The Center for Youth Policy & Law (CYP&L) at the University of Maine School of Law was established in June 2017 with support from the John T. Gorman Foundation. This initiative aids Youth Justice Clinic students and faculty in their policy endeavors. By fostering collaboration with partners and stakeholders, the Center strives to reduce harm and enhance outcomes for Maine’s current and former system-involved youth and emerging adults. In its coordinating role, the Center serves as a platform for the practitioner work group—a dedicated team of youth justice professionals and advocates focused on evaluating youth justice policies, programs, and practices. Their goal is to minimize inappropriate detention and confinement while promoting fairness in the justice system. Additionally, the Center represents Maine in the National Youth Justice Network.
Statewide Collaborations
The Center works with multiple agencies and organizations on several statewide projects that integrate student participation and learning. Primary partners include the University of Southern Maine’s Place Matters project, the Maine Department of Corrections Juvenile Division, and the Maine JJAG, and the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services.
Strengthening Youth Defense Project
The purpose of this three-year project is to strengthen Maine’s youth defense system and improve outcomes for youth. Project goals include improving the quality and availability of counsel to represent youth in the juvenile legal system, building robust training for youth defenders, and recommending policy and practice reforms consistent with national best practices, the protection of constitutional rights, and the purposes of the Maine Juvenile Code. Report on findings and recommendations to be released in 2027.
Learn more about the Strengthening Youth Defense Project
Youth Community Supervision Initiative
The Youth Community Supervision Initiative focuses on understanding and implementing “what works” when it comes to fostering youth and community safety and wellbeing for youth under community supervision. Following participation in the Georgetown University’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform Transforming Juvenile Probation Program, the Center and the Department of Corrections co-facilitate a capstone project designed to improve supervision of youth in the community, strengthen connections between state agencies and community services, and divert more youth away from formal system involvement.
Learn more about the Youth Community Supervision Initiative
Regional Care Teams
Regional Care Teams are a network of individuals from youth-serving agencies, systems, organizations, and communities in each Department of Corrections (DOC) region who meet monthly to share resources, fill in gaps, and respond to local needs of youth referred to the initiative, and also develop strategies to inform policy and practice at the systems level. The Center helped to establish and grow the project based on recommendations from the 2020 Juvenile Justice System Assessment and related Task Force work led by the Center, the Legislature and the Department of Corrections.
Learn more about the Regional Care Teams.
The Center and the University of Southern Maine’s Justice Policy Program have partnered on several publications in the Place Matters series around a community-based continuum of care for transition-aged youth and youth impacted by the justice system.
- Schwartz, E., Foley, J., Ward, J., Cabral A., Atkinson, T. Collaborating to Improve Youth Wellbeing in Maine: A Review of the Past Three Years of the Maine Regional Care Teams, June 2024.
- King, E., Ward, J., Foley, J., and Schwartz, E. Regional Care Teams Year Two Update: Cross Systems Collaboration to Improve Positive Youth Outcomes, March 2023.
- Sanchez, M., King, E., Ward, J. and Foley, J. Regional Care Teams First Year Review: Cross Systems Collaboration to Improve Positive Youth Outcomes, November 2021.
- Sanchez, M., King, E. and Ward, J. Aligning Investments in a Community-Based Continuum of Care for Maine Youth Transitioning to Adulthood, March 2019.
- Sanchez, M., King, E. and Ward, J. Youth Justice in Maine: Imagine a New Future Summit, Summary & Recommendations, January 2018.
Youth Justice Legislative Updates
At the end of each session of the Maine Legislature, student fellows compile a list of bills that impact youth and youth justice policy and provide a short summary of each, including whether they were approved, rejected, or remain active for further consideration.
- 132nd 1st Session Legislative Update (July 2025)
- 131st 2nd Session Legislative Update (July 2024)
- 131st 1st Session Legislative Update (August 2023)
- Plenary Presentation (October 2021)
- Slide Deck (December 2021)
Juvenile Record Information Brochure
The Center and the Youth Justice Clinic have published this important resource for youth, families, and other system stakeholders to explain what it means to have a juvenile record in Maine.
Download “Know the Facts: What does it mean to have a Juvenile Record in Maine?”
Publications
- Youth Transition Planning: A Checklist for Community Integration (revised July 2024)
- Information Brief: Roles & Practice Standards of Youth-Serving Systems in Maine (August 2023)
- Christopher Northrop, Jill Ward, Jonathan Ruterbories & Jess Mizzi, What’s My Age Again?: Adolescent Development and the Case for Expanding Original Juvenile Court Jurisdiction and Investing in Alternatives for Emerging Adults Involved in Maine’s Justice System, 74 ME. L. Rev. 2 (2022).
Contact
Jill Ward, Director
207.780.4573
jill.ward@maine.edu