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Juvenile Justice

Support for LB 985 – Juvenile Service Delivery Project

 January 27, 2012 To: Members of the Judiciary Committee From: Sarah Forrest, Policy Coordinator – Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Re: Support for LB 985 – Nebraska Juvenile Service Delivery Project...

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LB 774

Quick links: LB 774 on Legislature’s website LB 774 as introduced Voices for Children’s written support   Summary: LB 774, introduced by Senator Howard, is one of the bills this session based on recommendations of the LR 37 Report released in December. LB 774 requires the Health and Human Services Committee…...

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A closer look at Nebraska’s YRTCs

    Every year, Nebraska’s courts send a number of serious and not-so-serious juvenile offenders to the Youth Residential Treatment Centers (YRTCs) in Kearney and Geneva. Like all placements and services ordered under Nebraska’s juvenile code, the goal in placing youth at these institutions should be their rehabilitation. Both YRTCs’…...

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Ever wonder why teens do stupid things?

  Turns out, it is all about how their brain develops. In the past ten years, scientific research has revealed that the brain doesn’t finish developing until the mid-20s. A young person’s brain is actually different than an adult’s. What difference does that make? The Supreme Court has ruled that…...

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Juvenile Justice History 101

  Adults aren’t the only ones who break the law. Every year, many children and youth come into conflict with the law for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from status offenses that apply only because of age (truancy, possession of alcohol) to criminal offenses (shoplifting, possession of drugs, assault).…...

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The Other Side of the Tracks: Nebraska Kids in Out-of-Home Care

Take a moment and step into the shoes of a child placed in out-of-home care. Imagine being taken away from your parents, friends, and home and placed into an unfamiliar situation, most likely surrounded by strangers. Every year since 1988, Nebraska has had over 8,000 children in out-of-home care at…...

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Racial Disparities in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

  You probably already know this, but we here at Voices for Children in Nebraska are passionate about justice and fairness for all of Nebraska’s kids. This passion drives us to examine troubling trends in the hopes that solutions can be found for even the most complicated and longstanding of challenges…...

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New Report Highlights Costs of Incarcerating Kids

A large part of our Safety agenda here at Voices for Children in Nebraska focuses on how our state treats children who come into contact with our juvenile justice system. When the first juvenile courts were established in the United States over a hundred years ago, their purpose was to…...

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Unnecessary Costs: Juvenile Incarceration in Nebraska

In light of the release of the No Place for Kids Report earlier today, we’re looking at some of the Nebraska-specific numbers. During the 2009-2010 state fiscal year (SFY), Nebraska spent over $17 million dollars on its two centers for juvenile incarceration – the youth residential treatment centers (YRTC) in…...

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