From Detention Cells to the Stage and More; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Cops Fan Out To Schools (New Haven Independent)
  For three days last week cops all over New Haven, CT descended on every school for the beginning of the academic year. It was a new push to connect cops with kids—one that Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova pledges to make a year-round citywide campaign.
• New Juvenile Justice Program Shows Early Promise (Statesman.com)
  Texas officials call them the worst of the worst. But at first glance, the eight teenage boys slouched at stainless steel tables, in gray polo shirts and khaki pants, might pass for a bunch of sullen high-schoolers almost anywhere in Texas. The youths are the focal point of an initiative by state officials to curb violence inside Texas' state-run youth lockups.
• Sweet Tweet: Keri Hilson Inspires Girls at Juvenile Justice Center (act.MTV.com)
  Keri Hilson wants to make a difference! We all remember when she got involved with AIDS Walk New York for the MTV Staying Alive Foundation team, and now Keri has Tweeted about her latest do-gooder act. 
• From Detention Cells to the Stage (CNN.com)
  Over the past decade, the Synchronicity theater group has returned to Georgia juvenile detention centers several times a year to help girls write plays about drug addiction, rape, abusive parents and cheating boyfriends, but also plays about finding love and making amends.
• After Supreme Court Ruling, PA Grapples With Juvenile-Lifer Questions (TheCrimeReport.org)
  With more juvenile lifers in prison than any other state, Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking the first steps to consider what changes are needed in state law now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down laws that require juveniles convicted of homicide to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, reports the Scranton Times-Tribune.

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

• Annual Indiana Youth Survey: Upward Trend of Marijuana use Stalls, OTC Drug use a Concern (IU.edu)
  Alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use by Indiana sixth- through 12-graders has declined or held steady since 2011. This trend signals an end to the rise in marijuana use among Indiana youth seen since 2008. However, findings from the 22nd Annual Survey of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use revealed an increase in over-the-counter drug abuse among sixth-graders.
• Prince Frederick Substance Abuse Treatment Center Opens (SoMdNews.com)
  A new two-story, 12,199 square-foot substance abuse treatment center has opened in Calvert County that brings the Barstow and health department substance abuse programs under one roof.
• Youth Substance Abuse Still a Serious Problem (HealthCareNews.com)
  Motor-vehicle crashes, unintentional injuries, homicides, and suicides account for more than 70% of all teenage deaths, and all of them are commonly linked to one thing: substance abuse. Substance abuse by adolescents is a persistent and growing problem, one that often ends in tragedy.
   

David Backes writes the Friday news roundup for Reclaiming Futures and contributes articles about juvenile justice reform and adolescent substance abuse treatment to ReclaimingFutures.org. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Santa Clara University. David works as an account executive for Prichard Communications.