News Roundup: Jobs, Funding, Events and Webinars in Juvenile Justice Reform and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
The Reclaiming Futures news roundup today focuses on jobs, funding opportunities and events for those working in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas.
The listings below are from the new Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board. Please share it with your colleagues. It's free to browse and post!
Jobs (with closing dates when applicable)
Mentor
HOPI Substance Abuse Prevention Center
Kykotsmovi
AZ
4/13/2012
Internet addiction linked to drug abuse and more: new roundup
Juvenile Justice Reform
- Study shows youth law project “bridges gaps” for children in need
Fosters
An evaluation study recently completed by the University of New Hampshire reveals that services provided by the New Hampshire Legal Assistance's Youth Law Project result in an overall reduction of recidivism, a goal the agency strives for through providing support and resources alongside juveniles in the court system. - Cook County must reform juvenile justice, national agency says
Chicago Tribune
Cook County should demolish its long-troubled juvenile temporary detention center and needs to address an array of problematic trends in how it detains youths, such as disproportionately high admission rates for African-Americans, according to a national criminal justice research agency report. - Louisiana seeing reduced need for some juvenile justice facilities, chief says
The Town Talk
The number of referrals to Louisiana juvenile detention facilities is down, as are recidivism and funding, the head of the state Office of Juvenile Justice says, so daytime treatment services under her office can be eliminated. - Funding cuts to youth centers would give minor offenders nowhere to go
The Salt Lake Tribune
Lawmakers in Utah are looking at cutting millions of dollars from Juvenile Justice Services, meaning that several rural youth receiving centers will shutter and others statewide will have limited operating hours. - Most Texas juvenile prisoners have mental health problems
CBS
Some 52 percent of young people in Texas’ six youth prison facilities have moderate or high mental health treatment needs, the head of the state juvenile justice department says. - Local juvenile drug court program is having a positive impact on Great Falls
KFBB
Judge Kenneth Neill was tired of seeing kids making bad decisions, so when the Juvenile Drug Court Program began in Cascade County 6 years ago, he saw it as a fresh start for teens who would otherwise be locked up. - In Dakota County, jury of teenage peers offers alternative for juvenile offenders
Pioneer Press
A youth court in Minnesota is giving teens a second chance after learning from their mistakes. - South Carolina bill to deny licenses to dropouts advances
7 On Your Side
Lawmakers are taking aim at South Carolina’s high dropout rate with a bill that would take driving privileges away from students who stop going to school. - House passes overhaul of Georgia juvenile justice system with focus on treatment
The Republic
Juvenile courts would have to conduct an assessment of children's mental health needs before committing them into state custody as part of an overhaul of the juvenile justice code passed Wednesday by House lawmakers. - What life is like for a 14-year-old killer tried as an adult in Indiana
The Indianapolis Star
Should a 12-year-old be tried as an adult? Paul Henry Gingerich was after he helped kill a man two years ago. He faces 10 more years in prison -- unless an appeal convinces a court he should have been tried as a juvenile. - Q&A: James Bell on what to do with California’s youth prisons
KALW
KALW sat down with James Bell, Founder and Executive Director of the Burns Institute, to discuss disproportionate minority contact and realignment in California. - Florida district seeks civil citation program for misdemeanors committed at school
The Ledger
Polk County School District officials said Tuesday they want to implement a civil citation program for students who commit misdemeanors at schools. The program would allow students of all ages who commit a misdemeanor on campus to receive a citation instead of possibly being arrested, run through the court system and possibly taken to jail. - Legal loophole makes some Texas juvenile records public
Houston Chronicle
Personal information about thousands of Texas juveniles cited for truancy, disorderly conduct and other Class C misdemeanors is widely accessible to the public, despite privacy concerns from advocates and parents.
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
- Thousands of teens pick up smoking each day, new report says
WBTV
Every day in the U.S., more than 3,800 people under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette. More than 1,000 of them become daily smokers. They replace the 1,200 people who die each day in the U.S. from smoking.
Registration Open for NCJFCJ Webinars on Instinctive Behavior, Traumatic Events
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges is hosting two free webinars that may be of interest to practitioners and juvenile justice professionals:
- Social Cognition: The Pros and Cons of Autopilot
February 2, 2012 at 10:30 am PT / 1:30 pm ET
This webinar will explore the associations between information processing and one's interactions with others and how to overcome instinctive behavior and make better decisions for children and families.
