Joe Benton is a special assistant for faith-base initiatives at the 7th District AME Church of South Carolina. In 2005, the church and the state’s department of juvenile justice signed an agreement to work together to benefit children in the state’s juvenile justice system or at risk of entering it.

Laurence Steinberg is a psychology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. His specialties include the adolescent brain and juvenile justice. With Alex Piquero, Steinberg conducted a survey that showed the public is willing to spend more on rehabilitation than on incarceration for juvenile offenders.

Beth Navon is executive director of the Lineage Project in Brooklyn, N.Y., which works with at-risk and incarcerated juveniles through a variety of programs, including yoga. Among its community partners is the Jewish Board of Children and Family Services.

Robert Listenbee is chief of the juvenile unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia and a member of Pennsylvania’s Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice. He is active in the West Oak Lane Church of God.

Fred Anderson is a United Church of Christ minister in Massachusetts who serves on the UCC’s Restorative Justice Task Team. In 2008, he preached a sermon on restorative justice, which included a discussion of juveniles.

Abby Anderson is executive director of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, a community-based organization that seeks to reduce the number of youths who go through the juvenile justice system.

Robert Schwartz is an attorney and co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center. In February 2010, he wrote an opinion piece for CNN.com against trying juveniles as adults.

Michael Rickenbaker is the general chaplain of Christian Prisoner Fellowship in Hazelwood, Mo. The Pentecostal-based ministry has an outreach program to juvenile offenders.

Peter Leone is a professor of special education at the University of Maryland and the project director of the National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice.