Building Community Power in Youth Justice Reform – The Brown Act and Juvenile Realignment
This resource explains how public meeting laws under the Brown Act apply to local juvenile justice decision-making and planning bodies, and in particular to the realignment process in California. The Brown Act laws protect the community’s right to participate in important juvenile justice decision making currently taking place in each county across the state. This […]
Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration
Report by the Justice Policy Institute outlining the costs of juvenile incarceration.
Juvenile Justice Can Be Less Expensive and More Effective
Op-ed by YLC Staff Attorney Sue Burrell on the cost of juvenile detention published by the Sacramento Bee
The Legislature’s Role in Juvenile Justice Reform: a California Example
PDF of blog by Sue Burrell written for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency’s website regarding the California Legislature’s role in fxing the State’s jvuenile justice system.
The Legislature’s Role in Juvenile Justice Reform: A California Example
Blog by Sue Burrell appearing on the website of National Council of Crime & Delinquency regarding California Legislature’s role in fixing state’s juvenile justice system.
Juvenile Justice Reform: Realigning Responsibilities
Realizing the state could not afford to comply with the Farrell consent decree, in 2007, policy-makers acted to reduce the number of youth offenders housed in state facilities by enacting realignment legislation which shifted responsibility to the counties for all but the most serious youth offenders. This major step had long been recommended by youth […]
Joint Informational Hearing on the California Youth Authority, May 16, 2000
In response to recent disclosures concerning the California Youth Authority, on May 16, 2000, the Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees held a joint oversight hearing. The Committees heard eleven witnesses concluding with testimony from Robert Presley, Secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency and Jerry Harper, the newly appointed Director of the Youth […]
Violence-Prone Youth Authority Still Fails Its Children, Its Taxpayers – Daily Journal Forum Column
Article in the Daily Journal Forum Column about efforts to reform the California Youth Authority (DJJ) that began with the Prison Law Office filing Farrell v. Harper and that more needs to be done.
California Juvenile Justice Reform in the 21st Century (So Far)
This 2006 presentation at the California Public Defender Association meeting in Monterey covers changes at the California Youth Authority (DJJ) because of lawsuit, legislative efforts to introduce the Missouri model, and defender mobilization.
Youth Prison System Sued Over Health Care
LA Times article about the filing of Morris v. Harper, a lawsuit against the California Youth Authority for providing substandard medical and mental health care.
Improvements Ordered in State Youth Prison Clinics
LA Times article about the Youth Law Center case, Wilber v. Warner (previously Morris v. Harper).
SB 81 – Ten Point Tune Up
Hand out at the DJJ Realignment Symposium on SB 81.
SB 81 Ten Point Tune up – Power point Presentation
Power point presentation at the DJJ Realignment symposium on SB 81, realignment.
Trends and Challenges of Juvenile Justice Reform: Experiences of Three States – Power point Presentation
Panel discusses juvenile justice reform in Connecticut, California and Texas.
In re Sean W. Amicus
This is an amicus to a case that presents the question whether Senate Bill 459 (“S . B 459”) changed the law to give juvenile courts increased power to set maximum confinement time in cases involving Youth Authority commitments.
In re Greg F. Amicus
The question here is whether a juvenile court may dismiss a wardship petition in the interests of justice and commit a juvenile way to the Division of Juvenile Justice on the basis of a prior sustained petition, even though Welfare and Institutions Code section 733 prohibits commitment unless “the most recent offense alleged in any […]
Shifting Values in Juvenile Justice – Daily Journal (December 21, 2010)
This is an op ed piece summing up juvenile justice reform in the first part of the 21st century. It takes the position that we are moving away from the punitive attitudes of the 1980’s and 1990’s and toward a vision for juvenile justice that is more in keepiing with what we now know about […]
Nick O. v. Terhune Stipulation and Order
Nick O. v. Terhune was a federal class action challenging the failure of the defendants to provide appropriate special education and related services to youth confined at the California Youth Authority. Judgment was entered on May 7, 1990, in which the defendants agreed to ensure that all class members would be provided with a free […]
Morris v. Harper (Wilber v. Cate) Peremptory Writ of Mandamus
This lawsuit was filed in May 2000, challenging the failure of the California Youth Authority (now the Division of Juvenile Justice) to license its inpatient medical and mental health services as required by State law. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Youth Authority was more than four years beyond the date the licensing […]
Morris v. Harper (Wilber v. Cate) Statement of Decision
This lawsuit was filed in May 2000, challenging the failure of the California Youth Authority (now the Division of Juvenile Justice) to license its inpatient medical and mental health services as required by State law. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Youth Authority was more than four years beyond the date the licensing […]
Morris v. Harper (Wilber v. Cate) Petition for Writ
This lawsuit was filed in May 2000, challenging the failure of the California Youth Authority (now the Division of Juvenile Justice) to license its inpatient medical and mental health services as required by State law. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Youth Authority was more than four years beyond the date the licensing […]
L.H. v. Brown Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunctive Relief
L.H. v. Brown is a federal class action lawsuit filed in September 2006 in the Eastern District of California challenging systematic constitutional violations of youth rights in California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) parole revocation proceedings. (Case No. S-06-CV-2042 (E.D. Cal., originally filed as L.H. v. Schwarzenegger). YLC has worked with lead counsel from Rosen, […]
L.H. v. Brown Order
L.H. v. Brown is a federal class action lawsuit filed in September 2006 in the Eastern District of California challenging systematic constitutional violations of youth rights in California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) parole revocation proceedings. (Case No. S-06-CV-2042 (E.D. Cal., originally filed as L.H. v. Schwarzenegger). YLC has worked with lead counsel from Rosen, […]
L.H. v. Brown Complaint
L.H. v. Brown is a federal class action lawsuit filed in September 2006 in the Eastern District of California challenging systematic constitutional violations of youth rights in California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) parole revocation proceedings. (Case No. S-06-CV-2042 (E.D. Cal., originally filed as L.H. v. Schwarzenegger). YLC has worked with lead counsel from Rosen, […]
Nick O. v. Terhune Complaint
Nick O. v. Terhune was a federal class action challenging the failure of the defendants to provide appropriate special education and related services to youth confined at the California Youth Authority. Judgment was entered on May 7, 1990, in which the defendants agreed to ensure that all class members would be provided with a free […]
Youth Law Center Analysis of DJJ Parole Realignment to the Counties
On October 19, 2010, the Public Safety budget trailer bill, A.B. 1628, was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, effective immediately upon this date of enactment. This new law included language that amends the Welfare & Institutions Code (WIC) and reorganizes and realigns juvenile parole from the California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to […]