Loyola Law School » Academics » Centers & Programs » Center for Juvenile Law & Policy
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Center for Juvenile Law & Policy

Transforming the Juvenile Justice System: One Child, One Student, One Case at a Time.

 

 

Our Program

The Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy was created with the hope of fostering systemic reform of the Los Angeles Juvenile Justice system through ongoing research, discussion and advocacy.

The CJLP was founded on the principle that research, public education and advocacy are vital to accomplishing the following long-term objectives:

  1. Improve the quality of juvenile delinquency representation;
  2. Reduce minority over-representation in the juvenile justice system;
  3. Decrease the rate at which children are prosecuted as adults;
  4. Re-direct the juvenile justice system to its original purpose of individualized, community-based rehabilitation.

 To accomplish these goals, the CJLP:

  1. Represents children in the delinquency system on a pro bono basis as trial and appellate counsel;
  2. Educates and inspires law students to practice in the public interest;
  3. Promotes policy change through legislative advocacy to address shortcomings in the juvenile justice system;
  4. Convenes periodic seminars and symposia on issues confronting children and stakeholders in the juvenile justice system;
  5. Promotes scholarly research with the purpose of highlighting challenges and solutions within the juvenile justice system;
  6. Collaborates with our community, the academy, stakeholders and policy makers to create a more effective and human juvenile justice system.

Our Clinics

The Juvenile Justice Clinic, Youth Justice Education Clinic and The Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentencing Clinic are integral to the Center's mission.  Advanced law students in these clinics, under the supervision of CJLP faculty and with the support of CHLP social workers, and while enrolled in ten to twelve units on specialized procedure and litigation, represent court-involved juveniles in criminal-court-proceedings, education hearings, probation hearings, and appeals cases.  Thus the CJLP not only provides tens of thousands of pro-bono hours of cutting-edge legal advocacy to the Los Angeles community; it also gives future advocates practical, hands-on experience in the challenges and triumphs of juvenile justice.