The Campaign for Youth Justice released “Raising the Bar: State Trends in Keeping Youth Out of Adult Courts (2015-2017)” during Youth Justice Action Month. This report is the fourth edition of our State Trends Report in which we take a look at states that have blocked pathways of children into the adult criminal justice system.
Since 2005, 36 states have passed 70 positive pieces of legislation to keep youth from the adult system. The number of youth under 18 automatically excluded from juvenile court has been nearly cut in half from 175,000 youth in 2007 to 90,900 youth in 2014. The number is expected to drop again in 2020 when Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, and New York fully implement their laws passed in 2016 and 2017.