National Juvenile Defender Center - Publications

The National Juvenile Defender Center produces reports, training guides, and practice-focused fact sheets to provide defenders with timely, useful information. Most of these materials are available below as PDF files.

To receive hard copies, request additional information, be added to our mailing list, or arrange a related training session, please contact NJDC via email or call us at 202-452-0010.

The Role of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Delinquency Court (English) Rol Del Abogado Defensor Juvenil en la “Delinquency Court” (Spanish) Spring 2009 The Role of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Delinquency Court is a policy paper that describes the critical and unique role of the juvenile defender as aligned with the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the Institute for Judicial Administration/American Bar Association’s Juvenile Justice Standards, and the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice. This document reflects best practices as defined by the field – frontline defenders, social workers, academicians, and other juvenile justice advocates working in our nation’s juvenile delinquency courts every day. The goal of the piece is to educate judges, prosecutors, probation officers, and other juvenile justice professionals about the importance of the juvenile defender’s responsibility to advocate for the client’s expressed interests.
2008 Juvenile Defender Resource Guide October 2008 Each year, NJDC distributes a set of materials to defenders who attend the Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit. The Resource Guide is a compilation of law review articles, studies, case briefs, court decisions, and other information relevant to juvenile defense published in the preceding year. The Table of Contents, including descriptions of the materials, is available here.
Ten Core Principles for Providing Quality Delinquency Representation Through Public Defense Delivery Systems, 2nd Edition July 2008 The National Juvenile Defender Center and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association are pleased to distribute Ten Core Principles for Providing Quality Delinquency Representation through Public Defense Delivery Systems 2nd Edition, adopted in partnership with the American Council of Chief Defenders in December 2004 and revised and reissued in July 2008. These Principles provide criteria by which a public defense delivery system may fully implement the holding of In re Gault.
NJDC Detention Tools July 2008 Prepared by NJDC for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, the NJDC Detention Tools are diagnostic evaluation tools and guidelines for juvenile defenders, juvenile defender supervisors, juvenile policy advocates, and juvenile section chiefs. These tools include Ten Principles for Providing Effective Defense Advocacy at Juvenile Detention Hearings, A Checklist to Evaluate Defense Representation at Detention Hearings, and Guidelines for Juvenile Defenders to Provide Zealous Advocacy at Initial Detention Hearings.
2007 State Juvenile Justice Legislation June 2008 The 2007 State Juvenile Justice Legislation document is a 170-page detailed report that examines juvenile justice legislation by issue and by state. This document allows users to analyze changes in the law and trends in legislative activity, both nationally and state by state.
2007 Juvenile Defender Resource Guide October 2007 Each year, NJDC distributes a set of materials to defenders who attend the Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit. The Resource Guide is a compilation of law review articles, studies, case briefs, court decisions, and other information relevant to juvenile defense published in the preceding year. The Table of Contents, including descriptions of the materials, is available here.
Principles in Practice October 2007 Woefully under-funded and under-resourced indigent defender systems provide uneven and often deficient representation to juveniles in delinquency and criminal court. The lack of interdisciplinary advocacy services for juveniles limits children's ability to access needed - and often legally mandated - social and educational services and increases the likelihood of repeated encounters with the delinquency and criminal justice system, thereby jeopardizing public safety, wasting tax dollars, and most importantly failing our youth. Principles in Practice identifies ten components that should underlie all juvenile indigent defense systems and shows them in action.
In re Gault Juvenile Indigent Defense Archives April 2007 Part of the Gault at 40 Campaign, the aim of this document is to provide a historical perspective of the In re Gault decision. This is accomplished through cataloging the cases, statutes, and secondary sources cited to in the briefs and materials of the case. The Archives are a work in progress that will be updated regularly as new materials are obtained.
2006 State Juvenile Justice Legislation January 2007 The 2006 State Juvenile Justice Legislation document is a 378-page detailed report that examines juvenile justice legislation by issue and by state. This document allows users to analyze changes in the law and trends in legislative activity, both nationally and state by state.
2006 Juvenile Defender Resource Guide October 2006 Each year, NJDC distributes a set of materials to defenders who attend the Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit. The Resource Guide is a compilation of law review articles, studies, case briefs, court decisions, and other information relevant to juvenile defense published in the preceding year. The Table of Contents, including descriptions of the materials, is available here.
Juvenile Defender Delinquency Notebook June 2006 This guide, updated and improved for 2006, describes in detail and with practical explanations how to zealously and effectively represent youth in delinquency cases. The Notebook is an invaluable tool for new juvenile defenders or attorneys looking to improve their advocacy in many areas of juvenile defense. It serves as a basis for NJDC training sessions, introducing defenders to skills and strategies for handling juvenile cases.
2005 State Juvenile Justice Legislation and Legislative Summary November 2005 The 2005 State Juvenile Justice Legislation document is a 182-page detailed report that examines juvenile justice legislation by issue and by state in 2005. The legislative summary gives an overview and reveals the contradictory nature of reforms impacting the treatment of juvenile offenders, even within a single state legislature.
