OJJDP mourns the loss of Robert Schwartz, cofounder of the Juvenile Law Center and life-long youth justice reform pioneer. Schwartz died October 8, 2024.
Schwartz cofounded the Juvenile Law Center, one of the nation's first public interest law firms focused on children, in 1975. Its founding occurred within two years of the passage of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. Schwartz served as the Center's executive director from 1982 to 2015.
Schwartz represented youth involved in the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania juvenile courts and advocated for statewide and national youth justice reform. Under his leadership, the Juvenile Law Center uncovered and litigated the "kids for cash" judicial scandal in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County juvenile court in 2009.
The Juvenile Law Center was integral to seminal U.S. Supreme Court decisions on youth justice, including abolishing the death penalty for youth and prohibiting juvenile life-without-parole sentences.
OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan recognized Schwartz as "a true steward looking out for the needs of young people and the youth justice community."
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