Juvenile Justice
CDF supports policies that help children grow successfully by identifying what children need and championing what works.
Too many children grow without the cornerstones of support. Without a strong foundation, many children become at risk of entering the juvenile justice system, and a disproportionate number of those children are minority boys.
Cradle to Prison Pipeline Campaign® calls for action to end this crisis by working to build a common understanding of the root causes and raising public awareness so that more children find success rather than failure. Investing in preventive measures now (PDF) is an investment in our children's and country's future.
Local Efforts
CDF-Minnesota works with the Juvenile Justice Coalition of Minnesota on efforts to promote more positive means of helping at-risk youth stay out or get out of the juvenile justice system. For more information, call Norma Bourland, CDF–Minnesota's Health Organizer at 651-855-1186 or email.
National Efforts
Find out more about what the national Children's Defense Fund is doing.
Get Involved
Cradle to Prison Pipeline Campaign®
The Cradle to Prison Pipeline campaign is a national and community crusade to engage families, youth, community leaders and institutions and those in power in every sector in the development of healthy, educated children. The Campaign advances policies that put children on track to productive adulthood and opposes those that criminalize children at younger and younger ages.
Watch a video of Harvard University's Charles Ogletree's conversation with CDF President Marian Wright Edelman at the Aspen Institute from July 2009. Mrs. Edelman discusses her work in ending America's pipeline to prison and discusses the social and economic conditions that have created this system where millions of children are born without hope for a better future.
(Note: This video clip is just the first 10 minutes of their conversation. To view the entire interview, click on "Watch Full Program" once this clip has completed.)

The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.