In six years of representing the best interests of kids in the juvenile justice system, I have never met a bad kid.

I've met kids that have untreated trauma. I've met kids struggling to cope with undiagnosed disabilities. I've met kids that have violent outbursts due to unaddressed mental health needs.

I've met kids whose parents have given up on them. I've met kids that have never had positive role models. I've met kids that have been addicted to substances for a third of their lives.

I've met kids who were failed at critical times of their development by parents, extended family, schools, doctors, therapists, and caseworkers.

I've met kids that I've failed. But I've never met a bad kid. Ever.

Some of them have made bad decisions. Some of those decisions have hurt people. None of those people deserved to be hurt.

Yes, the kids in the juvenile justice system have to learn that their actions have consequences, but there are almost always better ways to accomplish this than locking them up.

And we cannot lose sight of our own accountability. Our actions and inactions have consequences too.

If we have not given our kids the resources and support they need to learn to make good decisions, we are partly responsible for what follows.

Juvenile justice is complex. We need a District Attorney's Office that understands these complexities and factors them into the handling of juvenile cases.

Our kids deserve a District Attorney that will make every effort to bring the community together to identify and fix the systemic failures that land kids in court in the first place.

Our kids deserve a District Attorney that is committed to constantly searching for better ways to balance the competing concerns in juvenile cases.

Our kids deserve a District Attorney that will work to disrupt and dismantle the school to prison superhighway.