juvenile justice

Published
March 21, 2023

Study: Young adults are overrepresented in Maine’s criminal justice system

A report from the University of Southern Maine's Catherine E. Cutler Institute calls for expanding diversion and treatment-based criminal justice programs.
Published
September 23, 2022

Commentary: The U.S. neglects basic human rights for children

Based on our child marriage, corporal punishment, child labor and juvenile justice records, Maine is one of 20 states recently flunked by Human Rights Watch.
Published
August 18, 2022

Commentary: Black teens are oversurveilled, overpoliced and overincarcerated

A new book confirms my own experience: When I made mistakes as a white teen, I was given second chances that my Black students today don’t get.
Published
December 24, 2021

Maine Voices: Locked up for the holidays – why youth in Long Creek must be released now

Youth prisons neither keep communities any safer nor help young people, so we must get these kids home with the care and support they need.
Published
December 12, 2021

Our View: New study finds same old problems at Long Creek

Despite promises of reform, youths who need psychiatric treatment are still being held in a prison.
Published
October 2, 2021

Maine Voices: It’s time to close Long Creek, end youth incarceration

The state’s scramble to rebrand the institution can never heal the years of neglect and abuse that it has caused.
Published
September 14, 2021

Our View: Troubling reports of Long Creek restraint use

The state’s youth prison should not stay open if it is still using dangerous techniques it was warned about in 2017.
Published
June 29, 2021

Our View: Close youth detention center Long Creek the right way

Gov. Mills was right to veto a bill that adds unnecessary risk to the plan to close Maine’s only youth prison.
Published
June 24, 2021

Mills vetoes ‘fundamentally flawed’ bill to close Long Creek youth prison

Mills also moved to block a bill inspired by Hydro-Quebec's spending on a potential ballot initiative in Maine.
Published
June 10, 2021

Bill to close Long Creek youth prison receives preliminary approval

The Maine Department of Corrections would have to develop a plan to close Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland by June 30, 2023.