Resource Roundup: Juvenile Justice, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment, Crossover Youth, and More
This week, we've got a bonanza of resources, conference presentations, and toolkits related to the juvenile justice system, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and working with troubled youth generally.
Presentations from Juvenile Justice Conferences You Missed
Still suffering heartburn because you weren't able to make it to that fantastic juvenile justice conference this year? No worries. You can find many of the presentations online. For example:
- Presentations from the Coalition for Juvenile Justice 2010 onference. (Hat tip to Mark Fulop.)
- The 2010 Blueprints conference can help update you on what really works in preventing youth violence.
- Even if you're not a grantee of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), you can find interesting material posted from a recent orientation OJJDP held for new grantees: for example, there's a presentation on how to evaluate your program, another that covers "tools to improve services and program performance," a review of the findings from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), and of course, an overview of OJJDP grant programs.
Juvenile Justice Reform: DOJ Report on Delays in Case Processing
Did you know that juveniles don't have the right to a speedy trial under the U.S. Constitution? (Adults do.)
But given teens' developmental need for a clear connection between their behavior and its consequences -- not to mention the importance of addressing the needs of victims -- it's important for their cases to be processed as quickly as possible.
Yet the time it took juvenile courts to process cases went up by 10% between 1995 and 2004, even though the number of cases dropped eight percent during the same time period. Obviously, that's not good.
What's going on? For answers, check out a new Department of Justice (DOJ) report, Delays in Youth Justice, by Jeffrey Butts, Gretchen Ruth Cusick, and Benjamin Adams. It was produced under the auspices of the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment: SAMHSA Names CASPAR an Evidence-Based Practice
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Provider? Free NIATx E-Learning Course Now Available
Do you provide substance abuse or mental health treatment to adolescents or adults? You can improve the quality of care you provide -- and your bottom line -- by using the NIATx model of process improvement.
In that model, successful change efforts begin with a walk-through. Just what is a "walk-through?" It's a way for staff in your organization to experience the services they provide just as their clients or customers do.
Our new e-learning course, Process Improvement 101, gives an overview of the NIATx model and the tools users need to prepare for a walk-through in their organizations. You can complete this free course in less than an hour, or view one segment at a time.
Now More Than Ever, Join "Recovery Month 2010"
Every September, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) celebrates National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month).Families in Power: a Guide to Organizing on Juvenile Justice Reform
[The following column appeared in the February 2010 Campaign for Youth Justice e-newsletter, and is reprinted with permission. It has been edited slightly to incorporate hyperlinks into the text. - Ed.]
The Campaign for Youth Justice recently released a guide for families who want to do something to change the foolish and ineffective practice of trying our children as adults. Our new guide is entitled, "Families in Power: Family Guide to Networking, Coalition Building, Organizing and Campaign Building." The guide provides basic information about how families and allies can begin to organize themselves and others to change transfer practices and other overly punitive policies that negatively affect our children and our communities.
Here is one highlight from this new guide:
The first step in creating powerful families and organizing others is developing a way to talk about your issue with a wide variety of audiences. Many organizers refer to this as your "rap." Your rap about the transfer of children into the adult correctional and court systems should be your 30-second commercial that is designed to open up dialogue with others. It should include: a fact or two about youth transfer in order to educate people who may not know about transfer laws, why this is issue is important to you, and what you need from the person you are talking to. Be sure you have your facts down and that they are accurate. There are several fact sheets on the Campaign's website that can help you easily identify important facts. The best fact sheet to use summarizes the findings of CFYJ's Jailing Juveniles report and speaks to the danger children face in jails every day in this country.
Roundup: Labeling Kids as Delinquent Increases Recidivism; Sports Improve Life Outcomes for Girls; How to Increase Collections from Insurance Companies, and More
Juvenile Justice Reform and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment News
Remember the Canadian study last year that followed youth for 20 years and found that youth who came into contact with the juvenile justice system were seven times more likely to commit crimes as adults? One reason for that was labeling. Now, here's more research that labeling kids as "juvenile delinquents" contributes to additional crime. (Hat tip to @cjny.) Nevertheless, MD legislators are working hard to make sure that law enforcement and juvenile justice officials share information about kids with school administrators.- The New York Times noted in an editorial that the Governor's budget for the coming year practically ignores the recommendations contained in the report of the Governor's task force on juvenile justice. In a separate editorial, the paper encouraged Congress to sponsor a proposed blue ribbon panel on the nation's criminal justice system.
Adolescent Treatment Providers: Increasing Collections from Insurance Companies
The NIATx ACTION Campaign II: Financial Strength in a Changing World, offers free process improvement tools for behavioral health care providers -- like adolescent substance abuse treatment agencies -- along with an easy way to get connected with NIATx.
The Campaign features twice-monthly webinars tailored for beginners who are new to NIATx process improvement, or "advanced" webinars for those who have participated in a NIATx project in the past. The Campaign web site also highlights promising practices that we encourage people to try in their own agencies. Join the Campaign here -- it's free!
This month, our promising practices focus on tapping into referral sources and increasing collections from insurance companies. The webinar below is one of the associated events.
[UPDATE: Just follow the link here to access the archived recording and PowerPoints for "Increasing Collections from Insurance Companies" (advertised below). --Ed.]
Juvenile Courts: Working with the Media - Lessons from the CJJ Southern Regional Conference
Want to get some expert pointers on how to talk to the media about juvenile justice issues?
Then check out the presentations from the Coalition for Juvenile Justice's(CJJ) Southern Regional conference. Held January 29-31 in Charleston, SC, the conference focused on working with the media to promote juvenile justice reform and to strengthen the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act's (JJDPA) four core requirements.
On the conference web page, you can find:
- the conference agenda;
- a presentation from Judge Steve Teske of Clayton County, GA, offering pointers on working with the media;
- a presentation on how Jefferson County, AL successfully worked to reduce court referrals from Birmingham schools by a whopping 84% (this collaborative effort also had a media strategy);
- a presentation from Linda O'Neal of the Frameworks Institute on how framing the message correctly is necessary to get members of the public to care about teens in the juvenile justice system; and
- an overview by Tara Andrews, deputy director of CJJ, of key talking points with regard to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).
Roundup: Research Says Juvenile Justice Systems Make Boys Recidivate; Addiction Treatment Resources; and More
Juvenile Justice Reform News
- Last year, the results of a a 20-year study in Canada showed that contact with the juvenile justice system makes boys more likely to commit crimes as adults. But according to a Youth Today article [subscription required], other researchers are coming up with similar conclusions. The question is, as the author of the article asks, what will juvenile justice system policy makers do about it?
