Promoting Youth Justice

Since 2008, I have worked as a capital defender in North Carolina. I work in an office that represents clients in potentially capital cases at…

House Bill 879 (H879) proposes various reforms and technical changes to the Juvenile Code. The changes are designed to improve due process protections, prevent further…

There’s finally good news coming out of and bi-partisan cooperation in the North Carolina General Assembly. Earlier this month, Representatives Graig Meyer, Rick Glazier, Sam Watford, and Donny Lambeth filed…

North Carolina already has a massive school-to-prison pipeline and an alarming number of youth in the adult criminal system, and both crises may soon worsen. Rep. Jerry Tillman filedSB…

Last month, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Center for Safer Schools (CFSS) released its 2015 North Carolina School Resource Officer Census. The Census defines school resource…

Across North Carolina and the nation, what’s often referred to as “the great equalizer” turns students away. Schools suspend students for not attending school. Yes, really.…

At a recent talk I gave on the School-to-Prison Pipeline, a school board member in the audience strongly objected to the metaphor and said he…

*Originally published in the News & Observer Incidents of school crime and violence, short- and long-term suspensions, alternative learning program placements and corporal punishment were all…

The recent horrific police killings of African-American youth in Ferguson, Cleveland, and many other places across the country are a depressing reminder of the urgent need to rethink the…

The NC Legislature was in session from May 14 through August 20. Major issues in the 2014 legislative session included financing the $445 million state…

In the 2012-13 school year, North Carolina students missed more than 750,000 school days due to suspension. Though suspension is the most widely used disciplinary…

In late 2013 the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued opinions on three juvenile delinquency cases that merit highlighting: • In re J.L.H., 2013 N.C. App.…