Looking for Lessons
What can we learn from Luzerne County's incarcerate-kids-for-money scandal?
by Daniel Denvir
Published: March 4, 2009
In the wake of a scandal, people often take note of problems that previously went overlooked. Sometimes a crisis offers a chance for reform.
A disproportionate number of minority youths continues to be incarcerated in state facilities, but the overall population of a once-crowded juvenile detention center is shrinking, according to Juvenile Justice Commission officials.
That was the good news for Camden County's Juvenile Detention Center in Gloucester Township, which four years ago sometimes held as many as 131 children in a building designed for 37, but was "under capacity" in February.
Thomas F. Geraghty
Northwestern University School of Law
Associate Dean for Clinical Education
Professor of Law
Director, Bluhm Legal Clinic
Legal Director
Juvenile Law Center
Louis Rulli
University of Pennsylvania
Practice Professor of Law
Sandra Simkins and J.C Lore have joined the faculty at Rutgers University School of Law-Camden to develop, create and direct the Children's Justice Clinic. This is an exciting time for the Law School as it begins construction of a new state of the art law school and legal clinic. We fully expect the Children's Justice Clinic to quickly become a catalyst for local and statewide reform within the juvenile justice system. As the Clinic develops, the Clinic and Rutgers University will also expand its advocacy into areas and issues of national concern.
