NACDL - National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Reports    Studies & Journal Articles    Guidelines & Best Practices    NACDL Champion Articles    News Articles    Books    Videos, Webinars & Podcasts    Organizational Resources 

Reports

• Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence, The Sentencing Project, 2022.

• Juvenile Justice: Youth People and Restorative Justice, National Conference of State Legislatures, 2022.

• Closing the Gap: Advances in Youth Access to Counsel at Arrest, Fair Trials, October 2022. 

• Justice for Girls Blueprint: The Way Forward for Florida, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, July 2022. 

• Reimagining Restitution: New Approaches to Support Youth and Communities, Juvenile Law Center, July 2022. 

• Better Tomorrows: A Landscape Analysis of Oklahoma’s Youth Justice System & Suggested Reforms, Oklahoma Policy Institute, March 2022.

• White Paper on the Science of Late Adolescence: A Guide for Judges, Attorneys, and Policy Makers, Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, 2022.

• Too Many Locked Doors: The Scope of Youth Confinement is Vastly Understated, The Sentencing Project, March 2022.

• Student Arrests in Allegheny County Public Schools: The Need for Transparency and Accountability, ACLU of Pennsylvania, January 2022.

• Dreams Deferred: The Impact of Juvenile Fees on Florida’s Children, Families, and Future, Fines and Fees Justice Center and Juvenile Law Center, January 2022.

• Montgomery v. Louisiana Six Years Later: Progress and Outliers, The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, 2022.

• Youth in Adult Courts, Jails, and Prisons, The Sentencing Project, December 2021.

• Keep Children with Mental Health Challenges out of the Youth Legal System, National Juvenile Justice Network, 2021.  

• Age Boundaries in Juvenile Justice Systems, National Governor’s Association, Aug. 2021. 

• Bringing More Teens Home: Raising the Age Without Expanding Secure Confinement in the Youth Justice System, The Sentencing Project, June 2021. 

• Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview, The Sentencing Project, May 2021. 

• Juvenile Arrests, 2019, National Institute of Justice and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, May 2021.

• 2020 Youth Policy Advances, National Juvenile Justice Network, April 2021.

• Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview, The Sentencing Project, April 2021.

• Sounding the Alarm: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Florida, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, March 2021.

• Juvenile Justice 2020 Year-End Report, National Conference of State Legislatures, Feb. 2021.

• Injustice in the Lowest Courts: How Municipal Courts Rob America’s Youth, Juvenile Law Center, Feb. 2021.

• Racial Disparities in Youth Incarceration Persist, The Sentencing Project, Feb. 2021.

• Raise the Minimum Age for Trying Children in Juvenile Court, National Juvenile Justice Network, Feb. 2021.

• Resentencing of Juvenile Lifers: The Philadelphia Experience, Montclair State University, 2020. 

• Winning the Campaign: State Trends in Fighting the Treatment of Children As Adults in the Criminal Justice System (2005-2020), Campaign for Youth Justice, 2020.

• Learned Helplessness, Criminalization, and Victimization in Vulnerable Youth, The Square One Project, Dec. 2020.

• Conditions of Confinement for Incarcerated Youth Age 15 to 21 at Manson Youth Institution and York Correctional Institution, Office of the Child Advocate, Nov. 2020.

• California’s County Juvenile Lockups: Expensive, Overutilized, and Unaccountable, Pacific Juvenile Defender Center and Youth Law Center, Nov. 2020.

• Demanding a More Mature Miranda for Kids, DC Justice Lab and Georgetown Juvenile Justice Initiative, Oct. 2020.

• Assessing Juvenile Diversion Reforms in Kentucky, Urban Institute, Sept. 2020.

• 2020 National State Ratings Report: Human Rights Protections for Children in the U.S. Justice System, Human Rights for Kids, October 2020.

• Advancing Youth Justice: An Assessment of Access to and Quality of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Oregon, National Juvenile Defender Center, September 2020.

• Rethinking the Role of the Juvenile Justice System: Improving Youth’s School Attendance and Education Outcomes, The Council of State Governments Justice Center, Sept. 2020.

• Fail: School Policing in Massachusetts, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, 2020.

