Author | Lightnews

The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 12d

We are beyond honored to be in conversation with Norma Wong, author of When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, as part of our annual Youth Defender Leadership Summit! #TGCSummit2025 #SharedHorizon #Liberation

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 12d

We are so excited to recognize Brittany Mobley with the Robert E. Shepherd Award! “Brittany is the embodiment of a servant leader who lives out the mission of this work. Brittany’s advocacy is fierce yet disarming. She is relentless in her defense, but personable in her approach.” #TGCSummit2025

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 12d

We are so excited to recognize Jenifer “Jeni” Stinson with the Robert E. Shepherd Award! Jeni, we are so grateful for your leadership and service. It is an honor to honor you! #TGCSummit2025 #SummitBeehives #ShepherdAward #YouthDefender

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 12d

Check out some “Digital Honey” that we shared with our 2025 Summit Beehives! These were created by youth artists part of a youth voice publication co-created by the Gault Center, Progeny, and TerraLuna. We’re so honored to be a part of this important project! #TGCSummit2025 #YouthVoice #ArtAdvocacy

The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 13d

We currently have applications open for our Ambassadors for Racial Justice program, a professional development program for youth defenders and other attorney advocates dedicated to ending racial injustice. Learn more at bit.ly/ARJ2026 and apply by Nov 1, 2025! #TGCSummit2025 #ARJ

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 13d

We are excited to recognize Angela Vigil, Pro Bono Partner and Executive Director of Global Pro Bono at Baker McKenzie LLP, with the Norman Dorsen Award at our 2025 Summit! Thanks for your beautiful spirit and your work that advances a better future for all children. #NormanDorsenAward #InReGault

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 13d

We are so grateful to Raj Jayadev, author of Protect Your People: How Ordinary Families Are Using Participatory Defense to Challenge Mass Incarceration, for sharing his beautiful spirit and wisdom with our community at Summit! #TGCSummit2025 #SummitBeehives #ProtectYourPeople #PublicDefenders

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 13d

We are grateful to cbabi bayoc, internationally known visual artist and illustrator, who is leading an interactive art conversation with the youth defense community on using art in the co-creation of justice at our Opening Ceremony! #TGCSummit2025 #SummitBeehives

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 14d

As a sneak peak of some of the topics we'll be exploring together as a community, check out some of the books that have been shared with us as we prepared for our Summit program this year! #TGCSummit2025
To check out our Summit 2025 Booklist, click here: www.defendyouthrights.org/.../summit-2....

The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · 14d

We are honored and humbled to host 30 local Beehive Strategy Sessions this year as part of our annual Youth Defender Leadership Summit. Starting tomorrow, the youth defense community will come together for two days to build toward a better future for all children. #TGCSummit2025 #BeeInRelationship

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jul 25

National Network For Youth and Baker McKenzie have launched a new national hotline for youth experiencing homelessness, to help them obtain state ID cards and licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and other needed documents.

A flyer for the new Vital Document Legal Hotline for Youth, 1-888-870-DOCS, which is a free, dedicated state-specific legal assistance hotline for youth experiencing homelessness to help obtain vital legal documents like birth certificates and state ID cards. The hotline is staffed every Wednesday from 12-8pm Eastern, and voicemails are welcome and will be returned.

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jul 19

“Limiting the use of restraints isn’t just symbolic — it will have immediate, real-world benefits for kids across the state by preventing unnecessary and traumatic interactions with the adults tasked with protecting them.”
ctnewsjunkie.com/2025/07/18/n...

New CT Law Limits Handcuffing Of Juveniles Under 14 | CT News Junkie

The law prevents police officers from placing handcuffs on a pre-adjudicated juvenile known to be under 14 years of age, except when the juvenile is using or threatening the use of physical force.

ctnewsjunkie.com

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jul 18

"Over the last several decades there has been a dramatic decline both in the punitiveness of our country’s approach to youth justice & in youth crime, giving the lie to those who thought that the only way to improve public safety was to crack down on young people."
www.governing.com/policy/why-a...

Why Are We Backsliding on Juvenile Justice?

Over recent decades we’ve moved toward a much more effective and humane system to deal with youth crime. Evidence and research, not hyperbole and hysteria, should be guiding today’s debate.

www.governing.com

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jul 4

This July Fourth, we look to a future of independence, liberty, and happiness for all young people.

The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jun 30

“We now know scientifically what works and what doesn’t work. So for us to go backwards now is more of a sin than it was then, because we’ve been through this thing before.”
imprintnews.org/top-stories/...

DAs and Lawmakers Once Again Push to Try Teens as Adults

States and counties are reversing policies to keep teenagers in the juvenile system, which is mandated to provide rehabilitation.

imprintnews.org

The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jun 19

Honoring the freedom fighters of the past and present whose bold visions and courageous work tear down systems of oppression and build up humanity, liberty, and love. #juneteenth

A quote from Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba: "In order to invest in a new vision, and a new way of living, we have to believe in each other and our capacity to create something better. Our belief in human potential must outweigh our fear of human failure. Our imaginations must be courageous." On a yellow background with hearts in the green, black, and red colors of Juneteenth in the lower left corner.

