Youth Justice
The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system.
Every state has laws that require some youth to be prosecuted in adult criminal court.
These laws, combined with other statutes, are putting thousands of young people at risk of facing harmful and irreversible consequences, often for minor mistakes. Some researchers estimate that as many as 250,000 youth are prosecuted as adults every year.
Despite overwhelming research demonstrating that these policies have failed, statutes that prosecute youth in the adult criminal justice system remain on the books.