Driven by the personal stories of five youth who were justice-involved as teens, JUVENILE traces their pathways into the system, their journeys of trauma and healing, and their lessons for how to break and remake the juvenile system.

Shimaine, Ja’Vaune, Romeo, Ariel and Michael are all from different backgrounds and parts of the country, and each had a different pathway into the system: foster care, sexual abuse, violence, homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse. But as their individual narratives unfold in the film, a cohesive narrative emerges of the broken promises of our juvenile system across all American communities.