New Report: Moving Forward to End Mass Incarceration
The Sentencing Project recently released a report examining the history and impact of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). The JRI is an evidence based approach to improve public safety, reduce incarcerations and reinvest savings to enhance neighborhoods. So far, it has supported 27 states in the last decade. While the JRI has made progress, the report, “Ending Mass Incarceration [PDF],” offers a note of caution:
Our analysis, described in the pages that follow, lead us to the conclusion that while JRI has played a significant role in softening the ground and moving the dial on mass incarceration reform, it is not an unmitigated success story; the picture is complex and nuanced.
It argues that the expansion of correctional control has not occurred accidentally, but as a result of deliberate policy choices that have increased the number of people entering the system and how long they stay. Although there have been some problems with the JRI since it was originally catalyzed, The Sentencing Project is enthusiastic about where it will go from here.
The report emphasizes the impact that JRI could have moving forward through four recommendations:
- Reduce all forms of incarceration and correctional supervision (probation/parole).
- Reinvest in high incarceration communities.
- Involve stakeholders and non-governmental entities at the state and local levels throughout the planning, legislative, implementation and reinvestment process.
- Create a multi-year plan and course for implementation and evaluation beyond short-term legislative or policy fixes.
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Addiction Recovery: Getting Clean At 22; News Roundup
Juvenile Justice Reform
- Juvenile Justice Reforms Approved (PalmBeachPost.com)
The Dream Defenders, a youth group focused on juvenile justice issues, called this week for protection from arrests at school for minor incidents. The group also called for an end to pepper spray and solitary confinement in jails run by Florida counties and to stop putting teens in the juvenile justice system for misdemeanor first offenses. - Juvenile Detention Alternatives Gain Ground in States, DC (JJIE.org)
“There is reason to think that we may, and I emphasize may, have reached a turning point in this era,” said Bart Lubow, director of the juvenile justice strategy group at The Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. He made the comments Wednesday at an AECF-organized three-day conference of some 800 professionals from juvenile justice and child welfare fields in Atlanta. - Proposal Would Keep 17-Year-Old Felons in Juvenile Court (SJ-R.com)
Youths under the age of 18 charged with non-violent felonies will be handled at the juvenile court level, rather than being tried as adults, under a proposal passed by the Illinois House Tuesday. - Your System, Your Choices: Teaching Youth the Juvenile Justice System (StrategiesForYouth.org)
Dr. Miner-Romanoff found that “100% had no idea” about the juvenile justice system and the potential for harsh sentencing before their arrest and incarceration. This, she says, indicates that for these young people severe sentencing did not act as a deterrent. - Opinion: Reduce Teen Recidivism; Treat Kids Like Kids (SJ-R.com)
"Back in 2008, The State Journal-Register used this space to urge Illinois lawmakers to approve a bill that would allow 17-year-olds accused of minor crimes to be tried in juvenile court instead of adult court."
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[VIDEO] Mentoring Works - Following Olivia in Seattle
Reclaiming Futures helps communities develop networks of caring adults that connect justice involved youth to a wide range of activities where they learn social skills, job skills and new behaviors that help them stay drug-free and crime-free long after they complete treatment and probation.
Are you trying to recruit mentors in your community?
Please take a moment to share Olivia's story of gratitude for her Reclaiming Futures King County mentor, Hazel Cameron. We thank Hazel, of the 4C Coalition Mentoring Program, who helped Olivia break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime.
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BRIEF – New report on Video Games and Juvenile Offenders
A study recently published in the journal Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice argues that there may be a link between violent video games and aggressive juvenile behavior.
The study analyzed the video game playing behaviors of more than 200 young men and women involved in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. According to the report, inclinations towards more violent games, as well as frequency of playing video games in general, may be factors in both delinquent and violent behavior among young people.
According to the researchers of the report, the study is the first of its kind to measure the relationship between juveniles adjudicated with serious offenses and violent video game exposure.
“Violent video game playing is one of dozens or perhaps hundreds of risk factors that kids can have that is associated with delinquency and violence,” Radio Iowa quotes Iowa State University researcher Matt DeLisi. “What’s really compelling with the current study is that it withstands all of these other effects we know matter.”
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Exciting News from Montgomery County, Ohio: Expansion into Family Substance Abuse Treatment
The LIFE Program (Learning Independence and Family Empowerment) began in 2005 through the partnerships of Montgomery County Juvenile Court, South Community, The Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Montgomery County, Samaritan Behavioral Health and Reclaiming Futures. The program utilizes Functional Family Therapy, which is an empirically grounded, evidenced based practice model. It has shown high success with violence prevention with youth.
Through the hard work, dedication and continued collaboration of The LIFE Program partners, we have now provided home based family services to over 1,200 youth and families in our community and have reported very successful outcomes!
