Ms. Riya Saha Shah, Esq

Riya Saha Shah is the Chief Executive Officer of Juvenile Law Center. Riya began her career at Juvenile Law Center in 2005 as a Sol and Helen Zubrow Fellow in Children’s Law. Formerly a Senior Managing Director, Riya continues to serve on the organization’s Management Team and is a leader in Juvenile Law Center’s programmatic justice work. Since the beginning of her legal career, Riya has engaged in litigation, policy advocacy, and amicus efforts to reduce the harm of the juvenile and criminal legal system, and interrupt entry into the child welfare, or family policing system, and juvenile legal system. Riya leads Juvenile Law Center’s work focused on youth in the adult criminal legal system. In that role, she has written dozens of amicus and appellate briefs in state and federal courts on behalf of youth tried as adults and youth convicted in adult court who are subjected to life without parole and other lengthy sentences. Riya has worked with colleagues to develop legal arguments that center equity and highlight the racial disparities that have led to the mass incarceration of communities of color. Riya also leads Juvenile Law Center’s efforts to keep children out of the family policing and juvenile legal system. She also has been a leader in Juvenile Law Center’s work on juvenile record confidentiality and expungement and the elimination of sex offender registration laws for youth. Riya was counsel in In re R.R. and H.L., challenging the Pennsylvania juvenile record expungement law and In re J.B., a successful challenge to the imposition of harsh registration laws for Pennsylvania youth charged with sexual offenses. Riya is a national expert and routinely provides litigation support to attorneys challenging registration across the country. Riya is widely published in both academic and non-academic publications. She has written extensively on collateral consequences, expungement, sex offender registration, and the right to counsel. She also has co-authored numerous briefs in cases before the United States Supreme Court, including in Jones v. Mississippi on the procedures required to sentence a child to life without the possibility of parole, Safford v. Redding, which held a school strip-search unconstitutional, and Malvo v. Mathena on whether the protections required to sentence a teenager to life without parole apply in discretionary sentencing schemes. Riya also previously represented youth in dependency proceedings in Philadelphia Family Court. Riya graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law where she was a Civitas ChildLaw Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of The Children’s Legal Rights Journal. Riya is a graduate of University of Michigan Ann Arbor where she earned her B.A. in Psychology and American Culture. Before going to law school, Riya taught second grade in Jersey City, New Jersey through Teach for America, and third grade to bilingual students in Detroit, Michigan. Riya served as an advisory member of the ABA Commission on Youth at Risk and is Co-Chair of the Children’s Rights Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. Licensed to practice in Pennsylvania. Juvenile justice and foster care expertise, with sub-specialty expertise in youth tried as adults, records, and juvenile sex offender registration, juvenlle life without parole. Law degree. No books written. Teen Vogue - https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-sex-offender-registries-impact-youth USA Today - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/15/dont-ask-college-applicants-juvenile-records-school-discipline-column/978110002/ ABC News - https://abcnews.com/US/loitering-arrests-decline-nationwide-philadelphias-tactic-stands-crowd/story?id=71204573 The Philadelphia Inquirer - https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/juvenile-law-crime-washington-trump-militarize-20250818.html