Blog: News

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Reclaiming Futures, Rebuilding Lives - PDF Download (Grantmakers in Health Views from the Field)
  "Reclaiming Futures was originally piloted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2001 in 10 communities across the United States. It is designed to improve treatment services for mental health and substance abuse, provide a comprehensive system of care that coordinates available services, and involve the community in creating new opportunities for youth when reintroduced to the community."
• Creative Destruction at a California Juvenile Lockup (JJIE.org)
  "Don Meyer has seen more than his share of approaches aimed at rehabilitating kids during his nearly five decades working in California’s juvenile justice systems. Those approaches — from boot camps to sports programs to jail-like detention facilities — have had limited success in rehabilitating kids and preventing recidivism."
• Juvenile Justice Secretary Walters To Retire from State Government (TheLedger.com)
  "Secretary Walters' legacy is that she managed, in her time there, to completely change the culture of the Department of Juvenile Justice for the better," said Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island. "She switched its focus to investment and prevention services, and we've already seen the results of her vision and her work with record low crime rates for juveniles."
• Life after Juvenile Detention (JJIE.org)
  Of all the birthdays Julie Kisaka remembers from her childhood, one clearly stands out among the rest. “There’s nothing worse than celebrating your 15th birthday in jail,” Kisaka said.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Mock Court Gets Truant Students Back in the Classroom (JJIE.org)
  "At 7:30 on a Wednesday morning, truancy court is in session in a basement room at City Springs Elementary-Middle School. The judge, retired Baltimore City Juvenile Court Master Joyce T. Mitchell, ponders reasons a steady parade of students give for their truancy or tardiness."
• Double Charged: The True Cost of Juvenile Justice (Marketplace.org)
  Double Charged is a special investigation into the U.S. Juvenile Justice system, produced by Youth Radio. This is part one of a two-part series.
• OP-ED: The Uneasy Transition from Juvenile Hall to Life on the Outside (JJIE.org)
  "Exhilaration jolted through my body when I stepped back onto the grounds of Central Juvenile Hall for the first time since my release. I finally knew what it felt like to come back as a free man and not as a detained juvenile. I cherished how different it felt."
• New York City Teens Get a Second Chance Through Theater (ReclaimingFutures.org)
  "This week, I’m excited to report on an uplifting and innovative program in New York City designed to give justice-involved teens a second chance. The program, Stargate Theatre Company, was recently featured on NationSwell.com, so we got in touch with its co-designer, Evan Elkin."

Juvenile Justice Reform

• PACE Embracing the Needs of Girls, Looks to Expand Beyond Florida (JJIE.org)
  PACE Center for Girls was called "the most effective program in the nation for keeping adolescent girls out of the juvenile justice system” by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its 2008 Kids Count report.
• Inside Calif. Juvenile Hall, Rare Glimpse at Solitary Confinement Cells (The Center for Investigative Reporting)
  Although solitary confinement for extended periods is considered one of the most psychologically damaging forms of punishment – particularly for teenagers – no one knows how many juveniles are held alone in cells in California.
• Juvenile Justice System Not Meeting Educational Needs, Report Says (Education Week)
  Many of the teenagers who enter juvenile-justice systems with anger problems, learning disabilities, and academic challenges receive little or no special help for those issues, and consequently fall further behind in school, a report released Thursday concludes.

Reclaiming Futures Snohomish County recently released its 2013 Annual Report detailing its remarkable accomplishments over the last year. Also known as R-3 (Re-enter, Re-Engage, and Re-Claim), Reclaiming Futures of Snohomish County strives to provide comprehensive services for young people within and outside of the criminal justice system.
In 2013, Snohomish County successfully implemented, or sustained, the following programs to further its mission to meet the needs of young people in the juvenile justice system and at-risk teens:

• Youth Partner Program: a mentorship program that matches young people with positive adults who share similar interests.
• Journey: a gender-responsive program that utilizes the One Circle Foundation Curriculum and focuses on relationships with peers, body image, and path to the future.
• Promising Artists in Recovery (PAIR): a variety of eight-week art workshops for teens in recovery with the goal to exhibit the teens’ work at local venues.
• The Seven Challenges Program: Snohomish County had its first fidelity visit—a day of training, reviewing of quality assurance documents and observing youth groups at each agency.
• Music Futures: a performing arts program for teens actively involved in substance abuse treatment who are interested in attending guitar, percussion and song-writing workshops.

Of these programs, PAIR had the most significant results with a 23.3 percent misdemeanor recidivism rate and a 10 percent felony recidivism rate. 

