Helping LGBTQ Youth Involved in Juvenile Delinquency System

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth often experience social stigma, family rejection, school bullying, and housing instability. They have higher rates of depression, homelessness, and suicide and regularly experience misunderstanding, isolation, physical and verbal harassment and discriminatory attitudes. When they become involved in the juvenile justice system, these experiences become magnified by further mistreatment and misunderstanding by juvenile justice personnel. Jody Marksamer, Staff Attorney and Youth Project Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Shannan Wilber, Executive Director of Legal Services for Children, Inc. will appear on this episode of Spotlight on Youth to discuss relevant social and legal research findings pertaining to delinquent LGBTQ youth. As leaders in developing best practice guidelines, the guests will explore creating a safe, respectful, and fair juvenile justice system for LGBTQ youth and provide practical tips to attorneys, judges, treatment providers, and detention and correctional institutions seeking to enhance their responses to this population.