January 2025
Monthly Newsletter
Juvenile Justice Advocates International
Dallas Juvenile Detention Assessment Nears Completion
JJAI is preparing a final report on detention conditions for the Dallas County Juvenile Services. Starting in October, Douglas Keillor has lead a team with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, made up of national and local Dallas experts on youth incarceration, youth development, mental health and education.
This past week Douglas was in Dallas to present on the advances in the detention assessment to the County Juvenile Board. “The things that children need to be safe and protected while incarcerated are not substantially different in different states or countries,” Douglas said.
The U.S. incarcerates more youth per capita than any other country in the world, despite 20 years of declining youth delinquency rates.
New Hire Launches Work in Puerto Rico!
This January JJAI hired José Carlos Figueroa, a social worker in Puerto Rico with extensive experience working with youth in the justice system. JJAI is also continuing its partnership with the children’s rights program at the University of Puerto Rico (Probono DAN).
JJAI’s collaboration in Puerto Rico began during the COVID19 pandemic, when, due to the significant restrictions and isolation, dozens of detained youth were hospitalized for self-harming.
JJAI is excited to share our experience in working with Latin American jurisdictions on protecting children in detention with stakeholders in Puerto Rico.
2025 Interns Join JJAI
JJAI is excited to welcome five new interns, three undergraduate interns and two legal interns. Learn more about them here:
Nathalia Bou
Nathalia Bou is a third-year law student at the University of Puerto Rico. She plans to become a criminal defense lawyer. She will be working with JJAI to help launch our work in Puerto Rico and complete our global pretrial detention study.
Eamon O’Connor
Eamon O’Connor is a sophomore Global Studies major at the University of Minnesota. He is working to help JJAI complete our global pretrial detention study.
Isabella Cabrelli Rusconi
Isabella Cabrelli Rusconi is a senior Global Studies major at the University of Minnesota. She is working with JJAI to build a global database of youth detention centers.
Sruti Ramachandran
Sruti Ramachandran is a first year law student at the University of Texas at Austin. She is helping JJAI to raise awareness of our detention assessment standards with international bodies such as the United Nations.
These interns will be instrumental in multiplying JJAI’s impact through conducting research that elevates the work we do in the field.
Our international research and advocacy is primarily supported by university partnerships and interns.
Amane Etefa
Amane Etefa is a junior Global Studies major at the University of Minnesota. She is working with JJAI to build a global database of youth detention centers.
U.S. Funding Freeze
The U.S. funding freezes, of both international aid funding and domestic grant funding has had a significant impact on our partners in the U.S. in Mexico and around the world. JJAI currently has a Department of Justice grant to expand our art project “Reflejos de Dignidad” to Latino youth in U.S. detention centers. The funding was termporarily frozen but then unfrozen. At this time, JJAI does not have any international funding from the U.S. government, such as USAID and our operations are therefore not impacted. USAID funding often allows us to ramp up our efforts in our project sites, so as we expand our work into Central America and the Carribean, we have limited options for pursuing future funding.
Many of our partners and friends fighting for justice reform in Latin America are being impacted, with projects being paused, staff being furloughed and nonprofit organizations at risk of having to close their doors.
Thank you for ensuring JJAI can continue our mission at this critical moment. If you support organizations currently experiencing the funding freeze, consider making a financial contribution, in particular grassroots organizations.
