Originally posted at The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange By: GARY GATELY | January 22, 2015 WASHINGTON — A national juvenile justice campaign launched today with the ambitious goals of halving youth incarceration in 15 states over the next five years while expanding community-based alternatives for offenders. The Youth First! Initiative — founded by longtime juvenile justice advocate Liz Ryan — will also seek to reduce rampant racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile incarceration. “The vast majority of [incarcerated] kids are in for things like misdemeanors, status offenses [such as cutting school or alcohol possession], property offenses, drug offenses, even probation and parole violations,” … [Read more...]