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Youth

All young people must have the opportunity to meaningfully participate in our society.  The ACLU Youth Policy project seeks to ensure that young people – particularly those who have been historically excluded or underserved – receive meaningful education and services in communities, instead of being pushed to a juvenile justice system that will undermine their ability to be successful as adults.  Our current focus is on reforming school discipline policies and practices, working to limit school-based referrals to the juvenile justice system, and decreasing the over-reliance on jails and prisons for young people in the juvenile and adult criminal law systems.

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Plaintiffs filed this suit to enforce the State’s duty, under the Washington Constitution Article IX, § 1, to provide adequate funding of a “basic education” for all students in public schools statewide.

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In June 2012, the United States Supreme Court struck down mandatory life without possibility of parole sentences when imposed on individuals convicted of committing murder while under age 18 (referred to herein as JLWOP sentences). 

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