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Here's a question that may not have crossed your mind lately: who's leading the charge on juvenile justice reform in Georgia? You'll be glad to know that someone is: UNICEF. Check out the video clip for a peek into its work abroad. 

About six weeks ago, I noted that MSNBC was going to air six episodes on the Lake County, Indiana juvenile justice system on its show, "Lockup."
In an unusual move, the judge in Lake County gave MSNBC full access to film the youth. I haven't seen the show, but here's a local review [removed because of dead link]. You can catch a riveting -- and heartbreaking -- 5-minute trailer for "Lake County Juvenile Justice here.
Has anyone had a chance to see the actual show? Leave a comment and let us know what you thought. 

Suppose you provide alcohol and drug treatment to teens.
What do you do if the mother of an adolescent patient is demanding to see her son’s treatment records, but the son doesn't want your program to discuss his treatment with his mother or to share any records with her?
How do you deal with the relapse of a young teen-age patient? Can your program contact the patient's parents?  Must you?

• A St. Louis family court judge has taken the unusual step of opening his own alternative school for youth in the justice system. The school features lots of oversight and plenty of after-school activities.  
• The families of kids detained in San Francisco won't be charged after all. The city's head of juvenile probation has withdrawn the original proposal to collect fees for detained teens. He stated that only families of youth from outside the city (an estimated 30% of detained youth) would have been charged.

Youth Today tipped me off to an upcoming one-hour webinar on conducting mental health screenings and assessments in the juvenile justice system.
It's sponsored by The Council of State Governments' Justice Center and will be held June 30, from 3pm - 4pm EST. Among other things, the webinar will "showcase '10 steps' that have proven to be necessary for effective implementation of mental health screening in juvenile justice settings."
Follow the links to register.

*Photo copyright Adam Foster | Codefor; reposted under Creative Commons license.

• Charging families for detained children? That's what San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing, along with a host of other fees, to balance the city budget. Although the fees would be waived for foster children and families making 30% or less of the local median income, the proposal has come under serious fire from the City Supervisor.
• Three youth in the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice facility have swine flu, and 18 other youth and two staff members are showing flu symptoms as well. Does your facility have a plan for what it would do in a similar situation? June 21st UPDATE: six youth at a Louisiana juvenile justice facility have come down with the flu. It's not clear if they're suffering from swine flu, but officials took the precaution of suspending weekend visitation to prevent the flu from spreading.

New Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske (i.e., director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)) was interviewed on NPR earlier this week when he visited an adult drug court in California.
In the interview, you can hear him talk about the value of drug courts as a crime prevention tool; the Administration's plans to double funding for them; and his dislike of the term "war on drugs."
Juvenile drug courts weren't specifically mentioned; it's unclear if the proposed funding increases would be proportionate.

This is part 2 of my interview with Estella Rebeiro, senior juvenile probation officer at the Reclaiming Futures site in Bristol County, MA, about a local implementation of the Changing Lives Through Literature program. (See part 1 of her interview.)
 
Why do you think the program works?
The use of literature aids in the development of self-esteem, mindfulness and emotional well-being.  The topics of discussion promote core values, compassion, hope, respect, integrity and responsibility for self and community.

• Remember the two Pennsylvania judges who accepted bribes to detain kids? Now the former co-owner of the detention facilities has pleaded guilty in the case, after previousy maintaining he was the victim of a shakedown.
• A panel at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is considering merging NIAAA and NIDA -- that is, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) -- into a single National Institute on Addiction, generating lots of debate.