Youth Justice Reform
Keys to effective youth justice reform
While assuring quality legal representation is a core part of PJDC’s mission, our experience with representing young people has provided us a concrete understanding of how the system needs improvement. PJDC brings its unparalleled experience and fierce commitment to the rights of youth to many settings. PJDC members across the state regularly join with other policy specialists and advocates to fight at the state and local levels for more effective and just treatment of youth. Policymakers, public officials, community members, advocacy organizations, and the media regularly ask PJDC to weigh in on issues pertaining to youth in the delinquency system and improving juvenile justice in California.
PJDC has been consulted on a wide range of transformative juvenile law measures including:
- abolishing a prosecutor’s ability to directly file cases of youth under 18 in adult court and mandating that juvenile judges make that determination
- incorporating adolescent development principles into the transfer criteria judges use in making transfer decisions
- ensuring that youth under 16 consult with counsel before waiving their Miranda rights
- promoting felony murder reform
- providing parole hearings for youth who were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole
- establishing the duties of juvenile counsel, including mandatory training requirements for lawyers in delinquency cases
- eliminating incarceration as a punishment for violation of court orders for youth in truancy cases
- creating a juvenile competency statute that incorporates developmental immaturity
- advocating for changes to the record sealing laws so youth have less barriers to successful re-entry


PJDC also provides public education and engages with other system stakeholders to change practices, improve systems, and advance a new vision of youth justice. Here are just some of the ways PJDC has encouraged policy reform:
- educating judges and probation officers about conditions in state facilities and legislative mechanisms they can use to bring youth home if adequate services are not provided
- consulting with the executive branch about the impact of proposed reforms or system practices on youth
- making the case for elimination of fines and fees that hamper rather than help youth and families in rehabilitative efforts
- educating the public on the profound racial bias involved in determining which youth should be prosecuted as adults
- raising awareness of the collateral consequences of juvenile court involvement
- training judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement on barriers to re-entry and the negative effects on youth and recidivism
- assisting the Legislative Analyst’s Office to understand the long-term financial consequences that local counties incur when they incarcerate youth in the adult system
- engaging with the state-wide corrections board to improve conditions for incarcerated youth
- urging indigent defender offices to establish career and promotion tracks for juvenile defenders
- speaking at local boards of supervisors to educate them about the importance of social workers and holistic representation of youth
By sharing its vision in a variety of ways with other stakeholders on how to improve the system, PJDC has been a leader in youth justice reform.