Juvenile Justice News

School resource officers are more than just police to kids
By By Anna Webb
"Spend time on school grounds with Detective Jackie Wright, a school resource officer -- or SRO -- and you'll see the kaleidoscopic nature of her job."

Pa. leads nation in youths given life behind bars
By By Ervin Dyer
"Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of youths given life prison sentences without parole, according to two human rights groups."

Report -- State's young inmates put at risk
By By Richard D. Walton
"A culture of violence and rampant sexual activity at the Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility put hundreds of youths in harm's way, the U.S. Department of Justice says."

ACLU, state aim to protect files
By By Ken Kobayashi
"Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and the state will try to reach an agreement to ensure the preservation of Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility documents that might be relevant to a pending lawsuit by the ACLU against state officials."

Young offenders behind bars for life
By By Van Jensen
"Today, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International released a report saying that, in 42 states, at least 2,225 people are serving sentences of life without parole for crimes they committed as children. Forty-six are in Arkansas, according to the report."

State faces scrutiny on juvenile prisons
By By the Associated Press
"Only a few months ago the Indiana prison system won its release from a judicial order governing how it treated the juveniles it detains. If all goes as planned, however, the system soon will find itself under a new federal court consent decree ordering it to change the way it treats the youths in its care for crimes they've committed."