The Connecticut Justice Alliance (CTJA / the Alliance) is a team of fiercely dedicated advocates and community organizers committed to ending the criminalization of youth. 

The Alliance uses organizing, advocacy, and policy tools to protect the rights, futures, and well-being of potentially, currently, and formerly incarcerated youth.

A Youth/Adult Partnership, CTJA is made up of Justice Staff, Justice Advisors and Steering Committee members working together to keep children and youth out of the justice system by disrupting and dismantling the pathways that funnel children and youth into courts and prisons. CTJA also works to make sure youth who are detained, incarcerated, and involved in the courts and legal systems receive safe, fair, and dignified treatment. 

The organization’s Youth/Adult Partnership began in 2017 with the addition of the CTJA’s Justice Advisors — youth and young adults over the age of 18 with first or second-hand justice system experience. The Justice Advisors (JAs) pursue the primary goal of meaningfully incorporating the voices and experiences from those most impacted by the justice system into all discussions and decisions around juvenile justice policy, practice, and reform. 

Over the past two decades, the Connecticut Justice Alliance and its statewide partners have worked tirelessly to reform CT’s deeply flawed juvenile justice system. After a number of successful initiatives, including raising the age and jurisdiction, as well as, closing the troubled and wasteful CJTS detention center, Connecticut is now regularly cited as a national model of reform.