NCJ Number
230452
Journal
Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy Volume: 16 Dated: 2009 Pages: 461-470
Date Published
2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of the articles in this volume, which consist of presentations from the 2009 annual symposium of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, which addressed laws that shape the experiences of poor youth in the justice system and other ways that poverty and juvenile justice interrelate.
Abstract
The keynote address suggested approaches for making communitywide inroads against poverty, emphasizing that juvenile justice system reform alone cannot counter poverty and its devastating effects on justice-involved youth and their families, but the juvenile justice system should take steps to ensure that the juvenile justice system does not further handicap youth from escaping poverty and its adverse impact on behaviors and well-being. This keynote address and other symposium presentations emphasize the importance of developing models for addressing juvenile offending that turn away from the "tough on crime" orientation that pervaded the policy debate in the late 1980s and 1990s, propelling juvenile incarceration rates to unprecedented levels. Symposium contributors argue for a return to the philosophical foundations of the juvenile justice system, which emphasize that juvenile offenders are involved in a developmental process that differentiates them from adult offenders. This article summarizes presentations from the three symposium panels. One panel addresses support for at-risk youth in the areas of education, health, and housing. Presentations for the second panel focus on "Poverty and Equity in the Juvenile Justice System," and the third panel considered "Strategies for Breaking the Cycle of Offending and Poverty." 33 notes