Children in our juvenile justice system deserve services that give them a true chance to succeed. This means both keeping youth in the least-restrictive setting possible, close to home and family, and for those youth who need secure care, ensuring conditions, policies, and practices that give them a real chance…...
Time for a change: Locking youth up in Nebraska
In Nebraska we pride ourselves on having built the good life for our kids and families. Nebraskans can be proud of having made wise investments that have helped our state, children, and families weather recent tough times better than most. Unfortunately, when it comes to juvenile justice, we have a…...
Fairer Sentencing Ahead?
Late on Friday afternoon, the Judiciary Committee began considering how Nebraska will sentence children and youth involved in very serious crimes. Nebraska is one of 29 states that have a mandatory sentence of life without parole for certain crimes, even if the person accused is an adolescent. This past…...
End juvenile life without parole – Support LB 44
All children deserve and need society’s protection to grow into healthy, productive adults. Even children who commit serious crimes are still children. We should respond to youth crime in a thoughtful and effective way that preserves community safety, contributes to Nebraska’s future prosperity, and gives children the protection they…...
Child advocates praise efforts to reform Nebraska’s juvenile justice system
Over the few final days of bill introduction, Senators have introduced a number of proposals that have the potential to ensure a brighter future for many of our vulnerable youth by making crucial improvements to Nebraska’s juvenile justice system. “For many years, Voices for Children has been advocating for…...
What’s Next for Nebraska’s Juvenile Justice System?
On Thursday, December 6, nearly 250 Nebraskans gathered in Lincoln for Voices for Children’s first ever Juvenile Justice Summit. For the past 25 years, Voices for Children has been working to improve Nebraska’s juvenile justice system, but we know we haven’t gotten where we need to go for children and youth.…...
Cutting Our Future: Behavioral Health Services
In 2008 during our state’s Safe Haven crisis, parents relinquished custody of 36 children to the state of Nebraska. Most of these children were struggling with behavioral health challenges that had left their families feeling helpless. The message was clear: Nebraska’s families and children weren’t getting the help they…...
Cutting Our Future: The Need for Juvenile Justice Reinvestment
Nebraska’s juvenile justice system may just be on the verge of a dramatic transformation. It’s not only the reform initiatives that are underway in certain parts of the state that signal change being around the corner. Buried on pages 419-429 of the recent Health and Human Services preliminary budget, is…...
