History

CfJJ was founded in 1994 by a diverse group of juvenile justice professionals who opposed regressive legislation that threatened the key principles of the juvenile justice system: children should be treated differently than adults and their treatment should focus on rehabilitation.

Since then, CfJJ has addressed a number of systemic juvenile justice issues and has established itself as the voice for a fair and effective system.

CfJJ's work over the last fifteen years has included: surveying public opinion about the juvenile justice system; leading successful efforts to block the proposed transfer of the Department of Youth Services from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to the Executive Office of Public Safety; helping to persuade Governor Mitt Romney to completely overhaul the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee; focusing attention on the special needs of girls and youth with mental health problems in the juvenile justice system; advocating for reducing the unnecessary use of pre-trial detention; and galvanizing efforts to address the problem of racial disparities (Disproportionate Minority Contact).

Underlying all our work has been the belief that the juvenile justice system should be as transparent as possible, consistent with the protection of the privacy of individual juveniles. Accordingly, we have energetically and consistently pressed for the collection and publication of comprehensive statistical data by agencies involved in juvenile justice.