This week, Governor Ricketts signed into law a package of legislation aimed at improving our statewide system of response to children and youth who commit crimes. LB 894 is a set of positive reforms that will ensure children’s needs are met and rights protected in age-appropriate and evidence-based ways, and…...
Legislature to consider making more schools hunger-free
We all want kids to succeed in the classroom. This week, the Legislature has the opportunity to fuel students’ learning by making more Nebraska schools hunger-free zones through LB 1066, which would include provisions of LB 1004 and LB 1065 through a committee amendment. The underlying bill is the annual technical…...
Voices Presents: Prison Kids
The future of our state is strengthened when we treat youth who have encounters with the juvenile justice system fairly and in developmentally appropriate ways, so that they can be prepared for success as adults. Children’s brains are different, in that their brain centers geared toward impulse-control and planning are…...
The Next Step in Sensible Juvenile Justice Reform
We do well by our society when we do well by our youth, especially those who’ve gotten in trouble. Nebraska is heading down the right path when it comes to juvenile justice. Reforms of recent years are beginning to bear fruit in an increased array of close-to-home alternatives, decreased numbers of…...
Equality Before the Law: Commentary Series Part 6, Juvenile Justice Indicators
This year’s Kids Count in Nebraska Report featured a commentary debuting our new Index of Race & Opportunity for Nebraska Children. This blog post is the fifth in a series diving into the commentary. In the first post we introduced the commentary and detailed our methodology, the next posts looked at the indicators in…...
Equality Before the Law: Commentary Series Part 5, Child Welfare Indicators
This year’s Kids Count in Nebraska Report featured a commentary debuting our new Index of Race & Opportunity for Nebraska Children. This blog post is the fifth in a series diving into the commentary. In the first post we introduced the commentary and detailed our methodology, the next posts looked at the indicators in…...
Equality Before the Law: Commentary Series Part 7, Final Index Scores and Recommendations
This year’s Kids Count in Nebraska Report featured a commentary debuting our new Index of Race & Opportunity for Nebraska Children. After spending the last 6 weeks introducing the commentary and detailed our methodology, and diving into the 13 indicators by issue area: health, education, economic stability, child welfare and juvenile justice, we…...