By Dawn Turner for The Huffington Post

The juvenile justice system is flawed. It is not only flawed, it is seriously flawed. Rather than serving as a deterrent to a youth's future run-ins with the law and adult incarceration, the juvenile justice system often serves as a training ground for youth offenders.

In my previous blog for the Los Angeles County Education Foundation (LACEF), "Probation Youth: Not Your Problem?" I highlighted the need for providing such young people with opportunities for change once they are released, e.g. school credits, job certification, transitional support, and psychological and health support. Failing to provide these support services will only lead to recidivism and their graduation to adult incarceration. African Americans and Latinos represent an overwhelming segment of the juvenile justice system. The following provides greater insight into the disturbing statistics of our nation's broken juvenile justice system. According to California's Legislative Analyst's Office:

By Karen de Sa for the Monterey Herald

Responding to pressure from probation chiefs, district attorneys and prison guards, Gov. Jerry Brown has done an about-face on a revolutionary plan to shutter California's youth prison system that was once the nation's largest — and arguably the most notorious.

Just four months ago, a small section buried in the governor's belt-tightening budget caused a massive stir in the juvenile justice world. With annual costs per inmate at about $200,000 and its population down 90 percent from peak years, the youth prison system should stop accepting serious and violent youthful offenders beginning next year, the Brown administration concluded.

For prison reformers who have long battled 23-hour confinement, education in cages and endemic violence, Brown's Jan. 5 recommendation to eventually shift all the young inmates to county facilities was a startling and welcome move.

By PRWeb

Just weeks after New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo highlighted the need for reform of the state’s juvenile justice system by including in his 2012–2013 budget the Close to Home Initiative, which would allow New York City to take custody of low-level juvenile offenders by removing them from youth prisons and housing them in their own communities, Judith S. Kaye, former Chief Judge of New York and now Of Counsel for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Michael A. Corriero, Executive Director of the New York Center for Juvenile Justice and a former New York State judge; and Jeremy Travis, President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York, join several juvenile justice experts in an in-depth examination of all phases of New York’s juvenile justice system. This call for reform of what some see as New York’s outdated approach to juvenile justice appears in the latest issue of the New York Law School Law Review.

By The Record Staff

»Juvenile justice: The Division of Juvenile Justice would continue to operate, but its budget would be cut by $24.8 million. Stockton is home to two of California's juvenile facilities - N.A. Chaderjian and O.H. Close. The governor is proposing to charge counties $24,000 per year for each person committed to a state juvenile justice center.

OAKLAND, Calif., May 14, 2012 -- Report details how private prison industry negatively affects safety and local economies

OAKLAND, Calif., May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) is proud to launch today its new website, www.nccdglobal.org, which features the new report "Prison Bed Profiteers: How Corporations Are Reshaping Criminal Justice in the U.S." The report details how private prison corporations are derailing public safety and long-term, sustainable criminal justice reform.

By Amaris Elliot-Engel for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette

As Thomas G. Wilkinson Jr. takes the helm of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, he will focus much of his leadership agenda on a constituency that is too young to be in law school, much less to be a member of the statewide bar association.

Mr. Wilkinson has worked on issues involving youth and the law as co-chairman of the PBA's Task Force on the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report. Both groups were formed in the wake of the Luzerne County judicial corruption scandal.

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore for Recordnet.com

Authorities from California's 58 counties say they are not ready to handle violent juveniles headed their direction.

District attorneys throughout the state are warning that more young people will be charged as adults if Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to end the juvenile justice system becomes law Jan. 1.

But some youth advocates argue that the shift is a step in the right direction. They argue that California's best option is to replace the broken juvenile-justice system.

By Liliana Segura for The Nation

On August 29, 1976, around 1:40 am, a fire erupted at 1138 Spruce Street in Chester, Pennsylvania. The building, in a row of two-family homes just south of the Delaware Expressway, burned for two hours, killing two boys: 13-year-old Brian Harvey and his 6-year-old brother, Derrick.

Neighbors spotted two local girls at the scene: 16-year-old Frances Newsome and 14-year-old Trina Garnett. But according to early reports in the Delaware County Daily Times, “the immediate focus” was Trina, a “mysterious girl” with a “grudge” against Sylvia Harvey, the boys’ mother. Investigators theorized that she had broken a kitchen window and climbed through, lighting matches throughout the first floor of the house and then escaping before it went up in flames. On September 3, Trina was arrested and charged with homicide, arson, conspiracy and burglary. She was held without bail; police told reporters she would be tried as an adult.