The Gault Center

We are excited to introduce the 2026 Ambassadors for Racial Justice (ARJ). During the year-long program a cohort of 10 youth defenders selected as Ambassadors for Racial Justice to lead and develop strategies to combat racial inequities in their respective jurisdictions!

Moving beyond supervision: It’s time to rethink juvenile probation | Opinion Philadelphia's upcoming Juvenile Probation Accountability Coalition will help redefine accountability and safety for young people across the nation.

Read more here: www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

YEAH Philly and the Gault Center are partnering together to launch the Juvenile Probation Accountability Coalition (JPAC) to create a national blueprint to end mass supervision and strengthen pathways for community-based healing and safety for all youth. Stay connected for more details!

Closing out 2025 with deep gratitude for every defender, advocate, and partner who showed up for young people this year. Your courage and commitment kept the work moving when it mattered most. To 2026 where dignity, justice, and possibility lead the way. Let’s keep building a freer future together!

Thank you for joining us in creating ripples toward justice.  
 
With gratitude, 
The Gault Center Team

Support youth defense by donating via the link in our bio or text GAULT to 44-321 to help protect youth rights.

#GratefulForGault #YouthRights #YouthDefenseMatters #GivingTuesday

At the Gault Center, we train youth defenders nationwide so every child has someone fighting for their rights. Consider giving to the youth defense movement this season. Every act matters. 💙 
#GivingTuesday

Thank you to Mirage Carrington and Brooklyn Hicks for sharing their creativity with us. 🫶🏾

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday!  
 
We are asking for your support to continue to build this community of youth defenders dedicated to protecting the rights of youth. #GratefulForGault #YouthRights #YouthDefenseMatters #GivingTuesday

We are deeply grateful for our community of youth defenders and our partners who make this work possible through your commitment, encouragement, and belief that every child deserves protection, dignity, and a real chance at justice #GratefulForGault #YouthDefenseMatters #GivingTuesday

We are beyond honored to be in conversation with Norma Wong, author of When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, as part of our annual Youth Defender Leadership Summit! #TGCSummit2025 #SharedHorizon #Liberation

We are so excited to recognize Brittany Mobley with the Robert E. Shepherd Award! “Brittany is the embodiment of a servant leader who lives out the mission of this work. Brittany’s advocacy is fierce yet disarming. She is relentless in her defense, but personable in her approach.” #TGCSummit2025

We are so excited to recognize Jenifer “Jeni” Stinson with the Robert E. Shepherd Award! Jeni, we are so grateful for your leadership and service. It is an honor to honor you! #TGCSummit2025 #SummitBeehives #ShepherdAward #YouthDefender

Check out some “Digital Honey” that we shared with our 2025 Summit Beehives! These were created by youth artists part of a youth voice publication co-created by the Gault Center, Progeny, and TerraLuna. We’re so honored to be a part of this important project! #TGCSummit2025 #YouthVoice #ArtAdvocacy

We currently have applications open for our Ambassadors for Racial Justice program, a professional development program for youth defenders and other attorney advocates dedicated to ending racial injustice. Learn more at bit.ly/ARJ2026 and apply by Nov 1, 2025! #TGCSummit2025 #ARJ

We are excited to recognize Angela Vigil, Pro Bono Partner and Executive Director of Global Pro Bono at Baker McKenzie LLP, with the Norman Dorsen Award at our 2025 Summit! Thanks for your beautiful spirit and your work that advances a better future for all children. #NormanDorsenAward #InReGault

We are so grateful to Raj Jayadev, author of Protect Your People: How Ordinary Families Are Using Participatory Defense to Challenge Mass Incarceration, for sharing his beautiful spirit and wisdom with our community at Summit! #TGCSummit2025 #SummitBeehives #ProtectYourPeople #PublicDefenders

We are grateful to cbabi bayoc, internationally known visual artist and illustrator, who is leading an interactive art conversation with the youth defense community on using art in the co-creation of justice at our Opening Ceremony! #TGCSummit2025 #SummitBeehives

As a sneak peak of some of the topics we'll be exploring together as a community, check out some of the books that have been shared with us as we prepared for our Summit program this year! #TGCSummit2025
To check out our Summit 2025 Booklist, click here: www.defendyouthrights.org/.../summit-2....

