State Youth Justice Campaigns

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most states carved out some offenses from the juvenile courts and automatically sent youth to adult courts based on the initial charge. While there have always been pathways to adult court, this carveout — automatically charging a young person as if they were an adult — sidesteps the juvenile courts from this process, ignoring factors such as childhood trauma or specific involvement in the offense, and only looks at the initial charge. The idea is rejected by many experts who note that adult courts are not built to handle young people. Today, every state has at least one juvenile transfer mechanism in which youth can be charged as if they are adults. The Sentencing Project works in several states, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Tennessee, to limit the pathways that send more youth to the adult criminal legal system.

Diversion is the decision to address a young person’s alleged misconduct outside of the formal justice system, either before an arrest is made or after referral to juvenile court. Jurisdictions across the country are advancing reforms to expand and improve diversion, demonstrating diversion’s potential to transform youth justice in ways that protect public safety and enhance youth success.