Groundbreaking Report Examines LGBT Youth in Juvenile Courts
Source: National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Legal Services for Children (LSC), and the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC)

Today, the Equity Project, a collaboration of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Legal Services for Children (LSC), and the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC), announced the release of Hidden Injustice: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Juvenile Courts. This groundbreaking new report, based on extensive surveys and interviews of juvenile justice professionals and youth, provides the first comprehensive examination of the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in juvenile courts nationwide.

The report paints a sobering picture of the experiences of LGBT youth in delinquency courts. A significant percentage of youth in detention facilities, in some jurisdictions up to 13 percent, are LGBT, according to a recent study by Ceres Policy Research. Yet many juvenile justice professionals are simply unaware that LGBT youth exist, and are often treated unfairly in the system.

+ Full Report (PDF; 5.3 MB)

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 2:11 am and is filed under Gender and sexuality, Legal and law enforcement, Social and cultural issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.