• Sticker Shock 2020: The Cost of Youth Incarceration, Justice Policy Institute, July 2020.

• The Child Not the Charge: Transfer Laws Are Not Advancing Public Safety, Justice Policy Institute and The Campaign for Youth Justice, June 2020. 

• Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview, The Sentencing Project, Feb. 2020.

• Youth Sentenced to Life Imprisonment, The Sentencing Project, Oct. 2019.

• State-Led Juvenile Justice Systems Improvement, Urban Institute, May 2018

• Black Disparities in Youth Incarceration, The Sentencing Project, September 2017

• Juvenile InJustice: Charging Youth as Adults is Ineffective, Biased, and Harmful, Human Impact Partners, February 2017.

• Beyond Bars: Keeping Young People Safe At Home and Out of Youth Prisons, National Collaboration for Youth, December 2016.

• Racial Disparities in Youth Commitments and Arrests, The Sentencing Project, April 2016.

• Declines in Youth Commitments and Facilities in the 21^st Century, The Sentencing Project, December 2015.

• Maltreatment of Youth in U.S. Juvenile Corrections Facilities, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, June 2015.

• Law Enforcement's Leadership Role in Juvenile Justice Reform: Actionable Recommendations for Practice & Policy, International Association of Chiefs of Police, July 2014.

• Slow to Act: State Responses to 2012 Supreme Court Mandate on Life Without Parole, The Sentencing Project, June 2014.

• Engaging Juvenile Justice System-Involved Families, National Council on Crime & Delinquency, May 2014.

• Supervision Strategies for Justice-Involved Youth, National Council on Crime & Delinquency, May 2014.

• Close to Home: Strategies to Place Young People in Their Communities, National Council on Crime & Delinquency, May 2014.

• Stakeholders' Views on the Movement to Reduce Youth Incarceration, National Council on Crime & Delinquency, April 2014.

• Using Bills and Budgets to Further Reduce Youth Incarceration, National Council on Crime & Delinquency, March 2014.

• Kids Doing Time for What's Not a Crime, Texas Public Policy Foundation, March 2014.

• Disproportionate Minority Contact In The Juvenile Justice System, The Sentencing Project, 2014.

• Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview, The Sentencing Project, 2014.

• Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2014.

• Automatic Adult Prosecution of Children in Cook County, Illinois. 2010-2012, Juvenile Justice Initiative, April 2014.

• A Generation Later: What We've Learned about Zero Tolerance in Schools, Vera Institute of Justice, December 2013.

• State Trends Legislative Victories from 2011-2013 Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System, Campaign for Youth Justice, October 2013.

• Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2012, U.S. Department of Justice, June 2013.

• The Comeback States: Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States, National Juvenile Justice Network, 2013.

• Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach, National Research Council, 2013.

• Missouri: Justice Rationed, National Juvenile Defender Center, Spring 2013.

• Family Comes First: Transforming the Justice System by Partnering with Families, Campaign for Youth Justice, 2012.  

• Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US, Human Rights Watch, May 1, 2013.

• Common Ground: Lessons Learned From Five States That Reduced Juvenile Confinement By More Than Half, Justice Policy Institute, February 2013.

• Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, February 2013.

• Juvenile Justice Reform In Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth, Justice Policy Institute, February 2013.

• Colorado: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings, National Juvenile Defender Center and Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition, Winter 2012.

• Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Schools, Advancement Project, January 2013.

• Report: Too Many Teens in Solitary Confinement, ACLU, October 2012.

• The Lives of Juvenile Lifers: Findings from a National Survey, The Sentencing Project, March 2012.

• The Consequences of Prosecuting Youth as Adults and the Need to Restore Judicial Oversight, Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition, February 2012.

• Juvenile Justice Realignment in 2012, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, January 2012.

• "Campaign for Youth Justice Youth Justice System Survey," Gerstein Bocian Agne Strategies, October 11, 2011.

• State Trends: Legislative Victories from 2005 to 2010 Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System, Campaign for Youth Justice, 2011.

• Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis, Southern Poverty Law Center, September 2010.

Studies & Journal Articles

• Kaitlin Forman​, Understanding Juvenile Sex Offenders in Light of Graham v. Florida, Florida Defender, Winter 2013/2014.

