Andrew Monroe [pseud.] (b. 1894) was a Colorado street kid whose acts of truancy and theft landed him before the state's early juvenile courts, and his youth was marked by attempts at escape from reform school. His childhood and youth provide insights into the mechanics of how systems of juvenile corrections operated in the early twentieth…

The current case demonstrates the complexities of utilizing Youth Court as a restorative practice in an urban high school, by focusing on the complexities it presents for one student in particular. In this case, there are reasons why Youth Court clearly is not working at this particular school site as intended. However, more importantly for…

The article depicts manifestations of the law in the educational work of renowned Polish-Jewish educator Janusz Korczak, and re-evaluates Korczak's work in terms of children's legal education. It does so in relation to the theoretical insights of Polish-Russian legal sociologist Leon Petrazycki -- and particularly the notion of "Intuitive…

Youth with disabilities are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, but few studies have investigated the mechanisms by which this occurs. In this study, we considered how juvenile court adjudication and length of commitment in secure facilities contributed to disproportionality in court involvement and detention, addressing an important…

The recognition of social work as a writing-intensive profession is the first step needed to bridge the divide between academic and practice writing. The demonstration of persuasive writing skills rarely achieves a highly-ranked social work curriculum priority despite the recognition by faculty that these skills are essential for effective…

The primary aim of this study was to examine gender and racial differences in the association between system involvement types (i.e., child protective services [CPS] only, juvenile justice system only, and dual involvement) and academic outcomes (i.e., grade failure, chronic absenteeism). This study used records from a linked database of public…

Because misbehavior in schools is often instigated by a confluence of organizational features, the purpose of this research was to understand what Youth Court reveals about the causes of in-school conflicts and to what extent its processes help to address them. This multi-site qualitative case study collected data in the form of observations,…

Schools' ability to manage student misbehavior rests largely on students' perceptions of the discipline system and authority. According to the procedural justice perspective, when schools use discipline practices students perceive as unfair, they fail to see authority as legitimate, making them less likely to comply with rules and demand. Youth…

This two-part study explored whether discrimination encoded into U.S. school absenteeism policies leads to racially minoritized students being overrepresented in the juvenile court system. First, we examined unexcused absenteeism policies in a nationally representative school district sample (n = 97). All districts excused absences for reasons…

Young women living in urban contexts, particularly those with involvement in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, experience significant barriers to academic well-being as a result of childhood trauma. To date, little research has been done to evaluate evidence-based, trauma-informed educational interventions to improve outcomes among…

The youngest children in foster care suffer disproportionately. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (1997) attempted to provide greater safeguards for children, which led courts to push for earlier reunifications between foster children and their biological families. Although no one wants young children to languish in the foster care system, early…

The Baby Leadership Learning Collaborative (Baby LLC) initiative is a leadership group committed to bridging relationships across service sectors to promote infant-early childhood mental health and to break the multigenerational cycle of risk often associated with early adversity and trauma. Baby LLC has guided an early relational health focus…

The overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system is a persistent concern, but estimates of their involvement vary dramatically due to differences in how disability is conceptualized and when involvement in juvenile justice is measured. This study linked juvenile court and educational records for 230,760 students in…

Tom Ward and Tony Majors, community and district lead partners in Nashville, Tennessee, talk about what the Positive and Safe Schools Advancing Greater Equity (PASSAGE) initiative has meant in their city. They share how and why their journey began by embedding the work to end discipline disparities across a broad, cross-sector table that includes…

The opioid epidemic has led to a dramatic increase in the number of infants and toddlers being removed from their homes and placed in foster care. Doing so places these vulnerable young children at high risk for attachment issues, postnatal medical problems, and development delay. Early Childhood Courts have been found to be a very effective…