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jun 16

Thank you to @lastweektonight.com for focusing on the urgent need to transform the juvenile legal system and for highlighting that, "Kids should be provided access to legal counsel at every step of the system."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pya-...

Juvenile Justice: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

www.youtube.com

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Jun 11

"We invest way more in locking kids up than we do in educating them. I often wonder if we made different policy choices, how much better off kids and society as a whole would be."
www.npr.org/2025/06/05/n...

Young offenders are often denied credit for 'dead time' behind bars

Juvenile detention systems often deny young offenders credit for the time they spend waiting behind bars

www.npr.org

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · May 28

Thank you to Jeremiah Brown and Players Coalition for supporting New York's Right2RemainSilent legislation! Every child should speak to a lawyer before being interrogated.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKNA0Lo...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · May 15

As we mark the 58th anniversary of In re Gault today, we reflect on the progress we've made thus far in transforming the juvenile legal system to protect the rights of children and recommit ourselves to the critical work that remains.
www.defendyouthrights.org/get-involved...

A designed image containing the following text: On May 15, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed children’s constitutional rights in juvenile court, finding that every young person “requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against [them].” Despite the promises of Gault, states have largely failed to create, fund, and invest in robust youth defense systems that are equipped to support youth defenders in providing the level of representation that the constitution demands and that young people deserve. Trained, resourced, specialized youth defenders are the only ones positioned to ensure children’s constitutional rights, connect them to resources they need to be successful, and hold the system accountable. Youth rights and youth defenders are under attack. Immigrant youth, trans youth, and racial justice efforts have been targeted, and federal funding to the Gault Center and other vital programs has been terminated. In honor of Gault Day, please consider making a donation to support the Gault Center’s work providing training, technical assistance, and support to youth defenders and advocates across the country.
www.DefendYouthRights.org/get-involved/donate

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Apr 24

"There are not huge differences in the racial backgrounds of kids who commit crimes. But there are differences in which neighborhoods are heavily policed. Once a child is arrested, the disparities accumulate further, from who is offered diversion to who stays in detention to who gets probation."

Racial disparities in youth incarceration are the widest they've been in decades

The number of American children and teenagers in juvenile detention has sharply declined over the last few decades, but as overall numbers decrease, data shows Black and Native American youth are far ...

www.npr.org

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Mar 28

"Accountability is about helping someone take responsibility and change. It’s about making sure they never go back down that same road again. And for kids, that only works when you treat them like kids."
thelensnola.org/2025/03/28/v...

Our kids deserve better: vote NO on 3 | The Lens

"Accountability isn’t about punishment for punishment’s sake—it’s about helping someone take responsibility and change," says Saints standout Malcolm Jenkins, urging a "no" vote on Amendment 3. "It’s ...

thelensnola.org

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Mar 21

"In recent years, lawsuits alleging sexual or physical abuse by juvenile correctional officers and other detention center staff have emerged in more than a dozen states. Between 2000 and 2015, recurring abuse was documented in state-funded juvenile detention facilities in 29 states and DC."

Thousands are suing states over sexual abuse in juvenile detention facilities • Stateline

Thousands of people are suing Maryland over sexual abuse they say they suffered in the state’s juvenile detention centers, but lawmakers are now considering limits on how much they can recover in cour...

stateline.org

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Mar 1

Honoring the youth defense community today on the 20th anniversary of Roper v. Simmon #youthdefense #ropervsimmons #adolescentdevelopment #collectiveaction #collectivepower

20 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons held that youth must be treated differently, recognizing the science behind adolescence. Declaring the death penalty unconstitutional for children, the highest court of our land spoke to the potential of growth inherent in every single child. This landmark decision not only marks the start of a developmental jurisprudence, but it is also a testament to the collective action of the youth defense community refusing to accept the status quo. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the death penalty for youth in Stanford v. Kentucky, proclaiming that it was “absurd” to consider maturity and that “socioscientific, ethicoscientific, or even purely scientific evidence is not an available weapon.” Nonetheless, the youth defense community persisted. What held greater power than the Supreme Court’s dismissal of adolescent development was the collective action of youth defenders who kept fighting. And 16 years later, the Supreme Court ruled, “as any parent knows and as the scientific and sociological studies . . . confirm, a lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults and are more understandable among the young.” As we honor the legacy of the youth defense community who fought relentlessly for courts to recognize the developmental potential of youth, we find assurance in our collective power. Now more than ever, we hold on to the words of Mariame Kaba who taught us, “So, how do we make change happen? You, as an individual, are only a tiny pebble in a vast sea. We can personally make ripples, but it takes collective action to make waves.” In this moment where uncertainty breeds fear, we remember how our once radical imaginations became reality, and we can do it again. As we look toward a new horizon, one filled with wholeness and dignity, we are committed to making waves, together, until the day every young person is free to thrive.

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The Gault Center @gaultcenter.bsky.social · Feb 16

"Every child and young person sent away has the potential to someday be an indispensable community member on the outside. We just need to give them that chance."
statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Protecting Youth in the Criminal Justice System

A man sentenced to life in prison at 18 years old explains why state laws that funnel kids into the adult system are unjust and short-sighted.

statecourtreport.org

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