Op-Ed Juvenile Justice Can be Less Expensive

In a Sacramento Bee Op Ed piece, Youth Law Center Staff Attorney Sue Burrell weighed in on a new Justice Policy Institute report on the astronomical costs of juvenile incarceration, including its negative impact on recidivism, completion of education, employment, use of public benefits, and effect on the economy and tax revenues. The Op Ed […]

YLC Honors Unsung Heroes on December 8, 2014

Each year the Youth Law Center recognizes people who have made a difference in the lives of our clients during the past year at its Loren Warboys Unsung Heroes Reception.  This year’s honorees have helped improve the lives of children and youth involved in the nation’s foster care and justice systems.  It is our pleasure […]

YLC on Harsh Discipline for Truants

The Center for Public Integrity interviewed Staff Attorney Sue Burrell in connection with its investigation of school discipline and push out of Black and Latino youth in California’s education system.  Sue spoke about the system’s misguided truancy sweeps that feature a COP’s-like  show of force as the system’s solution to youth with persistent attendance problems.  […]

Governor Signs AB 338 Protecting Crossover Youth

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law AB 388 (Chesbro) requiring oversight on the use of law enforcement in group homes, limiting the unnecessary secure detention of foster youth, and providing the same protections for foster youth that non-foster youth living at home with parents routinely receive when they come into contact with the delinquency […]

YLC Weighs in on Case of Youth Tried in Adult Court

YLC weighed in on the sentencing of Richard Thomas, who was tried in adult court after an incident in which he lit on fire the skirt of an “agender” youth who was sleeping on the bus.  Richard was immediately sorry for what he had done, and the family of the other young person unsuccessfully urged […]

Governor Signs AB 2276 Ensuring Reenrollment Rights

On September 30, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2276 (Bocanegra), a bill that addresses the reenrollment rights of juvenile justice youth, in particular, those who are reentering from a juvenile court school. There is strong evidence that juvenile justice youth in California often have difficulty re-enrolling in school once released from detention.  California’s juvenile […]

Governor Signs SB 1111 Ensuring Educational Placement Rights

On September 29, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1111 (Lara), a comprehensive bill that addresses the transfer rights of students referred to county community schools, makes the statute consistent with state and federal laws governing the educational placement rights of foster care and homeless youth, and closes an existing loophole in the discipline code […]

Op – Ed Opposing Incarceration of Abused Youth

YLC staff attorney Sue Burrell, wrote an op ed piece for the CT Mirror, Incarcerating Disturbed Youth is a Flawed Response (LINK to uploaded article), published September 22, 2014.   The piece follows Connecticut’s decisions to lock a transgender teenager, first in an adult women’s facility in Connecticut, and then in a boys’ institution.  The piece […]

YLC Opposes Planned Closure of Santa Barbara Juvenile Court

The Youth Law Center and California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. have filed a letter in opposition to the Santa Barbara Superior Court’s plan to close the juvenile court in Santa Barbara and relocate juvenile court proceedings to the Jury Assembly Building.  The opposition letter demonstrates that closing the juvenile court will increase the amount of […]

YLC Article on Pepper Spray Published in Huffington Post

YLC Staff Attorney Sue Burrell has published an article on the Huffington Post that details incidents of pepper-spray use on children in San Diego County juvenile facilities. The article comes on the heels of a formal complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice in which YLC and 10 community organizations called for an investigation of […]

YLC Files DOJ Complaint Over Use of Pepper Spray

Youth Law Center and 10 San Diego area organizations today filed a formal complaint urging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the use of Oleoresin Capsicum spray (pepper spray) and other questionable practices used in San Diego County juvenile detention facilities.  The complaint offers extensive evidence that pepper spray is routinely used in […]

President’s Report References Baby Elmo Project

Youth Law Center’s Incarcerated Teen Parenting Program, the Baby Elmo Program, was mentioned in the “My Brother’s Keeper” Task Force Report to the President!  The report references the research done in the Baby Elmo Program to support the Task Force’s recommendation to “help incarcerated parents enhance their parenting and other skills by providing more opportunities […]

Governor Signs Bill Banning Incarceration of Truant Youths

On June  27, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1296 (Leno), banning incarceration as a contempt sanction for youth adjudicated as truants.  Although the Legislature long ago specifically prohibited incarceration of truants adjudicated under Welfare & Institutions Code section 601, court decisions had created a loophole.  The decisions held that when a young person has […]

