Blog: News

How Curfews Have Changed Through History; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • How Curfews Have Changed Through History (TIME)
    In light of recent events in Baltimore, Lily Rothman, Archive Editor of TIME.com, examines the historical reasons for and effects of curfews, and why emergency curfews should be thought of differently than permanent juvenile curfews

The Solution to a 27.47 Ton Problem

April in Dayton, Ohio generally means the winIMG_4366ter 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.

Reclaiming Futures Names Evan Elkin as New National Executive Director

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.

Alcohol Awareness Month 2015: How to Get Involved

unnamedThere 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

Facts About Underage Drinking

"I Wasn't Having Fun Anymore"

Stories of Recovery

Underage and College Drinking

Ten Tips for Prevention

Family History and Genetics

Alcohol Energy Drinks

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:

  • Theme, History, Stigma and Links to Additional Resources
  • Sample Proclamation
  • Sample Media Advisory and News Release
  • Sample PSA scripts
  • Sample Op-Ed Newspaper article
  • Sample Letter to Editor
  • Suggested Grassroots Community Activities:  States, Communities, Schools,
  • Students, Colleges, Media, Religious Organizations and Parents

For more information, visit the NCADD website.

Photographer Documents Life for Young Girls Inside Detention

Photo by Richard Ross

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.

Photo by Richard Ross

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.

How Prison Stints Replaced Study Hall; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • How Prison Stints Replaced Study Hall (Politico)
    In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit to stop the “taxi service” in Meridian’s public schools, where 86 percent of the students are black. The DOJ suit, still unresolved, said children were being incarcerated so “arbitrarily and severely as to shock the conscience.”
  • Crime & Delinquency Council selects S.D. for ‘Pay for Success’ (Times of San Diego)
    “NCCD strongly believes that Pay for Success creates a real possibility for sustained, positive change in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems,” said Kathy Park, acting president of NCCD. “We are proud to work with these three extremely dynamic programs to see if this innovative financing will work for them.
  • New Bill Would Change How Minors are Tried as Adults (News 4 Jax)
    A bill making its way through the state legislature would cut down on how often State Attorneys can charge juveniles as adults. Under the proposal, it would take a grand jury to charge anyone under the age of 13 as an adult. Prosecutors would only be able to charge 14 and 15 year olds as adults in cases of murder, manslaughter, and sexual assault.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

  • Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

  • Teens in Detention Centers Find Voice, Rehab in Youth Theater (Herald Media)
    On a small stage, seven local teens stood in scrubs -- their backs to an audience of about 75. One by one, they turned around, each somber or angry or both as they told stories of juvenile lockdown and the reasons that got them there. Drugs, truancy, rules, respect, depression and decisions … each story is laced with regret -- each author feels misunderstood -- and most tell of trouble at home.
  • Medical College awards $250,000 to reduce youth alcohol, drug abuse (BizTimes.com)
    The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin (AHW) Endowment awarded $250,000 over two years to reduce the prevalence of alcohol and other drug abuse among youth in northwest Wisconsin’s Rusk County. The Medical College of Wisconsin is the steward of the AHW Endowment as it works to catalyze health improvement within the state.
  • New Data: Ind. Teens Trying Pot More Often Than Alcohol and Cigarettes (WNDU.com)
    Dr. Elmaadawi is concerned mainly for teen use. He says there is proven research marijuana can be healing to cancer patients and others suffering from chronic pain, but use for teens is dangerous. He says those who try the drug before age 18 are 67% more likely to continue using. The number drops to 27% for adults who try it for the first time.

Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth Releases First-Ever Guidelines for Juvenile Life Cases

cfsyThe 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:

  • Defense Team Composition and Ethical Duties
  • Defense Counsel Qualifications and Responsibilities
  • Investigator Qualifications and Responsibilities
  • Mitigation Specialist Qualifications and Responsibilities
  • Sentencing
  • Plea Agreements
  • Post-Sentencing Responsibilities
  • Defense Team Compensation
  • Training

“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.

Raising the legal age for sale of tobacco would keep teens from smoking, panel says; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • Juvenile Justice Reform Bill Passes House (South Dakota Public Broadcasting)
    The state House of Representatives passed a bill revising the juvenile justice system in South Dakota. It focuses on alternatives to incarceration and seeks to keep kids in their communities. Senate Bill 73 comes as a result of a work group that met last year. The group found that South Dakota has one of the highest rates juvenile incarcerations, and the bill aims to reduce those numbers. Representative Brian Gosch is a prime sponsor of the measure. He says it creates a presumption of probation.
  • Positive Youth Justice, Part Four: William F. James Ranch, Santa Clara County, Calif. (The Chronicle of Social Change)
    Last month, The Chronicle of Social Change began “Positive Youth Justice: Curbing Crime, Building Assets,” a series that imagines an entire continuum of juvenile justice services built on the positive youth development (PYD) framework. We accomplish the “creation” of that continuum by profiling successful programs and organizations all over the country. Today, we look at Santa Clara County, Calif., which takes a PYD approach to working with incarcerated juvenile offenders.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

  • Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

  • Young Adult And Teen Suicide Rates Nearly Double In Rural Areas Compared To Urban Areas (Medical Daily)
    In the past, rural teens have been more likely to kill themselves as compared to their urban counterparts. Is the same true today, now that technology has woven us together more tightly? Sadly and surprisingly yes: Between the years 1996 and 2010, a new study finds, the rates of suicide among teens and young-adults ranged twice as high in country settings compared to city areas. In fact, the suicide rate in rural areas is nearly double that in cities... and rising.
  • Marijuana may smoke your long-term memory (CBS News)
    Teenagers who smoke marijuana daily may have lingering memory problems and structural abnormalities in the brain, even after they stop using the drug, a small study suggests.
  • New App Helps Doctors Catch Suicide Risk (NBC News)
    Doctors and other health professionals have a new tool to help fight suicide -- an app that helps them ask the right questions and check the symptoms of someone who might be at risk. Nearly half of people who die from suicide have seen a health professional of some sort in the month before their deaths and there are ways to find out who might be at risk and help them, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says.

National Center for Juvenile Justice Releases 2014 National Report

ncjjThe 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:

  • Juvenile Population Characteristics
  • Juvenile Victims
  • Juvenile Justice System Structure and Process
  • Law Enforcement and Juvenile Crime
  • Juvenile Offenders in Court
  • Juvenile Offenders in Correctional Facilities

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 juvenile arrest rate for Violent Crime Index offenses is at a historically low level.
  • The number of murders committed by juveniles is at its lowest point in at least three decades.
  • The juvenile court delinquency caseload reached its lowest level since at least 1990.
  • Female juveniles account for a larger share of the delinquency caseload than at any point in the last two decades.
  • The juvenile residential placement population reached its lowest level in nearly two decades.

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.

Unlocking the Digital Classroom for Kids in Lock Up; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • How Communities are Keeping Kids Out of Crime (CS Monitor)
    Seeing the charge of aggravated robbery involving a gun, a judge at the Lucas County, Ohio, juvenile court held him in pretrial detention for two weeks. Then she found out what weapon he had pulled: a BB gun. Over the next few weeks, while he remained locked up, she learned that Treyvon had a number of characteristics that took him out of the category of high risk for reoffending – a stable home life, his involvement in football and basketball, and a lack of gang involvement. So the judge let him live at home while on probation and take part in a local program that offers mentoring and other social services.
  • Md. lawmakers consider housing for youth charged as adults (The Washington Post)
    After 10 years as chief of the St. Mary’s County Detention Center, Capt. Michael Merican is in a situation he says isn’t just difficult, it’s impossible. Merican pays close attention to the needs and well-being of 200 inmates, but one causes him constant worry: a terrified 17-year-old boy.
  • Transforming the Juvenile Justice System (The Take Away)
    Judge Denise Cubbon, the lead judge of the Lucas County Juvenile Court, in Toledo, Ohio, breaks that mold. Along with her Court Administrator, Deborah Hodges, Judge Cubbon has become a champion for change, for some of the country's most vulnerable offenders: Children.
  • Unlocking the digital classroom for kids in lock up (Marketplace.org)
    Since July 2013, San Diego County Office of Education has spent nearly $900,000 on computers, printers and software for its secure juvenile facilities. Soon every one of the 200 kids here will have access to a Chromebook in class. All the teachers are being trained to run a digital classroom and add tech to the curriculum.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

  • Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

  • Mental health: Gaps remain in juvenile mental health care (Las Cruces Sun News)
    "Nationally, between 60 to 70 percent of kids in the juvenile justice system have a mental health disorder and roughly 90 percent have experienced at least one traumatic event," said Terri Williams, deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections in a news statement from July 28, 2014.
  • All Kinds of Therapy New Website for Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Launches Today (WKRG.com)
    All Kinds of Therapy is an innovative, user-friendly website that focuses on providing an interactive directory for residential treatment, wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding schools, and addiction treatment for clients ranging in ages 10 - 30. Additionally, all residential interventions on the site have a wide variety of specializations including psychiatric assessments, anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, severe learning disabilities, drug rehabilitation, failure to launch, adoption, or recovery.

The Teenage Brain on Drugs; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • How a book club is helping to keep ex-offenders from going back to jail (WashingtonPost)
    Barksdale was around their age when he chose the streets over school. By 16, he was arrested and convicted on armed robbery charges, the culmination of a series of ill-conceived attempts to be a man. Now, at 25, he is one. But after spending so many of his formative years behind bars, he wondered: What sort of man would he be? Behind him were two former inmates. They hoped they might find the answers together.
  • Judicial hypocrisy on juvenile justice? (CNN)
    As Wisconsin prepares to try two children as adults in an attempted murder case allegedly inspired by the mythical Slenderman, the prosecution of two preteens in adult court challenges our faith in the juvenile justice system.
  • Proposed juvenile justice reforms discussed (Democrat & Chronicle)
    During a workshop Tuesday at the Center for Youth in Rochester, community advocacy groups learned more about the 38 recommendations made by the Governor’s Commission on Youth, Public Safety, and Justice for juvenile justice reform that Gov. Andrew Cuomo accepted last month.
  • Nebraska child advocates say court shackles traumatize kids (The Independent)
    Lawyers and advocates for juveniles say Nebraska children as young as 10 years old are treated more harshly in court than some adult offenders, perpetuating a cycle of shame, humiliation and repeat offenses. State lawmakers heard testimony Wednesday on a bill by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha that would prohibit handcuffs, chains, irons or straitjackets on juveniles during court appearances unless deemed necessary for courtroom security.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

  • Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

  • The Teenage Brain on Drugs (Psych Central)
    One way to look at addiction is to consider it a form of learning, a type of learning that is extremely effective in its ability to affect the adolescent brain, report researchers working under an NIH grant. The maturation process of the brain may cause teens and young adults to become addicted faster than older adults, because the impulse control centers of the brain are not fully developed in the younger cohort.
  • Student-created conference looks at impact of youth substance abuse (Thousand Oaks Acorn)
    The Westlake Village resident— whose story is hardly unique in the Conejo Valley—was among many people who donated time on Saturday to lead breakout sessions at a substance abuse conference for teens that was presented by the Thousand Oaks Youth Commission’s Drugs and Alcohol Prevention Committee.

