By Anonymous, May 01 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
By Mike Garrett, April 24 2015
April in Dayton, Ohio generally means the win
ter weather is starting to break. Snow showers and subzero temperatures are replaced with rain showers and flowers. For some neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio the break in the weather brings light to a major issue. The issue of illegal dumping is highly visible once the piles of snow have melted away. In some instances, neighborhoods have been left with tons of trash and debris. For several blocks certain alleyways can be found with couches, mattress, appliances and construction waste.
On April 1, 2015 Montgomery County Juvenile Court hosted its fourth annual community cleanup in the Fairview Neighborhood. This was a community effort, with multiple partners coming together to improve the appearance of one of our city’s neighborhoods.
By Anonymous, April 24 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
By Bridget Murphy, April 17 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Topics: News
By Christa Myers, April 10 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Topics: News
By Jim Carlton, April 08 2015
Susan Richardson has recently announced her plans to leave the position of national executive director of Reclaiming Futures to return to her home state of North Carolina, and we are grateful for her years of excellent leadership. Yesterday, Reclaiming Futures appointed Mr. Evan Elkin as national executive director, effective May 11, 2015.
By Cecilia Bianco, April 06 2015
There are 2.5 million alcohol-related deaths worldwide every year. Approximately nine percent, or 320,000 of those deaths, are among young people aged 15-29.
April is Alcohol Awareness Month, and there are many ways to get involved to help create awareness and encourage individuals and families to get help for alcohol-related problems.
The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has sponsored Alcohol Awareness Month every April since 1987 and provides all the information and resources you’ll need to support this cause.
The theme for this year’s 2015 NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month was chosen to highlight the pervasive impact that alcohol, alcohol-related problems and alcoholism have on individuals, on families and children, in the workplace and in our communities: "For the Health of It: Early Education on Alcoholism and Addiction."
The NCADD provides many resources that help bring light to this issue and we are all encouraged to share them widely:
Drinking Too Much Too Fast Can Kill You
NCADD's Self-Test for Teenagers
Local NCADD Affiliates as well as schools, colleges, churches, and countless other community organizations will sponsor a host of activities to support this cause.
Many organizations have already joined in and are doing their part to raise awareness, including the following:
If you’re interested in hosting an event or spreading the word, NCADD also has an “Organizer’s guide” to make it easy and effective in your community! The Organizer’s guide includes:
For more information, visit the NCADD website.
By Christa Myers, April 03 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Topics: News
By Anonymous, March 27 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Topics: News
By Cecilia Bianco, March 23 2015
Approximately 30 percent of the country’s incarcerated youth are young girls—a rapidly growing group whose needs are not being met, according to significant research and practice indicating the juvenile justice system is catered towards boys.
Photographer Richard Ross has sought to display this through images. Over the past eight years, Ross has visited more than 200 facilities in 34 states and been given rare access to interview and photograph more than 1,000 young people in detention.
His work has resulted in two books Juvenile in Justice and the more recently released Girls in Justice—a close look at the daily lives of young women in juvenile facilities.
PBS NewsHour recently interviewed Ross on his latest collection of powerful photos, sharing a photo essay with commentary from Ross:
Ross said most of the young females he interviewed had remarkably similar stories. Few had committed serious crimes, and many had been the victims of either sexual or physical abuse before their arrest…
The stories he’s heard have been heartwrenching. Among countless stories of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, one 14 year-old girl recounted being raped at age 3, another admitted to being suicidal.
When asked what surprised Ross most about his project, he didn’t hesitate: “How many times I’ve cried,” he said.
See the full photo essay and interview on PBS.
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform, News
By Cecilia Bianco, March 20 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health
By Cecilia Bianco, March 17 2015
The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CSFY) has released the first-ever set of guidelines to protect the rights of young people facing possible life imprisonment. Titled “Trial Defense Guidelines: Representing a Child Client Facing a Possible Life Sentence,” this 24-page report has been endorsed by a wide range of attorneys, child advocates and juvenile justice experts.
Sparked by the findings of the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 2012 Miller v. Alabama decision, the guidelines call for a “national standard to ensure zealous, constitutionally effective representation” for all juveniles facing a possible life sentence, citing Miller’s holding that trial courts must “take into account how children are different and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing [children] to a lifetime in prison.”
The guidelines are based on 11 foundational principles including “children are constitutionally and developmentally different from adults,” “children must not be defined by a single act,” “juvenile life defense requires a qualified team trained in adolescent development,” and “juvenile life defense requires communicating with clients in a trauma-informed, culturally competent, developmentally and age-appropriate manner.”
Split into the following nine parts, these guidelines aim to strengthen and improve defense in juvenile life cases:
“The Trial Defense Guidelines recognize that children need to be treated as children when facing a possible life-in-prison sentence,” said Marsha Levick, chief counsel and deputy director at the Philadelphia-based, nonprofit Juvenile Law Center, in an email. “The guidelines also will ensure a child receives a meaningful, individualized sentencing hearing before imposition of a sentence.”
CFSY collaborated with attorneys and advocates from across the nation to create the guidelines. Visit the CFSY website for more information and access the full guidelines online.
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform, News
By Cecilia Bianco, March 13 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health
By Cecilia Bianco, March 09 2015
The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) has released Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2014 National Report, the fourth edition of a comprehensive report on juvenile crime, victimization, and the juvenile justice system.
With seven in-depth chapters, the 2014 National Report provides an insightful view of young offenders and victims, and what happens to those who enter the juvenile justice system in the United States:
This seven-chapter report, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, provides sought-after answers to frequently asked questions about the nature of juvenile crime and victimization, as well as the justice system's response. Each chapter presents important and complex information in easy-to-understand, nontechnical writing with supplementary graphics and tables.
Key highlights:
The NCJJ encourages reading the full report when time permits, stating that “Each section offers something new, something that will expand your understanding, confirm your opinions, or raise questions about what you believe to be true.”
The goal of the report is to provide juvenile justice practitioners, policymakers, and the public with the information needed to react appropriately to the needs of youth in the system while also protecting the community. It successfully provides the context needed for debates regarding juvenile justice and the direction of its future.
View the full report on the NCJJ website.
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform, News
By Cecilia Bianco, March 06 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health
By Cecilia Bianco, February 27 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health
By Cecilia Bianco, February 20 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health
By Susan Richardson, February 12 2015
Last week, the Senate voted unanimously to appoint Michael P. Botticelli as Director of The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
This is a significant step toward advancing sustainable systems change, as Boticelli has a focus on substance use treatment. His two decades of experience working in this field, including as Director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, equips him with the skills to implement evidence-based programs and span boundaries among partnerships with law enforcement agencies, health and human service agencies and stakeholder groups. Boticelli also has experience establishing a treatment and prevention systems for adolescents.
Read Boticelli’s introductory remarks as Director on the ONDCP blog and below, and join me in welcoming him to office:
Many great movements to change public perception and policy around a public health issue have been fueled by people with a disease speaking out publicly. What is seen as someone else's problem—someone else’s disease – takes on a new dimension when people speak up about it.
Such was the case when Betty Ford revealed her breast cancer diagnosis and her substance use disorder. Such was the case when Magic Johnson's revealed that he was HIV positive, spurring action to stem the AIDS epidemic.
Yet, despite the fact that nearly every family and community in America is affected by a substance use disorder, those fighting to overcome this disease are too often hidden in the shadows of shame and denial. It is whispered about. It is met with derision and scorn.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, only 1 in 9 people with a diagnosable substance use disorder gets treatment. Compare this to the treatment rate for diabetes, for which 72% of people with the disease receive care.
When treatment is provided for substance use disorders, it too often comes at the most acute stages of the disease when effective treatment is far more challenging and costly than in the early stages. Because substance use disorders have historically gone unidentified for far too long, and timely access to treatment has been far too difficult to come by, a person is expected to hit “rock bottom” before seeking help for a substance use disorder.
Standard medical care does not allow a diabetic to enter kidney failure before offering insulin. Yet untreated substance use disorders routinely proceed unchecked until they have reached such levels of emergency. In addition to the unnecessary suffering for patients and their families, our current approach costs the United States hundreds of billions a year in increased health care costs, crime and lost productivity-- over $223 billion related to alcohol and $193 billion related to illicit drugs.
Decades of scientific research have proven that substance use disorders are a health issue: chronic medical conditions with genetic, biological and environmental risk factors. Effective substance use disorders requires a comprehensive, public health approach involving evidence-based prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery support services. The National Drug Control Strategy, the Obama Administration’s template for drug policy, outlines more than 100 action items across federal government to prevent drug use and its consequences.
Earlier this month, President Obama in his 2016 Budget requested historic levels of funding --including $133 million in new funds-- to address the opioid misuse epidemic in the U.S. Using a public health framework as its foundation, our strategy also acknowledges the vital role that federal state and local law enforcement play in reducing the availability of drugs—another risk factor for drug use. It underscores the vital importance of primary prevention in stopping drug use before it ever begins by funding prevention efforts across the country. It sets forth an agenda aimed at stripping away the systemic challenges that have accumulated like plaque over the decades: over-criminalization, lack of integration with mainstream medical care, insurance coverage and the legal barriers that make it difficult for people once involved with the criminal justice system to rebuild their lives.
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act will dramatically increase coverage for treatment and ensures that services are comparable to other chronic conditions for more than 60 million Americans. This is the biggest expansion of substance use disorder treatment in a generation, and it will transform millions of lives.
All of these advancements, however, are not enough unless we fundamentally change the way we think about people with addiction. There are millions of people in recovery in the United States leading meaningful, productive lives full of joy and love and laughter – and I am one of them.
Tonight, the United States Senate voted to confirm my nomination as Director of National Drug Control Policy. This is an honor I never dreamed of 26 years ago, when my substance use disorder had become so acute that I was handcuffed to a hospital bed. I accept this challenge with the humility and tenacity of someone in long term recovery.
I am open about my recovery not to be self-congratulatory, I am open about my recovery to change public policy. I have dedicated my life to treating drug use as a public health issue, and that’s how I approach this new role, as well. I hope that many more of the millions of Americans in recovery like me will also choose to “come out” and to fight to be treated like anyone else with a chronic disease. By putting faces and voices to the disease of addiction and the promise of recovery, we can lift the curtain of conventional wisdom that continues to keep too many of us hidden and without access to lifesaving treatment.
It is time to make a simple, yet courageous decision to be counted, to be seen and to be heard.
By Cecilia Bianco, February 06 2015
Juvenile Justice Reform
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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health
By Cecilia Bianco, January 30 2015
Reprinted with permission from the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE.org).
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center released a groundbreaking report today that provides important insights to guide the next steps for the nation’s second-largest state to reform its juvenile justice system. The report, “Closer to Home: An Analysis of the State and Local Impact of the Texas Juvenile Justice Reforms,” not only has great value in the Lone Star State, it also delivers important lessons for the juvenile justice field in communities across the U.S.
From my perch at a national foundation with a longstanding focus on juvenile justice reform throughout the nation, that is my primary interest:
What are the national implications of this research for the juvenile justice field? Following is my attempt to answer that question, focused on 10 key takeaways.
1. The report shows that dramatically decreasing the population of youth confined in state juvenile corrections facilities is good public policy.
CSG found that Texas youth released from state institutions were: 21 percent more likely to be arrested within 12 months than comparable youth who remained under the supervision of county probation departments and three times more likely to face felony charges if arrested. These findings were controlled for offending history, demographics and other relevant factors. CSG reports that the average cost of a stay in state custody exceeded $200,000.
Texas is not an anomaly. These results confirm the already overwhelming evidence that in virtually every recidivism study, the vast majority of youth released from large, state-run correctional institutions are rearrested within two or three years of release, and one-third or more are reincarcerated in a juvenile facility or adult prison.
Research also consistently finds that state-funded youth corrections facilities are dangerous, unnecessary, obsolete and inadequate for the serious mental health, educational and social service needs faced by many court-involved youth.
2. The CSG report shows that contrary to commonly held fears, there is not a substantial population of superdangerous youth beyond the capacity of counties to supervise.
CSG found no difference statistically between the population of youth committed to state-run secure facilities and those placed under the supervision of their county juvenile probation departments. Youth committed to state custody “look no different than many of those who are kept in their communities,” CSG commented. “This tends to suggest that many more of the committed youth could just as successfully be rehabilitated under the supervision of the county juvenile probation department.”
3. Moreover, the report shows that although placing youth into local residential facilities is preferable to incarceration in state facilities (or, even worse, in adult prisons), it is still a poor investment of taxpayer dollars.Adjusting for offense history and other variables, CSG found that youth placed into county-funded residential facilities did no better (and often worse) than equivalent youth who were allowed to remain at home.
In fact, while the result was not statistically significant, CSG found that the best outcomes were achieved by youth placed into nonresidential programs focused on skill building. On average, county-funded residential placements cost twice as much as the mean among all youth placed under county supervision (roughly $15,000 vs. $7,300). Removing young people from their homes should be the exception for court-involved youth, not the routine.
4. Clearer state rules and direction are needed to encourage more investment in effective nonresidential programs.
As it reduced the state custody populations and closed several state facilities in recent years, Texas has sharply increased state support to county probation agencies — providing more than $140 million in new state funding from 2007 to 2013.
However, Texas allocated the bulk of these funds with few strings attached, and CSG reports that counties have spent most of the new money on residential facilities rather than nonresidential community services. This trend is worrisome and counterproductive — an indication that state leadership is required to steer counties toward best practice and away from overreliance on residential placements.
5. The key to success for local juvenile justice systems does not lie in more programs alone, but rather in more calibrated, more consistent decisions in the handling of individual cases.
Experience shows that, in the absence of comprehensive system reform, more and better programs are not the solution to the challenges of juvenile justice — even when programs are well-designed and well-intentioned. Rather, success requires a coordinated system that places the right youth into the right program (or no program) for the right reasons, a system characterized by collaboration, effective use of data, careful attention to research and results and vigilant attention to racial and ethnic equity.
6. For the very small number of youth who require a period of residential custody, long stays in custody are unnecessary and wasteful.
CSG data showed that overall rearrest rates were lower from county-funded residential facilities than from state facilities and felony recidivism and subsequent incarceration were dramatically lower.
Yet, the average length of stay was just 3.5 months for youth in county-run secure care facilities and 4.1 months for nonsecure facilities, compared with an 18-month average for youth incarcerated in state-run juvenile facilities. This result corroborates the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Pathways to Desistance study and a 2014 National Academies of Science report, both of which found that longer periods of confinement do nothing to improve recidivism outcomes for incarcerated youth.
7. Pervasive racial and ethnic disparities plaguing juvenile justice systems nationwide will not be remedied without an intentional and unwavering focus.
Despite the encouraging drop in the overall population of youth in state facilities, Texas has not made any progress in reducing racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile confinement. Indeed, the share of adjudicated youth committed to state custody fell slightly faster for white youth from 2005 to 2012 than it did for black or Hispanic youth.
8. Local courts and probation agencies frequently deviate from best practice in their handling of juvenile cases.
CSG also conducted extensive interviews and fact-finding in eight large counties, documenting a number of problematic trends plaguing local probation efforts. Despite powerful evidence that juvenile justice interventions work best when they target intensive services to high-risk offenders, a substantial share (40 to 91 percent) of low-risk youth served by probation in the eight counties were placed into one or more treatment, surveillance or skill-building programs, while a substantial majority of high-risk youth were not placed into any program or residential facility. In six of the eight counties lower-risk youth remained in these programs longer than their high-risk peers. Meanwhile, CSG found, many youth “with acute needs did not receive programs that might have benefitted them.”
9. The CSG study’s most enduring value may be its largely unprecedented examination of local probation agencies.
As part of its analysis, CSG examined the recidivism results for probation youth in 30 Texas counties, finding that nine of the counties suffered significantly worse results than predicted by objective indicators, while eight demonstrated far better than anticipated results. Clearly, how counties operate their juvenile probation systems exerts a powerful impact on success.
10. Developing reliable data and strong state leadership are critical in improving juvenile justice practices and maximizing success at the local level.
The valuable lessons produced by the Closer to Home study show how important data can be in advancing our understanding of what works (and doesn’t) in juvenile justice. And the unanswered questions raised by the report point to the need for even deeper ongoing data analysis to measure outcomes and continuously improve programs and practices in light of emerging evidence.
And thanks to rapid advances in the study of criminology, adolescent behavior and brain science, the juvenile justice field has been flooded over the past two decades with an overwhelming volume of valuable new information. These advances have created enormous opportunities for improvements, but they have also presented system professionals throughout the nation with an uphill struggle to adopt the new knowledge in practical ways on the ground.
Local courts and probation agencies need guidance, they need training and they need proper incentives if they are to make rapid progress in adopting best practices. State leaders in all three branches of government can and should play a central role in creating the conditions to nurture local progress.
Nate Balis is director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform, News