Strategic Litigation
We sue to change the system. We represent to save lives.
Lone Star Justice Alliance uses the courts — trial, appellate, and amicus — to dismantle the laws that treat Texas children as adults and to defend the young people crushed by them. Our litigation is paired with policy reform, professional training, and strategic communications, so every case we take builds toward systemic change.
Ending the Prosecution of Children as Adults
Texas sends more children into the adult system than almost any state in the country. We’re fighting to end that.
Through strategic lawsuits, appellate advocacy, and amicus briefs grounded in adolescent brain science, we challenge the laws and practices that deny young people due process, counsel, and the chance to grow up. Each case targets an individual injustice and sets precedent to reach thousands more — dismantling the racial and economic disparities that decide which kids get a second chance and which don’t.
Defending Survivors Who Have Been Criminalized
Survivors of trafficking and abuse are too often prosecuted for acts their traffickers forced them to commit — and sentenced without lawyers equipped to tell their story.
LSJA provides pro-bono representation and mitigation services to survivors facing the harshest ends of the system. Our teams — attorneys, mitigation specialists, and trained social workers — build the trust and investigate the full context that courts otherwise never see. We don’t stop at the verdict: every case includes a re-entry plan that connects our clients to the services they need to rebuild.
Reduce Harm Of Incarceration
Locking kids up doesn’t make Texas safer. The evidence is overwhelming: incarceration increases reoffending, fractures families, and exposes young people to documented abuse inside Texas facilities — findings confirmed by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
We litigate and advocate for the alternative: community-based responses that hold young people accountable while addressing the trauma and unmet needs that brought them into the system in the first place. Kids heal. Communities get safer. Both are possible at once.