Peter Leone, professor emeritus of special education at the University of Maryland College of Education, will receive a 2023 Leadership Prize from the nonprofit advocacy organization Juvenile Law Center in recognition of his long career working to improve equity and access to education for youth in the juvenile justice system. Leone will accept the award on May 10 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
“I'm very pleased that the Juvenile Law Center named me as one of the recipients of their 2023 Leadership Prize. It acknowledges the value of education in juvenile justice reform,” said Leone. “Education is one of the most important elements in ensuring that justice-involved youth are able to successfully reenter their communities and transition to adulthood.”
In his nearly 40 years at the University of Maryland, Leone researched the school-to-prison pipeline and the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system. Leone served as the director of the National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice, a federally funded research, technical assistance and dissemination center at the university from 1999 to 2006. He also monitored, evaluated and worked to improve schools at juvenile detention and correctional settings nationwide. Before joining academia, he taught adolescents with behavioral disorders in public schools. Leone retired from the University of Maryland in December 2020 but has continued to work part-time on juvenile justice issues. He is a member of the Juvenile Services Education Program Board for Maryland.
Leone is one of three recipients of Juvenile Law Center’s 2023 Leadership Prize, which recognizes individuals working to advance and protect the rights and well-being of youth in the child welfare and justice systems. According to Juvenile Law Center, “Recipients of the Leadership Prize are leading lights whose inspirational careers are beacons for future generations and whose work has substantially improved the lives of youth.”
Leone was profiled in Terp magazine in 2018.