One of the gaps of service in our community continues to be effective family substance abuse treatment. The FFT-CM Model focuses on engaging ALL key family members to participate in treatment and then motivating them to change. Family behavior change activities are organized to serve as a powerful mechanism for reinforcing alternative healthy behaviors that can replace substance using behaviors in ALL family members.
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Is the Zero Tolerance Policy in Schools Helping or Hurting?
For years, schools have tried to maintain a balance between the “good” and “bad” kids. More often than not, the kids with the highest levels of achievement are the ones that stay in the classroom, while the students with behavioral issues are often the ones who act out forcing teachers to take disciplinary actions.
Schools First, part of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, began its “Suspensions Matters” public education campaign in March 2013 to gain awareness about recent over-reliance of school suspensions in New Orleans schools. It is important to think about the implications zero tolerance policies are taking on the children of our future.
Over the past several years schools have responded to the enormous responsibility of keeping their students safe by enforcing harsher classroom-level discipline. Many school districts and independent charters now handle student misbehavior by standing behind a zero tolerance policy.
Although teachers must be dedicated to the safety of their classroom as a whole, suspensions are often handed out as a consequence for minor offenses. By enforcing the zero tolerance policy on small misdemeanors, students who need the support and structure of the classroom are being given a pass.
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President’s Budget Proposes Spending on Youth Programs, Services
Juvenile Justice Reform
- President’s Budget Proposes Spending on Youth Programs, Services (YouthToday.org)
President Barack Obama introduced his 2014 budget proposal on Wednesday, highlighting new efforts to increase funding for education and juvenile justice. - The Power of Poetry in Education (JJIE.org)
April is National Poetry Month. This year, thousands of students incarcerated in juvenile detention and correctional centers around the country are participating in a nationwide poetry initiative, “Words Unlocked,” sponsored by the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings. - Pa. Courts Tout Improvements to Juvenile Justice (Cumberlink.com)
A new report says Pennsylvania's juvenile courts have made dozens of rule changes in response to an internal review prompted by a court scandal in Luzerne County. Chief Justice Ronald Castille produced the eight-page report Monday at the Juvenile Justice Academy in Hershey. - In Texas, Youth Reported with Mental Health Problems Grows Substantially (JJIE.org)
More than half the juveniles in Texas detention facilities in 2012 had mental health issues, according to a recent Associated Press (AP) report based on figures released by the state’s justice officials in February. Over the last three years, officials state the number of juvenile detainees with “intensive need” for mental health treatment has ballooned by 113 percent.
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National Drug Control Budget Supports Treatment and Prevention
On Wednesday, April 10, President Obama announced the largest requested percentage increase in federal funding for drug treatment in over two decades.
- $76.8 million will fund grants made directly to approximately 605 community‐based coalitions (including 139 new grants) focusing on preventing youth substance use
- President Obama’s drug budget calls for $1.5 billion increase for drug treatment and prevention over fiscal year 2012.
- The budget calls for largest requested percentage increase in drug treatment funding in over two decades.
- The total amount requested for treatment and prevention is $10.7 billion.
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Save the Date: Reclaiming Futures Webinar April 30
Do you want to learn how the Reclaiming Futures model is uniting juvenile courts, probation, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and the community for cost effective juvenile justice reform?
Please register for a free webinar on Tuesday, April 30 at 10 a.m. (PDT)/1 p.m. (EDT)
What you'll learn:
- Communities have a compelling need to break the cycle of drugs, alchohol and crime
- Reclaiming Futures is connecting young people to caring adults
- The six-step model is pointing to better outcomes for youth
About the presenters:
Susan Richardson is national executive director for Reclaiming Futures. Formerly, she was a senior program officer in the health care division of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in North Carolina, where she led a three-year effort involving the state's juvenile justice and treatment leaders to adopt the Reclaiming Futures model by juvenile courts in six North Carolina counties. She received her B.S. in Public Health, Health Policy and Administration, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Margaret Soukup is the project director for Seattle-King County Reclaiming Futures, in Seattle, Wash., where she serves as Science to Service/Workforce Development Coordinator Project/Program Manager III, Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division (MHCADSD). Margaret has a master's degree in psychology from Antioch University Seattle and a bachelor's degree in applied science, social sciences from Washington State University.
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[INFOGRAPHIC] Disparities in Access to Mental Healthcare for Teens
The National Voices Project reports,
Survey participants were asked how much availability there is in their communities for children and teens to receive healthcare services. More than half of all respondents note that there is “lots of availability” for teens to have hospital care (55%) and primary care (56%) in their communities, but across all healthcare services, only 30% of respondents reported “lots of availability” for mental health care. Healthcare availability for children was very similar.
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