Publications

The Executive Summary of the report details the accomplishments, keys to success and lessons learned from Connecticut’s campaign to reform its juvenile justice system. In 2007, Connecticut made national headlines when it passed a law ending its status as one of just three states that automatically tried and punished all 16 and 17 year-olds as adults. Yet, this historic “Raise the Age” legislation is just one of many reforms enacted by Connecticut’s juvenile justice system in recent years. Propelled by a determined coalition of advocates and public sector innovators, Connecticut has forged a new consensus for progressive change in juvenile justice, and it has transformed a previously wasteful, punitive, ineffective, and often abusive juvenile justice system into a national model – at no additional cost to taxpayers.

Published by Justice Policy Institute, as part of CT Juvenile Justice Reform Documentation Project