children we serve to the breadth of our services. But one thing has stayed the same: the agency’s “whatever it takes” attitude when it comes to helping children to succeed.

The organization began 1970 as Rheedlen, working with young children and their families as the city’s first truancy-prevention program.

Reclaiming Futures (RF) is an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that seeks to improve outcomes for drug-involved youth in the juvenile justice system. The first phase of Reclaiming Futures (2002–07) was a ten-site demonstration effort that relied on organizational change and system reform to improve substance abuse interventions for youthful offenders. As part of a national evaluation of Reclaiming Futures, the Urban Institute and Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago conducted biannual surveys in each community participating in the initiative. The surveys measured the quality of juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment systems as reported by expert informants in each community. The pattern of their responses over six survey administrations (December 2003 to June 2006) suggests that RF is a promising strategy for improving substance abuse interventions for youth. Positive and significant changes were reported in all ten RF communities. In several communities, most quality indicators measured by the evaluation improved significantly during the course of the RF initiative.

Despite the seriousness of some teen crime, transferring more juveniles to adult facilities is a mistake. While outgoing D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer is trying to reduce this practice for 16- and 17- year-olds, transfers are becoming increasingly common.

Sending a teen to serve time in an adult facility tells the teen, his or her family, and the community that society has written this kid off. Before moving more juveniles to adult jurisdiction, the District should find out whether get-tough policies like juvenile transfers actually make our streets safer.