Following the Action

Across the nation, local and national advocates, organizations, families, and leaders are coming together to apply pressure and guidance to ensure justice impacted youth are not forgotten during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most of our youth are housed and cared for in the juvenile justice system, we also know there are many young people wrapped up in the adult criminal justice system as well. The following list of resources and articles is meant to help leaders around the country make informed decisions for their agencies, communities, and youth by staying informed about what’s happening in other jurisdictions and following best practices and guidance coming out from public health, youth justice experts, and other professionals. 

Read our statement with recommendations for youth justice systems responding to the COVID-19 emergency.

The YCLJ steering committee signed onto a declaration to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as part of a King’s Bench Petition filed by Juvenile Law Center, the Youth Sentencing  & Reentry Project and DLA Piper.

A brief of amici curiae juvenile and criminal justice and corrections leaders was submitted to the Court of Appeals of Maryland on behalf of the YCLJ Steering Committee, Fair and Just Prosecution, and the Director and Senior Counsel at Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration. Read the press release here.

YCLJ Steering Committee co-chairs Gladys Carrion and Vincent Schiraldi wrote a letter to Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, urging the expedited release of youth in custody and additional resources to support young people in their communities.

Press related to statements and resources put out by YCLJ:

• Let’s Keep Youth Justice from Making the Coronavirus Worse
• Coronavirus in juvenile detention is a “nightmare scenario,” doctors and advocates say
• The Appeal Coronavirus prompts urgent calls for minors in detention to be released
• NYC Free Juvenile Delinquents Amid Coronavirus, Suit Asks
• Juvenile Agency Chiefs Join Calls to Release Jailed Youth
• Kids in Custody Face ‘Lower Level’ of Health Care for COVID-19, Conference Told
• Kids under threat: Virus hitting juvenile detention centers
• Calls to Release Youth from Lockups Due to Virus Threat Grow Nationwide
• Advocates Demand Release of Incarcerated Youth During COVID-19 Crisis
• Learning the Lessons of Past Disasters: Don’t Leave Young People Behind
• Juvenile-lockup releases sought in state; advocates, experts raise concerns of virus hitting facilities
• Around U.S., Advocates Call For Emptying Juvenile Facilities Over COVID-19
• As Coronavirus Spreads Among Juvenile Justice Facilities, Activists Are Calling for Their Release
• ‘Pacing and Praying’: Jailed Youths Seek Release as Virus Spreads

Releasing Youth

• Annie E. Casey Foundation: “Juvenile Detention: Fewer Coming In or Out As Pandemic Continues”
• Maryland: “Maryland to close two juvenile detention centers”
• Minnesota: “Olmsted County Juvenile Detention Center closing due to decreased incarceration rates”
• Maine: “Prompted by Pandemic, Youth Detention Rate Plummets in Maine”
• Maryland: “Maryland releases about 200 juveniles from detention centers amid coronavirus pandemic”
• Georgia: “Georgia releases 99 youth offenders to limit coronavirus exposure”
• Survey: “Amid Pandemic, Youth Detention Population Fell 24% in One Month, Matching a Recent Seven-Year Period”
• Fresno County, California: “Nearly 40 Fresno County low-level juvenile offenders set free to slow coronavirus spread”
• North Carolina: “State Juvenile Justice Officials Reduce Juveniles Held in Custody, Institute Operational Changes in Response to Coronavirus”
• Clayton County, Georgia: “Clayton County Juvenile Court amends COVID-19 order, adding videoconferences, nonviolent release where possible”
• California: “California Department of Justice Weighs in on Freeing Youth in Lockups”
• New Hampshire: “The Sununu Youth Services Center, the state’ sole detention facility for youth, released five of its 20 youth this week.”
• Colorado: “Colorado is releasing incarcerated kids early because of coronavirus”
• New Report: “Polling Shows Bipartisan Support for Releasing Children From Juvenile Detention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic”
• New York, New York: “Mayor Hails Releases From Juvenile Detention, Yet Most Remain As Virus Hits”
• New York, New York: “Teens Sue to Exit Detention Centers as Coronavirus Closes In”
• California: “Southern California juvenile halls release low-level offenders early in response to coronavirus” 
• Cook County, Illinois: “Hearings start on releasing some youths from Cook County juvenile detention over COVID-19 fears”
• Los Angeles County: “L.A. County releasing some inmates from jail to combat coronavirus”
• New Jersey: “1,000 Inmates Will Be Released From N.J. Jails to Curb Coronavirus Risk”
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: “Criminal justice groups want Philly’s juvenile detention center to release children”

