Dear Friends,
I am honored to share that I was recently included in the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) year-long 2025 Youth Justice Fellows Program. This week, I want to discuss the state of juvenile justice in Pennsylvania and relevant legislation. I look forward to working with the other 19 legislators appointed to the program (including my colleague state Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Allegheny). We are committed to working together to develop model legislation that, among other things, will strengthen abuse reporting, limit solitary confinement, address youth education rights, and end the practice of charging children as adults. I am excited to learn more from my colleagues and, by being a part of this program, to advance these measures legislatively. With my background as a child advocate, I am ready to leverage the opportunity to create meaningful change for our state and country to benefit children.
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is a non-partisan organization established in 1975 by state legislators and their staff, which supports the 50 states, commonwealths, territories, and the District of Columbia. All state legislators and legislative staff are members, meaning we have full access to up-to-date nonpartisan policy research, training programs, and tailored technical support.
My appointment to the Youth Justice Fellows Program is timely given the recent introduction of Pennsylvania’s CARE Package, which is a group of bills aimed at juvenile justice reform. The care package, introduced by several of my colleagues, aims at the following reforms, which I strongly support:
My contribution to this package is three bills aimed at increasing safety for justice-involved youth. The first bill, previously H.B. 1689, would require courts to take into consideration an adolescent’s mental capacity, maturity, and ongoing brain development when choosing an appropriate sentencing. If law, this would apply to those who committed crimes at age 24 and under. Research shows that the brain continues to develop and grow well into a person’s 20s, and adolescence ends after age 24. Adolescents are less capable of making thoughtful decisions, are more likely to make impulsive decisions and be influenced by peer pressure than when they are older. Our justice system must consider the lack of youth social-emotional and cognitive control during sentencing so that adolescents can face just sentences that are appropriate for their age and development, most especially for younger children. I have previously sponsored a resolution asking district attorneys to review juvenile cases with a focus on rehabilitation instead of incarceration. Across this country each year, about 250,000 children are prosecuted in adult criminal courts. Practices like “direct file,” which sends minors directly to adult jails when they are charged of certain crimes, means that the children are required to enter solitary confinement since they cannot be housed with adult prisoners, even prior to going to trial and conviction. Such practices are particularly damaging to children. Youth incarcerated in adult facilities are at greater risk for mental health issues, physical and sexual assault and an increased likelihood of recidivism. Adjudication with a focus on rehabilitating minors puts them on a more promising path to lead productive, healthy, law-abiding lives once they reach adulthood.
The next set of bills I plan to reintroduce this session are former H.B.s 1767 and 1766. I introduced the bills last session in response to a Grand Jury report on the Delaware County Detention Center (DCJDC) at Lima that revealed scathing information on the DCJDC’s failure to care and rehabilitate youths at the facility, as well as the frequent disregard for the rights of the children placed in their care. Both bills aim to improve the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) reporting of abuse to proper authorities and impose stricter requirements regarding the use of seclusion in juvenile detention facilities.
House Bill 1767 would require DHS to report all allegations and suspected reports of child abuse involving children in state institutions, licensing actions taken against a facility, and incidents involving law enforcement that have been reported to the department to judges, public defenders, district attorneys, the juvenile probation department, and others to promote transparency. This bill also seeks to increase oversight of facilities by placing (additional) inspection requirements on DHS and the Office of State Inspector General. House Bill 1766 would prohibit the seclusion of a child in a state institution more than four hours in any 24-hour period without a written court order.
I believe it is our responsibility as a legislature to make sure that we create a justice system that will allow children to break cycles of recidivism. These bills that my colleagues have introduced and bills that I plan to reintroduce are an opportunity to make that possible and empower children in our commonwealth to lead successful lives.
I look forward to keeping you updated about my work with NCSL’s 2025 Youth Justice Fellows Program. There are many avenues where we can improve the lives of children in the commonwealth, and I am so grateful to have a seat at the table to ensure that we are doing our best by the commonwealth's children.