juvenile justice

The U.S. Department of Justice released July 31 a report critical of the St. Louis County Family Court, alleging racial bias and unfair treatment of black youth, among other accusations. Mae Quinn, JD, professor of law and director of the Juvenile Law and Justice Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis, is hopeful the report will lead to some measure of change and reform.

Missouri has been held out as a model for juvenile corrections programs, but the court system that puts young people into these programs is in crisis, finds a recent report by the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC). “Many young people in Missouri wind up having to defend themselves in our juvenile courts – and sometimes from behind bars,” says Mae C. Quinn, JD, professor of law and co-director of the Civil Justice Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis.