Blog: Juvenile Justice Reform

It's safe to assume that we'd all like to see youth violence reduced if not eliminated. And there's plenty of work going on in this area.
But there are some major obstacles to successfully addressing youth violence in a systemic, effective way, argue Lori Dorfman, DrPH, and Lawrence Wallack, DrPH, authors of a fascinating paper called, "Moving from Them to Us - Challenges in Reframing Violence Among Youth." [Dr. Wallack is a colleague of Dr. Laura Nissen, the national director of Reclaiming Futures.]
One of the most important obstacles: violence is almost always framed -- especially in the media -- as the responsibility of an individual. And while it's true that individual choice is part of the explanation, it's not the whole explanation. By talking about violence only in terms of individuals, we subtly suggest that there's nothing that can be done to prevent it. That makes it difficult for anti-violence advocates, who know that violence can be reduced and prevented by a broad-based focus on the environmental factors that contribute to it.

Got a juvenile drug court that's been operational for at least one year? Want to expand its treatment capacity?
Purpose of the grant: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is giving away nearly nine million dollars to help you "expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in juvenile drug courts to "provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to juvenile defendants/offenders. Priority for the use of the funding should be given to addressing gaps in the existing continuum of treatment."
Award amounts: SAMHSA expects to give away 27 grants amounting to approximately $325,000/year each for up to three years.
Application deadline: Grants are due February 23, 2010.
 
(Photo by borman818.)

Grants Available for Juvenile Reentry Projects

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance are requesting applications for adult and juvenile reentry demonstration grants under the 2007 Second Chance Act.
Grants may be made for either adult or juvenile reentry projects, may amount to as much as $750,000, and could last anywhere from one to three years, depending on a variety of factors. The emphasis will be on providing comprehensive services to offenders vs. a single program; collaboration between agencies will be favored.
The deadline to apply is March 10, 2010.

Image by JKim1.

Poetry can heal traumatized youth. It also creates a community of openness, connectedness, and strength, which helps treatment providers. Poetry particularly serves teens who have a hard time expressing themselves. Here is a poem by Payton (pseudonym), a first-time writer in juvenile detention:
I am 15 and I am lost don't know
what to do.  lost because I get no love.
lost because I messed up my life.
lost because my dad left for some
women.  lost because I got caught
up in gangs.  lost because I lost
real friends my family.  lost
because I screwed my life
up.  lost because I lost
respect and trust.  lost
because I am a kleptomaniac.
lost because I don't show enough
love or respect to peers or elders.
lost because I am always in detention.
lost because I got nowhere to hide.
lost because I got no guardians.

Big news in the field of juvenile justice reform: initial results from the "Pathways to Desistance" research project are now available.  And the implications for juvenile justice policy -- and opportunities for debate -- are significant. 
Conducted by the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change initiative, "Pathways to Desistance" is a large, multi-site project that follows 1,354 racially and ethnically diverse juvenile offenders over seven years and tries to answer the basic question we all want the answer to: what combination of sanctions and services helps kids stop re-offending, i.e., desist from crime?  
Specifically, it's looking at youth who committed "the most serious felonies that come before the court, including murder, robbery, aggravated assault, sex offenses, and kidnapping" between the ages of 14 and 17. Over 90% of the followup interviews -- over 25,000 of them -- have been completed so far.
One key finding:

Juvenile Justice System News - An Important Survey, plus Webinars and One Grant Opportunity

• Please take or pass on this quick online survey for kids who used to be in the juvenile justice system, family members of kids in the system, and people of color new to the field of juvenile justice reform. The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) compiled the survey to help shape its first Juvenile Justice Leadership Development Institute, which it plans to hold in July 2010. The mission of the Institute is to create a "more effective juvenile justice reform movement by developing a strong base of well prepared and well trained advocates who reflect the communities most affected by juvenile justice system practices and policies, with a particular focus on cultivating and supporting leaders of color, youth and family members." Hurry, though, the deadline to complete it is Monday, December 14th!

Juvenile Justice Reform & Related News

• "How long are we as a nation going to allow justice policy to be determined by anecdote, storytelling and worst-case scenarios?" James Bell asks in an excellent op-ed he published just before Thanksgiving in support of the renewal of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). A week earlier, he also published another op-ed, in which he eloquently attacked juvenile life without parole.
• This week, the W. Haywood Burns Institute (which Bell directs) issued The Keeper and the Kept (see image at right), the second in a series of excellent reports on the nature of disproportionate minority confinement in the juvenile justice system and how to address it. Check it out.
• A new national standard for defining juvenile recidivism may be on the way, reports Youth Today.
  

Your Juvenile Justice System: Share Local Needs with OJJDP

• What training and technical assistance does your system need?  The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) wants to know. Complete their online needs assessment for your juvenile justice system, and help them improve their understanding of local needs to build capacity and sustainability among juvenile justice organizations. 

 
Juvenile Justice System and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment News

• Laurence Steinberg, co-author of Rethinking Juvenile Justice, was just awarded $1 million for his work on adolescent developmental psychology -- work that has made him an expert on juvenile justice. Steinberg is the first winner of the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize, believed to be one of the largest prizes given in the social sciences.

Juvenile Justice Reform News

• The Coalition for Juvenile Justice has an update on the Congressional reauthorization of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), one of the key engines of juvenile justice reform. (Thanks to the Coalition for Juvenile Justice for sharing its slide deck.)
• Big news from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the juvenile "kids for cash" case. The state Supreme Court overturned thousands of juvenile adjudications made by former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr., because he consistently failed to inform juveniles of their right to representation. Only the cases of youth still under court supervision would be eligible for retrial. (Hat tip to Youth Today.)