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Pollack Writes About Criminal Justice and Adolescents

Daniel PollackDaniel Pollack, professor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, has co-authored an article with Lisa H. Thurau, founder and executive director of Strategies for Youth, explaining how the large number of federal judicial openings this year represents an opportunity to pick judges who can make sure police live up to legal precedents that prevent them from treating young people as adults. Published in The Crime Report, put out by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College, “Wanted: Judges Who Can Change the Way Police Treat Youth” argues that “the scientific evidence is clear: young people are developmentally different than adults. Yet courts routinely excuse police agencies for failing to train officers to strategically handle routine interactions with youth.” The authors state that the legal system “must insist that law enforcement agencies...provide developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed policies and training to guarantee the humane treatment of youth.” Adopting such policies recognize that “children experience innumerable types of trauma in their lives, understand the influence of such trauma, and respond to its effects.”