A Manhattan state Supreme Court judge found the city's Administration of Children's Services unlawfully sent children back to detention for years, thanks in large part to the vacuum created by state officials who have failed to create critical rules following legislation passed in 2012.

Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead recently issued an order detailing the situation that has led public defenders to argue hundreds of children were wrongfully reincarcerated by ACS.

The dynamics flow from the failure of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services to put together rules for how ACS would handle the revocation for so-called aftercare, the juvenile justice equivalent of parole.