How Communities are Keeping Kids Out of Crime; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • Federal Juvenile Justice Funding Declines Precipitously (JJIE)
    When congressional lawmakers last reauthorized the landmark Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, in fiscal year 2002, they appropriated about $547 million for juvenile justice. Today, federal spending on juvenile justice totals less than half that amount — about $251 million.
  • Positive Youth Justice, Part One: Rosie’s Place, Olympia, Wash. (Chronicle of Social Change)
    Last week, The Chronicle of Social Change introduced “Positive Youth Justice: Curbing Crime, Building Assets.” It is a series that imagines an entire continuum of juvenile justice services built on the positive youth development framework. We accomplish the “creation” of that continuum by profiling successful programs and organizations all over the country. Today, we begin with a program in Washington that aims to redirect youth who are, statistically speaking, hurtling towards involvement with law enforcement and the courts.
  • With 'Raise the Age,' Cuomo Continues Push to Reform Juvenile Justice (Gotham Gazette)
    A classic battle between law-and-order Republicans and progressive Democrats is brewing in the state Legislature as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushes adoption of the recommendations of his Commission on Youth Public Safety and Justice - recommendations that include raising the age at which teens can be tried as adults.
  • How Communities are Keeping Kids Out of Crime (Christian Science Monitor)
    Lucas County, which includes Toledo, is one of the leaders in this movement. Juvenile Court officials here do the “my kid” test with every case. They want to ensure all young people are being treated fairly, and they live by the mantra “The right kid in the right place at the right time” – targeting services to their needs and taking care not to mix children who are unlikely to commit more crimes with high-risk youths.
  • To End Solitary Confinement, Rikers Steps Out Of The Box (NPR)
    New York's Rikers Island is the second-largest jail in the U.S., and one of the most notorious. But with a single move, Rikers has taken the lead on prison reform on one issue: Last month, the prison banned the use of solitary confinement for inmates under 21 years old.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

  • Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

  • Rampant medication use found among L.A. County foster, delinquent kids (LA Times)
    Los Angeles County officials are allowing the use of powerful psychiatric drugs on far more children in the juvenile delinquency and foster care systems than they had previously acknowledged, according to data obtained by The Times through a Public Records Act request.
  • Child Experience Study Can Identify Mental Illness Early (TWC News)
    Since the 1990s, doctors have used the Adverse Childhood Experience Study--or ACES--to understand what causes mental health problems in children. That study found that negative experiences in childhood--from abuse to even divorce--can shape the mental health of kids as they grow up.

Michael P. Botticelli is Appointed Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy

Last week, the Senate voted unanimously to appoint Michael P. Botticelli as Director of The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).Michael_Botticelli

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.

Share your story with us today.

Why Keeping Young Offenders Out of Jail Could Reduce Crime; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • Juvenile Justice Reform Bill Moving Forward (Keloland News)
    A plan to change the way South Dakota deals with kids who get in trouble with the law is getting a lot of support in Pierre. The plan, which is similar to the adult justice reform, would keep kids in their own communities rather than sending them to a state facility.
  • States see marked drop in juvenile prison populations as reforms take hold (Washington Post)
    A falling crime rate and new reforms to the way juveniles are treated by the criminal justice system have dramatically cut the number of young people in state prisons, according to a new report that highlights the success of some of those reforms.
  • Why Keeping Young Offenders Out of Jail Could Reduce Crime (PBS Newshour)
    Juvenile offenders kept under supervision close to home, rather than in secure, state-run facilities, are significantly less likely to be arrested again or commit more serious crimes, according to a new study. Judy Woodruff discusses the findings with Xavier McElrath-Bey of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and Michael Thompson of the Council of State Governments Justice Center.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

  • Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

  • Income Inequality Hurts Teen Health Around The World As Two Factors Grow Together (Medical Daily)
    A new international study published in The Lancet found that socioeconomic disparities between the richest and the poorest in 34 countries widened over the last decade, and have paralleled a growing inequality gap in health. Overall, poor teenagers were more likely to be less physically active, have higher body mass indexes (BMI), and report more physical and psychological troubles, such as headaches and “feeling low.”
  • American Academy of Pediatrics Reconsiders Stance on Marijuana (Pierce Pioneer)
    The policy statement describes, “The AAP strongly supports the decriminalization of marijuana use for both minors and young adults and encourages pediatricians to advocate for laws that prevent harsh criminal penalties for possession or use of marijuana. A focus on treatment for adolescents with marijuana use problems should be encouraged, and adolescents with marijuana use problems should be referred to treatment.”
  • School-Wide Prevention Program Makes Teens Half As Likely To Feel Suicidal (Huffington Post)
    Suicide is the third leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Suicide attempts are even more common, with some research suggesting that 4 to 8 percent of high school students try to kill themselves each year, the CDC says.

OP-ED: 10 Lessons for Juvenile Justice Field from Texas Study

nate-balisReprinted 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.

 

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