Contact: Abby Anderson, Executive Director
Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance (CTJJA)
Email: abby@ctjja.org
Website: www.ctjja.org
Phone: 203.579.2727
Connecticut is one of only three states that automatically prosecute
all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice
system. To address this issue, the Connecticut Juvenile Justice
Alliance (CTJJA) launched the“Raise the Age CT”
campaign. In June of 2007, the campaign succeeded with the passage and signing of a bill to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction in Connecticut.
Learn more about Connecticut's successful campaign on the Raise the Age: A Success Story Webpage.
Contact: Shani O'Neal, Director
Justice 4 DC Youth! Coalition (JDCY)
Email: shani@jdcy.org
Website: www.jdcy.org
Phone: 202.386.9809
The Justice 4 DC Youth! Coalition (JDCY) is working for a more fair and
effective youth justice system in the District of Columbia. JDCY has been leading efforts to close the District’s youth
correctional facility, Oak Hill, located in Laurel, Maryland. JDCY works to substantially reduce the number of youth prosecuted as adults and remove youth from adult detention and correctional facilities.
Click here for resources on juvenile crime in D.C. and proposed legislation.
Contact: Brandy Bynum, Director of Community Outreach
Action for Children North Carolina
Email: brandy@ncchild.org
Website: www.ncchild.org
Phone: 919-834-6623 ext. 234
North Carolina is one of three states where youth ages 16 & 17 are
automatically tried as adults. The North Carolina Sentencing
Commission issued recommendations in 2007 to increase the age of
juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to 18 in North Carolina and North
Carolina’s child advocacy community is waging a public awareness
campaign on the need to change the age of juvenile court
jurisdiction.
Contact: Shannon Wight, Associate Director
Partnership for Safety and Justice
Email: shannon@safetyandjustice.org
Website: http://safetyandjustice.org/
Phone: (503) 335-8449 ext. 210
The Partnership for Safety and Justice advocates for programs that reduce violence and recidivism in order to make communities safer. Their “Safety and Sentencing” program promotes diversion strategies, alternatives to incarceration, and reform of mandatory-minimum sentencing laws to end trends of over-incarceration. The “Prison Program” focuses on conditions of confinement and prisoner access to services and human rights. The organization also works to bring crime survivors to the table so that their voices can advocate for smart sentencing policies and preventing future violence.
Contact: Andy Block, Director
Just Children
Email: Andy@justice4all.org
Website: www.justice4all.org
Phone: 434.977.0553
Just Children is examining the overall conditions of Virginia’s
juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems. Just
Children is providing legal representing on individual cases of youth
transferred to the adult criminal justice system; conducting trainings
for attorneys on how to improve individual transfer case advocacy; and
working to expand legal representation through pro bono assistance to
youth facing transfer or who have been convicted in adult court in
Virginia.
Contact: Wendy Henderson, Juvenile Justice & Child Welfare Policy Analyst
Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Email: whenderson@wccf.org
Website: www.wccf.org
Phone: 608.284.0580
The Wisconsin Council on Children & Families researched, wrote and
published a ground-breaking state report, “Rethinking the
Juvenile in Juvenile Justice: Implications of Adolescent Brain
Development on the Juvenile Justice System.” The report
includes major recommendations to increase the age of juvenile court
jurisdiction from age 17 to 18 and to prohibit placement of youth in
adult jails. The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
has launched “Justice 4 Wisconsin Youth” a statewide
campaign with the initial goal of returning 17 year olds to the
juvenile justice system.