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Confronting an Unseen Problem: Abuse and Its Long-Term Effects on Incarcerated Juveniles (Chicago Policy Review)
  Children and adolescents who find themselves in the juvenile justice system often come from backgrounds characterized by abuse. Recent studies indicate that once incarcerated, that trend is appallingly likely to continue.
• Experts Concerned that LA County Youth Not Always Well Served by the Juvenile Justice System (Public CEO)
  Nearly 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court established the rights of juveniles to have adequate legal representation in a landmark case known as In re Gault, due process rights remain unclear for thousands of indigent juvenile defendants facing felony charges that could lead to years of incarceration.
• Question of Raising Criminal Age in Texas Fraught With Complexity (El Paso Times)
  Texas criminal courts have regarded 17 as the age of adulthood since 1918. But recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions conflict with the law in some ways, prompting Texas and the eight other states to consider making 18 the age at which criminal offenders are sent into the adult legal system.
• Racial Disparity in Juvenile Facilities Increased as Overall Incarceration Plummeted, Report Says (The Chronicle of Social Change)
  Racial disparity in juvenile facilities may have widened as the overall number of youths declined in recent years, according to a report released today by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Juvenile Justice Bill Clears Ky. Senate (Kentucky.com)
  Legislation aimed at having fewer children locked up in juvenile detention centers passed the Kentucky Senate by a wide margin Thursday, providing momentum for some of the biggest proposed changes in decades to the justice system for minors.
• JJIE Releases New Digital Magazine Telling Stories of Justice In US (JJIE.org)
  In 10 articles, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange’s new digital magazine explores many of the key issues that come to play in youth justice, including mental health, substance abuse and the overrepresentation of kids of color in the system.
• ACLU Wants Supreme Court to Review Shackling of Juveniles (JJIE.org)
  The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is asking the state’s highest court to stop the indiscriminate restraint of children in juvenile courts.
• Nominate a White House Champion of Change for Expanding Reentry Employment Opportunities (Whitehouse.gov)
  Stable employment – like stable housing, family and community support, and access to substance abuse and mental health treatment – is critical to the rehabilitation, stability and successful reentry of individuals who have been incarcerated and are returning to our communities.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Changes Sought in Parole Hearings For Ex-Juveniles (The Boston Globe)
  A dozen Massachusetts inmates sentenced as juveniles to life sentences for first-degree murder have received invitations to appear before the state Parole Board, the first time such offenders have had a chance to seek freedom. But just how these unprecedented parole hearings will be structured is causing its own challenges.
• Washington State Passes Law Sealing Juvenile Records (JJIE.org)
  A measure restricting access to juvenile records passed the Washington state Legislature Wednesday. As JJIE reported March 6, the bill, HB 1651, restricts access to all juvenile records except the worst felony offenses, such as violent crimes and sexual assaults.
• "Kids For Cash" Captures A Juvenile Justice Scandal From Two Sides (NPR)
  Kids for Cash chronicles the story of Judge Mark A. Chiavarella, who was convicted in 2011 for sending thousands of children to a juvenile detention facility from which he'd received a "finder's fee."

Juvenile Justice Reform

• The School to Prison Pipeline Issue (Corrections.com)
  The phrase “School to Prison Pipeline” has been widely used to describe what happens when school misconduct is answered with suspension, expulsion, and police intervention, as opposed to primarily internal consequences and sanctions. This “criminalizing” of student behavior, it is suggested, unfairly targets minority juveniles, often injecting them into the juvenile justice system, and increasing the opportunity for premature incarceration as a juvenile offender.
• Rewrite of Juvenile Justice Statute Would Include Prevention, Trauma-Informed Care (WGCU.org)
  The Florida Legislature is moving to overhaul the law governing the Department of Juvenile Justice during the session that starts March 4th. The rewrite would focus on preventing kids from coming into the juvenile justice system in the first place.
• Young Voices Become Strong Through WritersCorps (JJIE.org)
  Nine young people stood on a stage last week in San Francisco to read their poetry — and two others detained in juvenile hall had their recorded voices presented. "You can feel the heat and desperation," read student K.M. from his poem about the sun, recorded at the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• White Paper: Need to Reform Mental Health Treatment for Incarcerated Youth (JJIE.org)
  National mental health organizations and experts are calling for reforming mental health services for incarcerated youth after recent reports revealed startlingly high numbers of mental health disorder in the population.
• Documentary Confronts Bias In Conn. Juvenile Justice System (CTLawTribune.com)
  By most accounts, Connecticut has made tremendous progress in reforming its juvenile justice system. But there's one serious problem remaining: racial disparities in the youths who are sent to juvenile lockups. That's the thrust of a recent Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network documentary, a production sponsored by the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and paid for with federal funds.
• SCREENING: JUST US Shines Light on the Epidemic of Generational Imprisonment (Just Us)
  JUST US, a documentary from filmmaker Nyjia Jones, carefully examines one of the biggest problems plaguing the justice system — the epidemic of generational imprisonment.