Connection to Families and Loved Ones

• Utah: “Utah lets kids in detention centers video chat with parents, offers phones to those who need them”
• Los Angeles, California: “Cut off from their kids, parents of juvenile detainees wait and worry as coronavirus spreads”
• Marshall Project: “I Want to See my Child.” Juvenile Lockups Cut Visits Over COVID-19 Fears
• St. Lucie County, Florida: “Local juvenile court judge using video calls to keep court moving”
• Michigan: Governor’s Executive Order - “To the extent feasible, facilitating access to family, education, and legal counsel through electronic means (such as telephone calls or video conferencing) at no cost, rather than through in-person meetings.”

Transition Planning

• Philly Voice: Philadelphia to offer paid online work for youth this summer through WorkReady
• Utah Department of Human Services: DHS Provider COVID-19 FAQ
• Think of Us: Virtual Town Hall for Older Foster Youth
• New Jersey Institute for Social Justice: Institute and Other Groups Ask Gov. Murphy to Protect Incarcerated Youth During COVID-19 Pandemic

Ensuring Education, Services, and Court

• Rockford Register Star: “Infrared thermometer to help slow spread of COVID-19 in juvenile courts”
• Reno Gazette Journal: "'Not something I would have predicted': Some upsides seen in remote hearings for Reno court"
• Kulture Hub: “One of these programs is a group for teen girls through video chat. A delivery of a snack and session materials are sent to the girls’ homes each week.”
• Chronicle of Social Change: “A Heartfelt Appeal on Behalf of Incarcerated Youth During Pandemic”
• Padlet: Educational Guidance for Juvenile Justice Agencies
• My News LA: Juvenile Dependency Proceedings to be Held Remotely During Coronavirus Crisis

Reducing System Contact and Intakes

• Vermont: “Vermont awards nearly $175,000 in Covid-19 Response Grants to youth mentoring agencies serving rural communities affected by opiate epidemic”
• Minnesota: “Minneapolis Public Schools terminates contract with Police Department over George Floyd's death”
• Time: “'Police Do Not Belong in Our Schools.' Students Are Demanding an End to Campus Cops After the Death of George Floyd”
• U.S. News: “The End of Police in Schools”
• Maine: "Maine schools reexamine the role of resource officers in wake of protests"

Eliminating fines and fees

• L.A. Times: "San Diego County eliminates juvenile justice fees and debts"
• LegiScan: Maryland House Bill 36 - Juvenile Proceedings – Fines, Fees, and Costs
• Juvenile Justice Information Exchange: Moratorium on Juvenile Court Fees and Fines Can Ease Family Burdens During COVID-19
• Fines and Fees Justice Center: COVID-19 Crisis: FFJC Policy Recommendations and Policy Tracker
• Juvenile Law Center and coalition: Call for a Nationwide Moratorium on Juvenile Fees and Fines

Court Orders, Executive Orders, and Lawsuits

• North Carolina: “Press Release: Superior Court Orders North Carolina to Take Action to Stop the Spread of COVID-19 in State Prisons”
• Alabama: “Coalition petitions Alabama Supreme Court to release detained youths amid coronavirus”
• Massachusetts: The SJC issued an order all courts to be closed except to conduct emergency matters.
• Michigan: Whitmer renews executive order restricting visitors from juvenile justice, care facilities
• Pennsylvania: Juvenile Law Center, the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project and DLA Piper filed a King’s Bench Petition in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• Maryland: A brief of amici curiae juvenile and criminal justice and corrections leaders was submitted to the Court of Appeals of Maryland
• New York: Legal Aid Society sues ACS to release juveniles amid coronavirus crisis
• Colorado: Governor’s Executive Order concerning juvenile justice, regional centers, and Behavioral Health