Mandatory Minimums Dropped from S.B. 838

After intensive efforts by a broad group of agencies and organizations, the provisions of S.B. 838 requiring mandatory two-year confinement were dropped from the measure.  Youth Law Center was part of the opposition, urging that mandatory sentencing violates the most basic principle of juvenile justice that young people receive individualized treatment and services.  Several members […]

Youth Law Center Weighs In on S.B. 838

The San Jose Mercury News interviewed YLC  Staff Attorney Sue Burrell about S.B. 838, a controversial measure arising from a Santa Clara County case.  After teenage boys sexually assaulted an intoxicated young woman at a party, they shared photos of her nude body.  She had no memory of the incident, but sadly, days after learning about […]

Consensus Statement on Group Care for Children Published

A Consensus Statement on Group Care for Children and Adolescents has been published in the most recent volume of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.   The paper is the result of a two-day meeting held in the summer of 2012 hosted by the Youth Law Center and the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the application […]

CA Supreme Court Decides Gutierrez and Moffett Cases

On May 5, 2014, the California Supreme Court announced its decisions in People v. Gutierrez and People v. Moffett.  Both cases involved Life Without the Possibility of Parole Sentences handed down to youth who were under the age of 18 at the time of involvement in a homicide.  Youth Law Center submitted an amicus curiae […]

YLC Supports Reduction of Psychotropic Medication

YLC joined over 110 organizations to support the President’s proposed five-year collaborative demonstration, which is designed to encourage states to provide evidence-based therapeutic interventions to children and youth in foster care and to reduce the inappropriate use and over-prescription of psychotropic medications.  The Administration’s Budget includes a new Medicaid demonstration, in partnership with the Administration […]

The Legislature’s Role in CA Juvenile Justice Reform

YLC Staff Attorney Sue Burrell was invited to write a guest blog for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency’s “NCCD Blog” on the California Legislature’s role in California juvenile justice reform.  Sue’s piece discusses the legislative enactments that helped to depopulate the state’s troubled juvenile institutional system over more than a decade.  Through a […]

Baby Elmo Program Featured on Public Radio

Radio Station KPCC 89.3 in Southern California featured Youth Law Center’s Incarcerated Teen Parenting Program (The Baby Elmo Program).  The program’s director, Ben Richeda was interviewed by Shirley Jahad at a conference that took place March 27-28 in Los Angeles for probation officers involved with the program.   article link to broadcast

Sue Burrell Interviewed Regarding Appointed Counsel

YLC Staff Attorney Sue Burrell was interviewed in connection with an investigative article on the appointed counsel system for delinquency cases in Los Angeles County.  The Board of Supervisors has called for an assessment of the system after research showed worse outcomes for youth represented by appointed counsel than if they had been represented by […]

YLC Statement on Solitary Confinement

YLC submitted a statement for the February 25, 2014 Hearing on Reassessing Solitary Confinement II: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences in Washington, D.C.  The Hearing was held before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights and chaired by Senator Richard Durbin. It was a follow up to […]

YLC Supports Therapeutic Foster Care Bills

YLC has joined a long list of national and state organizations to support federal legislation designed to ensure that children and youth in foster care will have access to vital Medicaid services and quality providers.  S. 1992 and H.R.4016 are bipartisan, bicameral bills, also known as the Quality Foster Care Services Act of 2014.  They […]

YLC Participated in In re Eddie E. Amicus

The California Supreme Court has ordered publication of a Court of Appeal decision that will help youth establish eligibility for Special immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS).  The decision clarifies that eligible youth cannot be denied necessary state court findings merely because they are wards of the court as a result of a delinquency proceeding.  At the […]

YLC Weighs In on Juvenile Defense

In January 2014, YLC Staff Attorney Sue Burrell joined 30 invited advocates and defenders from around the country for a two-day meeting of the Juvenile Defense Leadership Council in Crystal City, Virginia.  The meeting was convened to provide input for the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Juvenile Defender Center […]

YLC Trains Juvenile Court Professionals at Beyond the Bench

YLC presented in two workshops at the Beyond the Bench XXII Conference, sponsored by the Center for Families, Children and the Courts, and held December 2–4, 2013 in Anaheim California.  This year’s theme was “Equal Access to Justice for Children and Families: The Legacies of Clarence Earl Gideon and Martin Luther King, Jr.  YLC Staff […]