2005 Juvenile Defender Resource Guide October 2005 Each year, NJDC distributes a set of materials to defenders who attend the Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit. The Resource Guide is a compilation of law review articles, studies, case briefs, court decisions, and other information relevant to juvenile defense published in the preceding year. The Table of Contents, including descriptions of the materials, is available here.
State Juvenile Indigent Defense Assessments 2000-2006 Although it has been nearly 40 years since the United States Supreme Court established a child’s right to counsel in In re Gault (387 U.S. 1 (1967)), methods of delivering juvenile indigent defense across the country remain chaotic and largely ineffective. Our studies have consistently found that most juvenile defenders lack the resources and training they need to provide sufficient representation to their clients. To date, we have published assessments of access to counsel and quality of representation in juvenile delinquency proceedings in 14 states: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Please see our assessments page for more information about the individual reports.
Fact Sheets 2000-2006 NJDC produces and distributes fact sheets on various topics to provide useful information and practical strategies to juvenile defenders. Recent fact sheets have focused on human rights law, the overuse of detention, the juvenile death penalty, and mental health medications used for adolescents. Those and other previous fact sheets are available to download; please contact us to be added to our mailing list to receive future material.
Legal Strategies to Reduce the Unnecessary Detention of Children October 2004 This guide to detention advocacy, published with a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, describes how best to keep juvenile clients out of detention at the early stages of delinquency proceedings. The guide presents specific strategies for representing youth at detention hearings as well as advocacy outside the courtroom. It also includes research explaining the harmful effects of detention. Please contact us if you would like a copy of the guide or are interested in arranging a detention-focused training in your area.
2004 Juvenile Defender Resource Guide October 2004 Each year, NJDC distributes a set of materials to defenders who attend the Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit. The Resource Guide is a compilation of law review articles, studies, case briefs, court decisions, and other information relevant to juvenile defense published in the preceding year. The Table of Contents, including descriptions of the materials, is available here. For a copy of any particular documents, please contact us.
Justice By Gender: The Lack of Appropriate Prevention, Diversion and Treatment Alternatives for Girls in the Justice System May 2001 It is important for juvenile justice professionals and policymakers to understand that the nature and causes of girls' delinquency are often different from those of boys. Research demonstrates that girls in the delinquency system have histories of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, face family problems, suffer from physical and mental disorders, have experienced academic failure and succumb more easily to the pressures of domination by older males. Concerted efforts must be made to develop a continuum of policies, programs, and practices for girls and to identify and address needed changes in the processing, treatment, and overall care of girls in the justice system.
Understanding Adolescents: A Juvenile Court Training Curriculum September 2000 This training curriculum, produced with a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, includes six modules focused, respectively, on adolescent development, communicating with teens, mental health assessments, pathways to violence, special education, and competency evaluations. The information in the modules is sufficiently general to apply to any jurisdiction, but the tools can be adapted to make the subject matter relevant to the daily practice of participants in any training site. Please contact us if you would like a hard copy of the curriculum or are interested in arranging a training session in your area focused on any one or combination of the modules.
Beyond the Walls: Improving Conditions of Confinement for Youth in Custody January 1998 This report presents six methods for improving services for and oversight and monitoring of detained and committed youth. It explains, in detail, how to improve conditions of confinement using the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), ombudsman programs, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), protection and advocacy systems (P&As), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and self-assessments.
More Than Meets the Eye: Rethinking Assessment, Competency and Sentencing for a Harsher Era of Juvenile Justice August 1997 This report describes ways to strengthen the representation of juvenile offenders and to respond effectively to the criminalization of children's offenses by providing strategies to tackle transfer/waiver hearings, criminal trials and sentencing hearings for juveniles.
A Call for Justice: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings December 1995 A national assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation in juvenile delinquency proceedings, A Call for Justice was the precursor to our state assessments. Although the report found some excellent work being done, it largely uncovered widespread evidence that juveniles are, in general, poorly represented across the country. The report examines the causes of inadequate representation and makes recommendations to juvenile defenders, state and local bar associations, state legislatures, law schools, juvenile courts, and others to improve the quality of legal services rendered to children involved in delinquency proceedings.
IJA/ABA Juvenile Justice Standards 1979 These twenty-four volumes of comprehensive juvenile justice standards articulate a thorough and balanced vision of how delinquency cases should operate. They are a valuable resource for anyone involved in juvenile justice administration and practice. A condensed version of the set is available from the American Bar Association web store. The text is also available on Westlaw.