Report on Unlocking Futures: Youth with Learning Disabilities & the Juvenile Justice System -
NCLD has long sought to enter the juvenile justice space and lend our unique voice as leaders in the disability community to the existing conversation. Recent data clearly indicates that youth with disabilities, and learning disabilities, are disproportionately impacted by and involved in the juvenile legal system. Our current juvenile justice system fails youth with disabilities by not providing academic resources and IDEA services in correctional facilities. Students then experience lifelong negative impacts as they return to school and their community after incarceration.
Unlocking Futures is a comprehensive report that discusses issues surrounding youth with learning disabilities and the juvenile justice system. The report also offers policy recommendations to improve these issues moving forward.
This report is the start of our efforts to support youth with disabilities impacted by the juvenile legal system and will be a foundation for future work.