• Act 4 Juvenile Justice Coalition
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Corrections Association
• Campaign for Youth Justice
• Center for Children’s Law and Policy
• Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
• Citizens for Juvenile Justice
• Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators
• Executives Transforming Probation & Parole (EXiT)
• Fines and Fees Justice Center
• The Full Frame Initiative
• Humane Outbreak Response
• The Justice Collaborative
• L.A. County / Youth 4 Justice
• Last Prisoner Project
• The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• National Council on Crime and Delinquency
• National Governors Association
• National Juvenile Defender Center
• National Juvenile Justice Network
• Pacific Juvenile Defender Center
• PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program
• Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform
• Prison Policy Initiative
• Statement of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated People Regarding the Urgent Funding Needed for Survival to U.S. House of Representatives
• Unicef
• The University of Texas at Austin
• Vera Institute of Justice
• The W. Haywood Burns Institute
• Youth First Initiative
• Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

• Colorado: “Advocates raise alarms as COVID-19 cases rise inside Colorado’s juvenile prisons”
• Illinois: “19 cases of COVID-19 reported at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles Tuesday”
• Mississippi: “8 test positive for COVID-19 at Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center”
• California: “Coronavirus makes its way inside the Fresno County Juvenile Justice Campus”
• Arizona: “COVID-19 outbreaks in AZ child detention centers worry advocates”
• Texas: “Texas Juvenile Justice Department reports 13 new COVID-19 cases”
• South Carolina: “COVID-19 cases confirmed at juvenile jails in Columbia, SC officials say”
• Maine: “Advocates renew call to empty Long Creek after 16-year-old contracts COVID”
• California: “New COVID-19 Outbreak At One Of California’s Youth Prisons—As Counties Resume Sending Kids Into The State’s Long-Broken System”
• Texas: “State Corrections Officials Say First Juvenile Inmate Tests Positive For Coronavirus”
• Mississippi: “Raymond Detention Center Detainee First to Test Positive for COVID-19”
• Florida: “Juvenile Facility COVID-19 Cases Climb”
• Arizona: “One juvenile tests positive for COVID-19 at Yavapai County Juvenile Justice Center”
• Ohio: “First youth tests positive for coronavirus in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center, memo says”
• Los Angeles, California: “Two L.A. Youth Test Positive for the Coronavirus in Juvenile Halls”
• West Virginia: “Four children sent to out-of-state facilities positive for COVID-19”
• New Jersey: “First N.J. juvenile offender has the coronavirus, but only 6 have been tested”
• Ohio: “Coronavirus: 27 employees, 14 youths test positive at Franklin County Detention Center”
• El Paso, Texas: “Youth tests positive for coronavirus at El Paso County juvenile detention center”
• Virginia: “25 residents — an eighth of the population — at youth prison in Chesterfield test positive for virus ”
• Louisiana: “27 of the 220 youths in secure detention in Louisiana have tested positive for the coronavirus”
• Cook County, Illinois: “2 detainees, employee at Cook County juvenile detention center test positive for COVID-19”
• Wyoming: “A juvenile being held at the Natrona County Regional Juvenile Detention Center has tested positive for COVID-19”
• Georgia: “Two more Georgia juvenile justice employees test positive for COVID-19”
• Anchorage, Alaska: “Anchorage juvenile justice center employee among the 14 new cases”
• New Orleans, Louisiana: “Coronavirus cases at Bridge City Youth Center grow to seven: 'I'm extremely worried'“
• Washington, D.C.: “D.C. Correctional Officer in Dept. of Youth Rehabilitative Services dies from COVID-19”
• Shelby County, Tennessee: “Officer at county juvenile detention center tests positive for COVID-19, commissioner says”
• Washington, D.C.: “Teen at D.C. juvenile detention center tests positive for virus”
• Delaware: “Staff member of DSCYF's Ferris School facility tests positive for coronavirus”
• Washington: “Confirmed COVID-19 Cases”
• Harris County, Texas: “Teenager at Harris County juvenile detention tests positive for coronavirus”
• Hartford County, Connecticut: “Hartford Juvenile Detention Center employee, second DOC staffer, test positive for COVID-19”
• New York, New York: “Positive COVID-19 test in Bronx juvenile detention center”
• St. Louis, Missouri: “Youth at Hogan Street youth facility test positive for COVID-19”

Other Pages Tracking COVID in Youth Justice Systems

UCLA Law

The Sentencing Project