• Ilona Vila, Barry University's School of Law: Fighting for Florida's Juvenile Defendants, Florida Defender, Winter 2013/2014.

• Bryan Gowdy, Four Years Later: Terrence Graham's Attorney On Issues Created by the Landmark Decision, Florida Defender, Winter 2013/2014. 

• Conditions of Confinement: Findings From the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, May 2010.
   

Guidelines & Best Practices

• Trial Defense Guidelines: Representing a Child Client Facing a Possible Life Sentence, The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. 

• National Standards for the Care of Youth Charged with Status Offenses, Coalition for Juvenile Justice, 2013.
   

NACDL Champion Articles

• New Guidelines Establish a Standard of Representation for Children Facing Life Sentences, June 2015.

• Youth Matters: Roper, Graham, J.D.B. and the New Juvenile Jurisprudence, March 2014. 

• Defending Juvenile Confessions After J.D.B. v. North Carolina, March 2014.

• Interviewing a Child Client, March 2014. 

• New Partners and New Opportunities in The Defense of Children Facing Life Without Parole, March 2014. 

• Addressing the Collateral Consequences of Convictions for Young Offenders, July/August 2011. 

• An Appeal to Join the Civilized World, July/August 2011.

• Gang Databases: Labeled for Life, July/August 2011.

• Juvenile Justice, July/August 2011. 

• Juvenile Life Without Parole, July/August 2011. 

News Articles

• Handcuffs in Hallways: Hundreds of elementary students arrested at U.S. schools by Chris Hacker, Aparna Zalani, Jose Sanchez, and Stephen Stock, CBS News, Updated on November 18, 2022. 

• End Youth Incarceration Now | Opinion by Briannah Stoves, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 4, 2022.

• When Schools Call Police on Kids, Center for Public Integrity and USA TODAY, Sept. 8, 2021. 

• Biennial Juvenile Incarceration Census Data Released by John Kelly, The Imprint, June 17, 2021.  

• Treating All Kids as Kids by Kim Taylor-Thompson, Brennan Center for Justice, May 24, 2021. 

• Police Shouldn’t Tag Students as Potential Criminals by Priyam Madhukar, Brennan Center For Justice, Dec. 22, 2020.

• A Wisconsin teen death’s behind bars reveals how children get trapped in the justice system – and how we can stop the cycle by Rory Linnane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct. 25, 2020.

• How Schools and the Criminal Justice System Both Fail Students With Disabilities by Daja E. Henry and Kimberly Rapanut, Slate, Oct. 21, 2020.

• Charging Kids as Adults Counterproductive in Maryland by Emily Mooney, The Baltimore Sun, October 2019.

• Trying Youth as Adults Defeats the Purpose of the Juvenile Justice System by Lauren Barretto, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, June 2015. 

• School Discipline Often Meted out Unevenly, NPR, August 8, 2011.
   

Books

• The War on Kids: How American Juvenile Justice Lost Its Way by Cara H. Drinan, 2018. 

• The Evolution of the Juvenile Court: Race, Politics, and the Criminalizing of Juvenile Justice by Barry C. Feld, 2017. 

• Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison by Nell Bernstein, 2014. 
   

Videos, Webinars, & Podcasts

• No Child is Born Bad, The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, April 2021.

• Major Changes in the Sentencing of Minors: Recent Legal Updates in the Sentencing of Youth in Virginia, November 2020. 

• The Criminal Docket Episode 54: "The War on Kids," and Essential New Book by Professor Cara Drinan, November 2017. 

• Communicating with a Juvenile Client: JTIP Lesson on Interviewing and Counseling Youth, September 2012. 

• Incorporating Adolescent Brain & Behavioral Development Science into Criminal Proceedings, September 2012. 

• Strategies for Keeping Youth Out of Adult Jails and Prisons: Bail, Sentencing and Post-Sentencing Advocacy, September 2012. 

• Join the Movement to End Life Without Parole Sentences for Youth, The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, November 2011.
   

Organizational Resources

• Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth  

• National Juvenile Justice Network

• The National Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Coalition 

• Justice Policy Institute

• Children's Defense Fund 

• Campaign for Youth Justice 

• Coalition for Juvenile Justice 

• Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition 

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