Family Resource Center Find Your State Contacts
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Interested in taking action? Get involved in your state! Below are contacts for organizations and individuals who are actively working on reducing the prosecution of youth in adult court or check out our list of legal and policy organizational resources. Don’t see your state listed? Start your own effort! Visit the “campaign tools” section of this website.
› Connecticut
Contact: Abby Anderson, Executive Director The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance (CTJJA) launched a campaign to end the practice of automatically prosecuting all 16 & 17 year olds as adults. On January 1, 2010, CT’s new law went into effect to remove 16 year olds from adult court. CTJJA is working to ensure that the new law stays on track and that the January 1, 2012 deadline to remove all 17 year olds from adult court is met! Learn more about Connecticut's successful campaign on the Raise the Age: A Success Story Webpage.
Contact: Daniel Okonkwo, Executive Director D.C. Lawyers for Youth (“DCLY”) is an organization founded by alumni of the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic. The purpose of DCLY is to improve the Washington D.C. juvenile justice system through advocacy, direct service, and the dissemination of information.
Illinois Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: 847-864-1567 Website: http://www.jjustice.org/ Illinois has led the nation in reducing the prosecution of youth in adult court through changes to its state “transfer” law and by increasing its age of juvenile court jurisdiction.The Juvenile Justice Initiative, a statewide advocacy coalition, has led these efforts to transform the juvenile justice system.
Contact: Tracy McClard, Founder and Family Organizer FORJ-MO is dedicated to reducing the number of children under the age of 18 in Missouri's jails and prisons and providing all children involved in Missouri's juvenile or adult criminal justice system the necessary rehabilitation needed to become productive members of society by engaging and empowering families and allies of these children. FORJ-MO helps to organize and empower families and allies most affected by the current juvenile justice practices to advocate for policy reform on the state and federal level.
Contact: Kara Aanenson, Lead Organizer
Maryland advocates led by Community Law in Action and the Public Justice Center, working to change the way youth charged as adults are treated in the state of Maryland and organizing to stop the building of a new facility for youth prosecuted as adults. Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CFJJ)
Founded in 1994, CfJJ advocates for a fair and effective juvenile justice system. CfJJ is undertaking research to document the prosecution of youth in adult court and recommend changes to MA’s law.
Contact: Esther Brown, Co-founder The United States will lose an entire generation of children who are killing each other because they belong to a different ethnics groups, race, colors, culture, or neighborhoods. Children between 8 and 18 years-old are dying in our streets from gang violence.The Embracing Project awakes the social conscience of the those youths caught in violent situations in the U.S. who are trying and willing to rehabilitate, and introduces them to the horror of the war: How some kids in different parts of the world are suffering from violence and being kidnapped.
Contact: Angelo Pinto, Campaign Manager New York is one of two states where youth ages 16 & 17 are automatically tried as adults. The Campaign seeks to increase New York state's age of criminal responsibility, end the practice of housing children in adult jails and prisons, and ensure that children in the juvenile justice system receive rigorous and appropriate rehabilitative services.
Contact: Brandy Bynum, Director of Policy and Outreach North Carolina is one of two states where youth ages 16 & 17 are automatically tried as adults. The North Carolina General Assembly established a Youth Accountability Task Force in 2009 to make recommendations on how to implement changes to NC’s law by January, 2011. The North Carolina Raise the Age Campaign is actively working to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to 18.
Contact: Erin Davies, The Children’s Law Center exists to protect and enhance the legal rights of children through quality legal representation, research and policy development, and training and education of attorneys and others regarding children’s rights issues. The Center currently provides direct services in Ohio and Kentucky, but collaborates with other organizations within the region and nationally on a variety of topics.
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