We are honored and humbled to host 30 local Beehive Strategy Sessions this year as part of our annual Youth Defender Leadership Summit. Starting tomorrow, the youth defense community will come together for two days to build toward a better future for all children. #TGCSummit2025 #BeeInRelationship

A flyer for the new Vital Document Legal Hotline for Youth, 1-888-870-DOCS, which is a free, dedicated state-specific legal assistance hotline for youth experiencing homelessness to help obtain vital legal documents like birth certificates and state ID cards. The hotline is staffed every Wednesday from 12-8pm Eastern, and voicemails are welcome and will be returned.

National Network For Youth and Baker McKenzie have launched a new national hotline for youth experiencing homelessness, to help them obtain state ID cards and licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and other needed documents.

New CT Law Limits Handcuffing Of Juveniles Under 14 | CT News Junkie The law prevents police officers from placing handcuffs on a pre-adjudicated juvenile known to be under 14 years of age, except when the juvenile is using or threatening the use of physical force.

“Limiting the use of restraints isn’t just symbolic — it will have immediate, real-world benefits for kids across the state by preventing unnecessary and traumatic interactions with the adults tasked with protecting them.”
ctnewsjunkie.com/2025/07/18/n...

Why Are We Backsliding on Juvenile Justice? Over recent decades we’ve moved toward a much more effective and humane system to deal with youth crime. Evidence and research, not hyperbole and hysteria, should be guiding today’s debate.

"Over the last several decades there has been a dramatic decline both in the punitiveness of our country’s approach to youth justice & in youth crime, giving the lie to those who thought that the only way to improve public safety was to crack down on young people."
www.governing.com/policy/why-a...

This July Fourth, we look to a future of independence, liberty, and happiness for all young people.

DAs and Lawmakers Once Again Push to Try Teens as Adults States and counties are reversing policies to keep teenagers in the juvenile system, which is mandated to provide rehabilitation.

“We now know scientifically what works and what doesn’t work. So for us to go backwards now is more of a sin than it was then, because we’ve been through this thing before.”
imprintnews.org/top-stories/...

A quote from Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba: "In order to invest in a new vision, and a new way of living, we have to believe in each other and our capacity to create something better. Our belief in human potential must outweigh our fear of human failure. Our imaginations must be courageous." On a yellow background with hearts in the green, black, and red colors of Juneteenth in the lower left corner.

Honoring the freedom fighters of the past and present whose bold visions and courageous work tear down systems of oppression and build up humanity, liberty, and love. #juneteenth

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Juvenile Justice: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Thank you to @lastweektonight.com for focusing on the urgent need to transform the juvenile legal system and for highlighting that, "Kids should be provided access to legal counsel at every step of the system."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pya-...

Young offenders are often denied credit for 'dead time' behind bars Juvenile detention systems often deny young offenders credit for the time they spend waiting behind bars

"We invest way more in locking kids up than we do in educating them. I often wonder if we made different policy choices, how much better off kids and society as a whole would be."
www.npr.org/2025/06/05/n...

Thank you to Jeremiah Brown and Players Coalition for supporting New York's Right2RemainSilent legislation! Every child should speak to a lawyer before being interrogated.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKNA0Lo...

A designed image containing the following text: On May 15, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed children’s constitutional rights in juvenile court, finding that every young person “requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against [them].” Despite the promises of Gault, states have largely failed to create, fund, and invest in robust youth defense systems that are equipped to support youth defenders in providing the level of representation that the constitution demands and that young people deserve. Trained, resourced, specialized youth defenders are the only ones positioned to ensure children’s constitutional rights, connect them to resources they need to be successful, and hold the system accountable. Youth rights and youth defenders are under attack. Immigrant youth, trans youth, and racial justice efforts have been targeted, and federal funding to the Gault Center and other vital programs has been terminated. In honor of Gault Day, please consider making a donation to support the Gault Center’s work providing training, technical assistance, and support to youth defenders and advocates across the country. www.DefendYouthRights.org/get-involved/donate

As we mark the 58th anniversary of In re Gault today, we reflect on the progress we've made thus far in transforming the juvenile legal system to protect the rights of children and recommit ourselves to the critical work that remains.
www.defendyouthrights.org/get-involved...

Racial disparities in youth incarceration are the widest they've been in decades The number of American children and teenagers in juvenile detention has sharply declined over the last few decades, but as overall numbers decrease, data shows Black and Native American youth are far ...

"There are not huge differences in the racial backgrounds of kids who commit crimes. But there are differences in which neighborhoods are heavily policed. Once a child is arrested, the disparities accumulate further, from who is offered diversion to who stays in detention to who gets probation."