Register here: http://www.ncjfcj.org/content/view/1532/315/ - The Truth about Trauma and Delinquency
March 7, 2012 at 10:30 am PT / 1:30 pm ET
This webinar will examine how traumatic events can have a long-term impact on those who experience trauma and how these events affect their families and communities.
Register here: www.ncjfcj.org/content/view/1531/315/
Space is very limited, so sign up today!
US Supreme Court to rule on life sentences for juveniles
Juvenile Justice Reform
- U.S. Supreme Court ruling on life sentences for juveniles could overturn law
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether juveniles age 14 or younger can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for homicide. A ruling that such sentences are categorically unconstitutional could upend laws in 36 states, including Wisconsin. - Amnesty International calls on U.S. to stop jailing minors for life
In a new report, Amnesty says sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole is incompatible with the basic principles of juvenile justice. Currently, more than 2,500 adults are in U.S. jails for crimes committed as a child and under current rules they will never be freed. - Bullying behind bars: Pennsylvania's juvenile detention centers fail to protect LGBT youth
National statistics show lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth in juvenile detention facilities fare worse than their heterosexual peers. - Attorney General Holder Convenes First Hearing on Children’s Exposure to Violence
Attorney General Eric Holder recently convened the first of four public hearings of the National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, a part of the Defending Childhood Initiative, which is gathering expert and community testimony on children’s exposure to violence.
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
- The National Mentoring Partnership, Global Youth Justice, and the National Partnership for Juvenile Services are conducting a survey to improve the design and delivery of mentoring services for youth at risk for delinquency, alcohol and drug abuse, truancy, and other problem behaviors.
- Dramatic rise in substance abuse treatment admission rates from 1999-2009
A new SAMHSA report shows that while the overall rate of substance abuse treatment admissions among those aged 12 and older in the United States has remained nearly the same from 1999 to 2009, there has been a dramatic rise (430 %) in the rate of treatment admissions for the abuse of prescription pain relievers during this period.
12/14 WEBINAR: Above the influence
Reclaiming Futures is hosting a free webinar on December 14, 2011, at 11 am PT (2 pm ET) on the "Above the Influence" campaign to help teens stand up to negative pressures and influences.
The webinar will focus on the updated “Above the Influence” campaign toolkit, provide instructions on how to implement the two new youth activities featured in the toolkit and lessons learned from Houston. It will be followed by a Q&A session.
Featured presenters include:
- Mark Krawczyk (Office of National Drug Control Policy)
- Sandy Olson (Coalition of Behavioral Health Services Houston)
- Kay Crockett (Coalition of Behavioral Health Services Houston)
Space is limited! Register now.
New guide helps identify youth at risk and more -- news roundup
OJJDP launches DMC virtual resource center
This online forum provides Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) coordinators, state advisory group members, and other juvenile justice professionals with tools to exchange ideas, share trainings and communicate about new practice standards.- Treatment Center alters schedule in response to adolescent sleep data
Because sleep can affect a teen's mood and emotional self-control, Rosecrance Health Network, the largest adolescent treatment center in Illinois, restructured their program to reduce patients’ sleep deficit. Outcomes are encouraging. - Update: Illinois juvenile prisons
Conditions in Illinois juvenile prisons are improving, according to a report by the John Howard Association on Illinois, but problems of overcrowding, lack of education and inadequate staffing linger.
- New guide helps identify youth at risk for alcohol-related problems
The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has released Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner’s Guide. This free tool can help healthcare professionals identify youth at risk for alcohol-related problems, counsel or advise them, and connect them to external sources of treatment. It contains a risk assessment survey and links to motivational interviewing resources.
New NDCI webinar "But I Got a Script For It" focuses on prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse

The next National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) webinar will be held Tuesday, October 18, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Titled "But I Got A Script Fot It," the hour-long presentation will focus on prescription and ove-the-counter drug abuse.
All NCDI webinars are free, but space is limited. For more information about NDCI trainings and webinars, or to listen to a previous webinar, you can visit www.ndci.org/webinars.
From the press release:
