No one knew.

A San Francisco mother has filed a lawsuit alleging that the city kept her teenage son locked in a cell for days even though a judge determined that there was no reason that the boy should have been arrested in the first place and ordered his release.

In a spoken-word poem, Dwayne Betts details the emotional impacts of juvenile incarceration.

This article was published in partnership with Caught, the new podcast on juvenile justice from WNYC Studios and the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal-justice system. Sign up for its newsletter or follow the Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter.

Editor’s note: This is the second of two essays The Root is publishing in partnership with Caught, a new podcast from WNYC Studios about the juvenile-justice system. We hope to generate a conversation about how we can support rather than merely punish young people who are in crisis, and we want to hear from you too.…

Editor’s note: This is the first of two essays The Root is publishing in partnership with Caught, a new podcast from WNYC Studios about the juvenile-justice system. We hope to generate a conversation about how we can support rather than merely punish young people who are in crisis, and we want to hear from you too. Go…

In 2005 the United States became the last country to end the death penalty for offenders under 18 years old. Adolescent neuroscience research played a huge part in changing this policy. However, there are still approximately 2,500 prison inmates in the United States serving life sentences without the possibility of…

America incarcerates more juveniles than any country in the world.

One of Virginia’s newest state delegates is working on a series of bills that would disrupt the “school-to-prison pipeline” in a state that recently led the country in referring students to the legal system.

RETRACTED (6/12/18):

Just last week, 71-year-old Henry Montgomery found out he would spend yet another Christmas behind bars in Louisiana. He has spent more than 50 Christmases there, but he thought this year might be different. The parole board was set to hear his case for release, but on the day of the hearing, the board delayed it.

Updated Monday, May 22, 2017, 6:48 p.m. EDT: Bresha Meadows hugged her loved ones and attorneys after her hearing today and said, “Today is a good day.”

A 17-year-old boy from Florida City, Fla., is facing a manslaughter charge after he accidentally shot and killed his younger sister on his birthday Tuesday night, police said.

Lawmakers in the state of New York voted on Sunday to raise the age of criminal responsibility as part of a $153 billion budget deal that was worked out nine days after the fiscal year began.