In a recent survey of youth at a Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) facility, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition heard from youth that staying connected to their families is more difficult at state facilities as compared to county detention centers, and that they would like more contact with their families. In my role as the TJJD family liaison coordinator, I have been working on several ways to establish and enhance family partnerships.

In 2007, parents, youth, advocacy groups and agency staff worked together to create the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which establishes that “parents are partners with correctional staff, educators, and treatment providers in their child’s rehabilitation and are encouraged and assisted to actively participate in the design and implementation of their child’s treatment, from intake to discharge.”

With the Bills of Rights as its guide, TJJD offers a number of opportunities for families to learn about the agency, participate in youth’s treatment, and spend time together:

• Parents are invited to participate in person or by phone in monthly meetings to discuss the youth’s progress in education, behavior, and treatment.
• Monthly Family Orientation sessions help families learn how to navigate the system.
• Family Seminars keep families informed about agency changes.
• Open houses allow families to meet staff and tour the school, dorms, and other buildings.
• Facilities have flexible visiting times and frequent phone calls.
• Quarterly family days encourage families to participate in activities including cook-outs, board games, photo sessions, and celebratory dinners.

Earlier today, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down part of a law mandating certain youth sex offenders to register for life, because the punishment is cruel and unusual.

Under Ohio's Adam Walsh Act, teens classified as the most dangerous sex offenders must register - for the rest of their lives - with law enformencement and have their photos, addresses and criminal histories distributed to neighbors and schools.

In a 5-2 opinion, Ohio's Supreme Court ruled the punishment violates both Ohio and US constitutions because it is cruel and unusual and because it violates a defendant's right to due process. 

From the Associated Press:

Not only is the requirement unconstitutional, it also defeats the purpose of the juvenile court system, Justice Paul Pfeifer said, writing for the majority.

The mandatory registration "undercuts the rehabilitative purpose of Ohio's juvenile system and eliminates the important role of the juvenile court's discretion in the disposition of juvenile offenders and thus fails to meet the due process requirement of fundamental fairness," Pfeifer wrote.

He also said it defeats another goal of the juvenile court system: cloaking children in confidentiality and allowing them to avoid stigma once they have served their time in the juvenile system and become adults.

"Confidentiality promotes rehabilitation by allowing the juvenile to move into adulthood without the baggage of youthful mistakes," Pfeifer said. "Public exposure of those mistakes brands the juvenile as an undesirable wherever he goes."

Lawanda Ravoira

Each year thousands of young women run away from home. To survive, some girls steal. Some sell their bodies for money or a place to stay. Many use drugs and alcohol to cope with life on the streets. Eventually, many girls end up in the juvenile justice system.

The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth recently spoke with Lawanda Ravoira, director of the National Girls Institute, about how to keep homeless young women out of trouble, out of jail and engaged with programs that provide support.

NCFY: Which girls are most at risk for becoming involved in the juvenile justice system?

Ravoira: Girls become involved in the system from all over, but one of the first predictors is school failure (uneven grades, suspensions and expulsions). The other big thing is trauma. We know that 92 percent of girls entering juvenile justice have been victims of physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Girls coming into the system have much higher rates of trauma and victimization than boys.

NCFY: How do girls respond to trauma differently from boys?

Know any professionals of color who want to lead efforts to help youth in trouble with the law?

Then you should encourage them to apply to the Youth Justice Leadership Institute. The Institute, offered by the National Juvenile Justice Network, is a robust, year-long, distance-learning program that includes leadership development, training in juvenile justice system policies and practices, theories of change, and advocacy skills development. Now in its second year, its goal is to expand the base of advocates and organizers in the field who reflect the communities who are most affected by the way the juvenile justice system operates.

Past fellows have described the Institute variously as a great opportunity, a place that helped them see the national context for their work, connected them to colleagues and peers across the country and which helped them bring back useful information to their communities. But see for yourself what they have to say -- check out the video above.