Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
The Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) works to transform the juvenile justice system into one that builds on the strengths of young people, families and communities to ensure young people are given the greatest opportunities to grow and thrive. JJPL fights on several fronts to challenge the ways in which Louisiana handles young people within the juvenile justice system and how young people are given access to rights prior to contact with the juvenile justice system. JJPL addresses issues of access to education and overuse of punishment within Louisiana schools, conditions of juvenile incarceration, alternatives to incarceration, and youth advocacy public policy. JJPL works to ensure the greatest opportunities for all youth and provides services particular to the needs of young people with cognitive disabilities and environmental physical illness, LGBTQ youth, youth living with HIV/AIDS, young people of color, and youth growing up in poverty.
JJPL centers the voices of its young people at the heart of its work and seeks to raise these voices in order to alter public perceptions and to empower young people. One way JJPL seeks to achieve this goal is through publishing Ya Heard Me, a collection of stories, poems, and drawings by incarcerated young people.
Visit JJPL's website here.