About Us
The Center for Children’s Law and Policy (CCLP) is a public interest law and policy organization focused on reform of juvenile justice and other systems that affect troubled and at-risk children, and protection of the rights of children in those systems. The Center’s work covers a range of activities including research, writing, public education, media advocacy, training, technical assistance, administrative and legislative advocacy, and litigation.
CCLP has a central role in major foundation-funded juvenile justice initiatives in the United States and works in more than a dozen locations around the country. For the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative (www.modelsforchange.net), CCLP staff work on reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), overrepresentation, and disparate treatment of youth of color in the juvenile justice systems in three counties in Pennsylvania, two parishes in Louisiana, two counties in Washington state, and statewide in Illinois. CCLP also operates the MacArthur DMC Action Network, which brings together the eight Models for Change jurisdictions with four other sites working to reduce DMC. For the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), CCLP staff provide training nationwide on assessing conditions of confinement in juvenile facilities and serve as lead consultants for the foundation in Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland.
CCLP capitalizes on its Washington, DC location by working to improve juvenile justice systems in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and on efforts centered in DC such as federal juvenile justice legislation. Thus, in addition to the JDAI work in DC and Baltimore, CCLP trains staff of the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services about the rights of youth in confinement in helping to create a community oversight board to conduct regular reviews of conditions in DYRS facilities. CCLP also works with other children's advocacy organizations on Congressional reauthorization of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. CCLP staff also investigate potentially abusive conditions in locked juvenile facilities in the area.
CCLP is also working with the juvenile justice system in Travis County (Austin), Texas, developing a comprehensive training and mentoring program for the next generation of attorneys, experts, and practitioners involved in juvenile justice reform (The Future Project), and coordinating with the National Disability Rights Network to bring expertise on the rights of disabled youth to the juvenile justice process.
CCLP has a central role in major foundation-funded juvenile justice initiatives in the United States and works in more than a dozen locations around the country. For the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative (www.modelsforchange.net), CCLP staff work on reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), overrepresentation, and disparate treatment of youth of color in the juvenile justice systems in three counties in Pennsylvania, two parishes in Louisiana, two counties in Washington state, and statewide in Illinois. CCLP also operates the MacArthur DMC Action Network, which brings together the eight Models for Change jurisdictions with four other sites working to reduce DMC. For the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), CCLP staff provide training nationwide on assessing conditions of confinement in juvenile facilities and serve as lead consultants for the foundation in Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland.
CCLP capitalizes on its Washington, DC location by working to improve juvenile justice systems in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and on efforts centered in DC such as federal juvenile justice legislation. Thus, in addition to the JDAI work in DC and Baltimore, CCLP trains staff of the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services about the rights of youth in confinement in helping to create a community oversight board to conduct regular reviews of conditions in DYRS facilities. CCLP also works with other children's advocacy organizations on Congressional reauthorization of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. CCLP staff also investigate potentially abusive conditions in locked juvenile facilities in the area.
CCLP is also working with the juvenile justice system in Travis County (Austin), Texas, developing a comprehensive training and mentoring program for the next generation of attorneys, experts, and practitioners involved in juvenile justice reform (The Future Project), and coordinating with the National Disability Rights Network to bring expertise on the rights of disabled youth to the juvenile justice process.