Find Your State Contacts

 

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 click here for 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.

 


 

Arizona

Contact: Beth Rosenberg, Director of Child Welfare & Juvenile Justice Policy
Arizona Action for Children
Phone: 602-266-0707
Website: http://www.azchildren.org/

Arizona Action for Children is working to reduce the prosecution of youth in adult court in Arizona and is focusing on two bills during the 2010 session 1) SB 1088 which would allow for a “reverse remand hearing” to decide whether a case of a youth defendant should move from adult court to juvenile court; and 2) SB 1009 which clarifies the age of a youth who could be prosecuted as an adult.

 

Colorado

Contact: Kim Dvorchak, Executive Director 
Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition
670 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO 80204
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 303-825-0193
Fax: 303-825-0182
Mobile: 303-601-4900

The Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition (CJDC) is a non-profit 501(c3) organization dedicated to ensuring excellence in juvenile defense and advocacy and justice for all children in Colorado.

 

Connecticut

Contact: Abby Anderson, Executive Director

Say “Yes” Campaign at the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance (CTJJA)
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 203-579-2727
Address: 2470 Fairfield Ave. Bridgeport, CT 06605
Website: http://www.sayyesct.org/

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.


District of Columbia

Contact: Daniel Okonkwo, Executive Director
DC Lawyers for Youth (DCLY)

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Website: www.dcly.org

 

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

Contact: Betsy Clarke, President & CEO

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.


Missouri

Contact: Tracy McClard, Founder and Family Organizer
FORJ-MO
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone (cell): 573-837-7346
Address: 5587 State Hwy 72 Jackson, MO 63755
Website: forj-mo.org


Maryland


Contact: Laura Furr, Director of Advocacy Programs

Community Law in Action (CLIA)

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 410-706-3940

Website: www.cliayouth.org

 

Maryland advocates led by Community Law in Action, the Public Justice Center and the Eric R. Villines Advocacy Institute are undertaking research to document the issue of youth placed in the Baltimore City Jail.


Massachusetts

Contact: Lael Chester, Executive Director

Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CFJJ)

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phone: 617-338-1050

Website: http://www.cfjj.org/

 

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.

 

Nevada

 

Contact: Esther Brown, Co-founder

Phone: (702) 994-0585
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.theembracingproject.org/

 

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. 


New York


Contact: Kyung Ji Kate Rhee, Project Director, Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives (IJJRA)

Raise the Age, Raise the Bar, Raise the Youth campaign at IJJRA

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phone: 718-804-8852

Website: www.ijjra.org


New York
is one of two states where youth ages 16 & 17 are automatically tried as adults. The Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives has launched the Raise the Age, Raise the Bar and Raise the Youth campaign!


North Carolina


Contact: Brandy Bynum, Director of Policy and Outreach
Raise the Age Campaign North Carolina at Action for Children North Carolina

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Website: http://www.ncchild.org/

Phone: 919-834-6623 ext. 234


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.

Ohio

Contact: Erin Davies, 
Children's Law Center, Inc., Staff Attorney

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.childrenslawky.org/
Phone: (859) 431-3313

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.

 

Oregon

Contact: Shannon Wight, Associate Director
Youth Justice Campaign at the Partnership for Safety and Justice
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://safetyandjustice.org/
Phone: (503) 335-8449 ext. 210

Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ) believes that public safety is best served when youth in trouble are held accountable and given the services they need to succeed in the juvenile justice system rather than the adult criminal justice system. PSJ has launched the “Youth Justice Campaign” to combat the laws that automatically try, sentence and imprison youth in our adult system.

Virginia

Contact: Kate Duvall, Staff Attorney
Don’t Throw Away the Key Campaign at Just Children
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://dontthrowawaythekey.wordpress.com/
Phone: 434-977-0553 ext. 146

Contact: Liane Rozzell, Executive Director
Families & Allies of Virginia's Youth
Address: 701 S. Wayne Street Arlington, VA 22204
Website: www.favyouth.org
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone Number: 703-338-3289
Fax: 703-778-3454

The Don’t Throw Away the Key Campaign is working to reduce the number of kids in the adult criminal justice system and end the placement of kids in adult jails in Virginia.