Blog: Juvenile Justice Reform

On October 1, 2009,the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center launched the National Reentry Resource Center—an unprecedented initiative to advance the safe and successful return of individuals from correctional facilities to their communities.
 
What is the CSG Justice Center?

The CSG Justice Center is a national nonprofit organization that serves policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels from all branches of government. It provides practical, nonpartisan advice and consensus-driven strategies--informed by available evidence--to increase public safety and strengthen communities.
 
The National Reentry Resource Center will continue the CSG Justice Center's commitment to collaboration and will draw on the experience and expertise of its many valued partner organizations, as well as its own work in the field. Among CSG's past contributions is the 2005 landmark report of its Reentry Policy Council—the result of work by 100 of the most respected workforce, health, housing, public safety, family, community, and victim experts in the country.

What is "Anti-Oppressive Practice"?

It's an emerging framework to advance attention to diversity and social justice in the way community systems and services operate.
In this free webinar, Dr. Laura Nissen and Dr. Ann Curry-Stevens will explain the evolution of cultural competence frameworks and their impact on the fields of substance abuse treatment, justice and others.
The presenters will identify how concepts of oppression, privilege and disparities impact the way in which services are constructed and successes are measured. And finally, the presenters will identify selected tools to increase anti-oppressive practice specific to the Reclaiming Futures initiative.

[Full disclosure: I used to work for Multnomah County’s Department of Community Justice (DCJ), where the study Jason writes about below was done. I'd be very interested in posting about data and studies done on youth in the juvenile justice system in other jurisdictions. --Ed.]

Diverting Youth with Low-Level Offenses Reduced Crime

New research out of Multnomah County’s Department of Community Justice (DCJ) shows that most young people who are kept out of the formal juvenile justice system do not reoffend. Among 271 young people, nearly eight out of ten who received no formal supervision did not reoffend within a year.
 
Of this group, two years out, 75 percent had not been referred by police or the district attorney for a criminal offense. When they did reoffend, it was for less serious offenses most of the time.  

[This topic of this column is so critical to reform of the juvenile justice system, we've reprinted it in its entirety from the Criminal Justice blog of Change.org with their kind permission. It originally appeared under the title, "Fixing the Information Mismatch in Juvenile Justice." --Ed.]
In 2007. I met a soft-spoken young man whom we will call “Ivan.” Almost everyday, he wore a large sweatshirt with cats and dogs on it. When I asked him if he liked animals, his face lit up and he told me that his dream was to become a veterinarian. He really loved taking care of animals, he said, and he was especially good with dogs. 
I knew Ivan because he was in the Bronx Family Court on a delinquency proceeding for allegedly throwing water on his teacher’s laptop at school. Ivan said it was an accident, although his teacher didn’t think so.
 
While awaiting a finding in his case, Ivan was successfully attending Saturday community service events, he was going to his counseling appointments, and he was present at school when his probation officer checked on him. Unfortunately, Ivan’s mom didn’t quite have her act together, so Ivan would find himself breaking up fights between her and her boyfriend, or taking care of her when she was too high to do it herself. Eventually, the court recognized that Ivan’s mom was not in a position to mother him as required by law. Without other family members or friends to take him in, Ivan was put into a juvenile jail to await the finding in his case.

What Will Reclaiming Futures Look Like in 2014?

No one knows, of course, not for certain. But a group of people passionately interested in juvenile justice reform and improving adolescent substance abuse treatment -- many of whom were involved in the creation and implementation of Reclaiming Futures -- met recently in Washington, D.C. to make some educated guesses about what's in store.
They also offered their hopes and opinions about what it should look like in five years.

How the Juvenile Justice and Criminal Justice Systems Criminalize the Poor
Check out this brief, eloquent piece from the Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity site by Tracy Velázquez, Executive Director of the Justice Policy, on the ways that the criminal and juvenile justice systems disproportionately swallow up the poor -- for the same or similar crimes committed by more affluent people.

• Want to do something about juvenile justice reform right now? Then you should know that Act4JJ, a coalition supporting the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), is now on Facebook. (So is Reclaiming Futures, by the way: come on by and become a fan!)
• Interested in holding a conference on disseminating evidence-based practices in mental health and/or substance abuse? SAMHSA has two $50,000 grants available to help you do it. (Hat tip to the ATTC Network.)

Know any kids in the juvenile justice system with parents who're interested in juvenile justice reform?
The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is hosting its National Parent Caucus call today, October 2nd, at 2pm EST / 11 am PST. Interested parties should call 1.866.670.5105 and enter the code 448194#.
 
The call will focus on ways you can spend an hour or less helping to "get the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA) moved out of committee and passed." The call wlil also provide a "brief training on wealth and power and what this has to do with us and our work."
 
Apologies for the late notice on this - but this is a great opportunity to involve parents in juvenile justice reform. (Photo by seychelles88.)

Curious about whether the risk assessments used in the juvenile justice system are appropriate for girls? Wonder if the one used in your jurisdiction measures up?
The Girls Study Group, set up by The Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), recently examined 143 juvenile risk assessment instruments with those very questions in mind, and compiled their results in an online database.
This is timely, given that a recent study by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency indicated that risk assessments have gotten less effective in recent years, and an article in a journal last year that argued that juvenile risk assessments lagged behind research on how best to use them. (Photo by Thuy Pham.)