Additional Resources

Featured Resources

White Paper on the Science of Late Adolescence: A Guide for Judges, Attorneys, and Policy Makers

Juvenile Law Center: Youth Tried as Adults

Treat Children as Children

Unusual & Unequal: The Unfinished Business of Ending Life Without Parole for Children in the United States

Five Things About Youth and Delinquency

Other Resources by Topic

The Science of Adolescence

• Myths About Adolescence

• What Neuroscience Tells Us About the Teenage Brain

• Adolescence and Reward: Making Sense of Neural and Behavioral Changes Amid the Chaos

• Adolescence: A Foundation for Future Health

• Justice for Emerging Adults after Jones

Key Cases: Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012); Commonwealth v. Jones, 131 A.3d 487 (Pa. 2016); Graham v. Florida, 460 U.S. 48 (2010); Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)

Amicus Briefs by the Juvenile Law Center and American Psychological Association for the Petitioner in Miller v. Alabama

Amicus Briefs by the American Bar Association and The Sentencing Project for the Petitioner in Graham v. Florida

The Miller Factors

• Term-of-Year Sentences Since Miller v. Alabama

• Equal Justice Initiative Article on Miller v. Alabama

• Juvenile Life Without Parole: In Brief

• Family Income, Parental Education and Brain Structure in Children and Adolescents

• Exiting and Returning to the Parental Home for Boomerang Kids

• Early Life Stress and Development: Potential Mechanisms for Adverse Outcomes

Key Cases: Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012)

Amicus Briefs by American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers and the Juvenile Law Center for the Petitioner in Miller v. Alabama

Criminal Trajectories

• Youth in the Adult Criminal Justice System Literature Review: A product of the Model Programs Guide

• Growing Up Behind Bars: Pathways To Desistance for Juvenile Lifers

• Juvenile Homicide Offenders: Factors in Desistance after Incarceration

• The Life-Course of Juvenile Lifers: Understanding Maturation and Development as Miller and Its Progeny Guide Juvenile Life Sentence Release Decisions

Key Cases: Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012); Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016)

Amicus Briefs by American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers and the Juvenile Law Center for the Petitioner in Miller v. Alabama

Amicus Brief of Northwestern University School of Law's Children and Family Justice Center & Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth for the Petitioner in Montgomery v. Louisiana

Working with Forensic Experts

• Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology

• The Law Meets Psychological Expertise: Eight Best Practices to Improve Forensic Psychological Assessment

• Justice for Emerging Adults After Jones: The Rapidly Developing Use of Neuroscience to Extend Eighth Amendment Miller Protections to Defendants Ages 18 and Older

• Homicide and Criminal Maturity of Juvenile Offenders: A Critical Review

• The neurobiology of antisocial behavior in adolescence; current knowledge and relevance for youth forensic clinical practice

Key Cases: Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993); Andrus v. Texas, 142 S.Ct. 1866 (2022)

Amicus Brief for the Children's Defense Fund, First Focus on Children, Breaking Code Silence, STND4YOU, National Juvenile Defender Center, National Juvenile Justice Network, Just Detention International, and Youth Law and Justice Scholars for the Petitioner in Andrus v. Texas

Trauma

• American Psychological Association Resources and Information on Trauma

• Understanding Childhood Trauma

• Examining the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Involvement in the Justice System

• Complex Trauma: In Juvenile Justice System-Involved Youth

• Early life adversity reduces stress reactivity and enhances impulsive behavior: Implications for health behaviors

• Early Life Stress and Development: Potential Mechanisms for Adverse Outcomes

• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the Link to Antisocial, Delinquent, and Criminal Behaviors

• Mechanisms linking childhood trauma exposure and psychopathology: a transdiagnostic model of risk and resilience

Key Cases: State of Wisconsin v. Hauschultz, Cir. Ct. No. 2019CF77 (2024); Commonwealth v. Mattis, 2024

Amicus Brief for Juvenile Law Center, et al., in Support of Defendant in State of Wisconsin v. Hauschultz

Amicus Brief for Neuroscientists, Psychologists and Criminal Justice Scholars Supporting Defendant in Commonwealth v. Mattis

The Science of Substance Use

• Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction

• Neurobiology of Adolescent Substance Use and Addictive Behaviors: Prevention and Treatment Implications

• Adolescent Substance Use and the Brain: Behavioral, Cognitive, and Neuroimaging Correlates

• Adolescent Brain Development and the Risk for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems

• Alcohol and Drug Use and the Developing Brain

• Risk Taking and the Adolescent Reward System: A Potential Common Link to Substance Abuse

Key Cases: People v. Gutierrez, 214 Cal.App.4th 343

Amicus Brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Appellant in People v. Gutierrez

Science of False Confessions

• The Truth About Juvenile False Confessions

• The Science-Based Pathways to Understanding False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions

• False confessions aren't always what they seem

Key cases: J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. 261 (2011)

Amicus Brief for the Juvenile Law Center, et al. in J.D.B. v. North Carolina

Amicus Brief for the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, et al. in J.D.B. v. North Carolina

Positive Youth Development

• Family and Youth Services Bureau: Positive Youth Development

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Positive Youth Development

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Positive Youth Development

• Unshackled: Stories of Redemption Among Serious Youth Offenders

• Behavioral and Neural Pathways Supporting the Development of Prosocial and Risk-Taking Behavior Across Adolescence