Resource: Sigma Beta Xi v. County of Riverside

By: National Center for Youth Law

July 24, 2019

National Center for Youth Law

This lawsuit alleges that Riverside County, California, through its Probation office, targets, ensnares, and discriminates against children by stripping them of their constitutional rights. The County sweeps tens of thousands of youth into punitive probation supervision through their Youth Accountability Team (YAT) Program for normal, childish behavior and funnels them into the criminal justice system. Children as young as first graders have been referred to YAT. The suit alleges that many of YAT’s processes and consequences violate Constitutional due process, privacy, and free speech, and disproportionately impact Black and Latinx youth.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220120075939/https://youthlaw.org/case/sigma-beta-xi-v-county-of-riverside/#:~:text=STRATEGIES-,Sigma%20Beta%20XI%20v.,them%20of%20their%20constitutional%20rights.&text=Children%20as%20young%20as%20first%20graders%20have%20been%20referred%20to%20YAT.