The Odessa American is the leading source of local news, information, entertainment and sports for the Permian Basin.

Does sentencing a juvenile offender to life in prison violate the Constitution's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment"? The Supreme Court is set to consider that question. The court will hear ...

Less than a year after a scathing report from the Department of Justice found that Texas juvenile prisons are rife with sexual and physical abuse, the state Legislature is considering sending more ...

It should be a crime that America locks up so much of its youths. Right now the United States has more than 60,000 children sitting in jail, lost in a broken system that has led our country to ...

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — So far this year, 46 teens have been arrested for possession of a firearm. With the growing trend of youth committing crimes, juvenile courtrooms are seeing more and more cases, ...

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — As some state lawmakers seek action to address troubling allegations regarding conditions at Virginia's only youth prison, the state's juvenile justice director is raising ...

The Riverside County DA's office appears inclined to pursue prosecution of parents and guardians in some e-bike crashes ...

Juvenile detention centers in Missouri offer young convicts emotional support. Waverly, Mo., Sept. 9, 2009 — -- For most of the nearly 100,000 kids in America's juvenile justice system, life in ...

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, President Barack Obama announced an end to solitary confinement for juvenile offenders in the federal prison system, citing the potential long-term psychological ...

Louisiana officials plan to reopen a youth prison in April that was shuttered over a decade ago when it was declared ...

Uriah Behl, 40, pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting children by secretly recording them in a shower. A hidden cellphone recorded multiple victims, including a juvenile, in a Carthage community ...

ABERDEEN — For the past few weeks, Kendrick Rochelle has been going to Washington’s overcrowded youth prison in Chehalis to build relationships with the young men held there. Rochelle is trying to ...