David Muhammad

The Columbia Justice Lab, a growing force in the movement to shift justice systems toward community solutions and away from corrections and incarceration, has added a big name from the philanthropic world to its roster.

The juvenile justice system has proven to be ineffective, harmful and excessively expensive. Overwhelming evidence shows that involvement in the juvenile justice system in and of itself produces negative outcomes for young people.

A 500-page report presented at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday recommended sweeping changes to the county’s probation department, including a complete restructuring of the department to separately handle adult and juvenile cases.

According to a new poll released Wednesday by the California Endowment, a majority of California residents say they’d like to see all of the state’s juvenile incarceration facilities closed down. The survey comes at a time when counties are adapting to a significant downturn in youth crime and flagging numbers of young people incarcerated at juvenile camps, halls and ranches across the state.

When a child welfare agency determines that a child is “unsafe” or the juvenile justice system determines a youth is “too dangerous,” he or she is often taken out of their home and placed in a foster care or group home setting.

by David Muhammad Since the creation of the first juvenile court in Chicago in 1899, our juvenile justice system has failed to reach its ultimate goal of  treating and rehabilitating youth.