Last week there was yet another heartbreaking report of a child killing another child. This time the news came from Jacksonville, Florida. Cristian Fernandez is...
I joined the Army in 1984, at least in part because I hated high school. I couldn’t stand the drudgery of boring...
We sat in court and Raquel doodled butterflies and rainbows and wrote a poem about feeling lost. I scribbled down our next court...
A couple of weeks ago, I was in juvenile delinquency court and as often happens, a particular case got me thinking – and...
Lionel Townsend will turn 14 in September and a few months after that he will be able to return to school, ending...
Meridian is not alone under the DOJ magnifying glass. In a somewhat similar case in Tennessee, the DOJ says the Juvenile Court...
There is that moment after a conflict, maybe it’s an argument or some harsh words, when we want to reconnect with the...
In 2001, my 13-year-old son, Corey, was sent to what the New York Times called “the worst juvenile prison in the country.”...
Emergency vehicles appeared again this week at the door of a family we know. It’s such a common occurrence that the family...
California has always been ahead of the curve. Fresh on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which prohibits mandatory...
The academic year has started at the law school where I teach third-year students advocacy skills and legal doctrine in the area of...
I have an unshakeable faith in the human potential for growth. Over and over I have seen men change: through religion, education,...
Hot, muggy August is actually a breath of fresh air. It’s a fresh start for Texas kids heading back to school, and the...
CHICAGO — Whether it’s a tool in your toolkit or an arrow in your quiver, story-telling will win motions, cases and verdicts...
When a young person is sent to a detention facility away from his or her family, it is a drastic intervention and most would...
When I first began practicing in juvenile delinquency court in North Carolina eight years ago, I was shocked to discover that the maximum...
These days are exciting ones for youth justice in the United States. Several factors have come together to influence the evolution of...
Juvenile crime has been declining for years and is now at historic lows. That’s the good news. The bad news is that girls are...
For my family, high school has been a crazy mix of testosterone, education and a bunch of kids with low levels of...