By Benjamin Chambers, December 30 2010
Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders - a new bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) discussing findings from the landmark Pathways to Desistance research. One of the few things that works to reduce recidivism in this population? Family-focused substance abuse treatment.- What the heck is "parity," anyway? - the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) gives a quick overview of one of the key recent legislative shifts affecting adolescent substance abuse treatment. (Hat tip to SAMHSA.)
- Teens, Text Messages, and Mental Health Services - A new study conducted by a team that has found in its daily work that text messages increase teen engagement and retention in mental health services studied the text messages sent by teens and found that only 2% were inappropriate, suggesting other providers should adopt text messaging to connect with adolescents. (H/t Portland Prevention.)
- NYC Mayor Bloomberg Proposes State Turn Juvenile Prisons Over to Local Control - Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has proposed a solution for the state's troubled juvenile prisons: turn them over to local jurisdictions. Not everyone thinks that's a good idea. What do you think? Leave a comment.
- Profile of Oregon Youth in Custody - An annual survey conducted by the Oregon Youth Authority has found 64% have mental health issues; 61% are dependent on drugs or alcohol; 20% have suffered sexual abuse and 25% emotional or physical abuse; and nearly one in five have an IQ of 80 or less. How does that stack up with your state? Leave a comment.
- More High School Kids Smoke Pot than Cigarettes (Again) - The annual Monitoring the Future study has found for the second year in a row that more high school teens reported smoking mairjuana in the past 30 days than did those saying they smoked cigarettes.
- Do Teens Start Drinking and Doing Drugs Because of Famliy Stress? - New research says probably not, though tobacco's a different story. (Hat tip to Robert O. Ackley.)
- Webinar from OJJDP: Court Coordination Program - The webinar, scheduled for January 6, 2011 at 12 pm PST / 3 pm EST, will focus on providing community services for high-risk juvenile offenders by "leveraging the authority of a juvenile court judge [to] gain the assistance of public and private agencies in offering services to high-risk juvenile offenders." (Sounds like Reclaiming Futures should be ideally positioned to take advantage of the approach.) Follow the link to register. (Hat tip to the National Reentry Resource Center.)
- Webinar/Symposium: Undoing the Effects of Mass Incarceration - George Mason University's Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence's (ACE!) will hold a symposium on incarceration policy on campus and via webinar on January 14, 2011. Co-sponsored by The Prison Fellowship and the office of U.S. Senator Jim Webb (VA), it will "address the impact of incarceration policies, and will include scholars presenting current research along with discussions by individuals affected by these policies." (Hat tip to the National Reentry Resource Center.)
- The 24th Annual Children’s Mental Health Research & Policy Conference - Keynote speaker will be Geoffrey Canada -- well-known for the Harlem Children's Zone -- who'd want to miss that? Held March 20-23, 2011 in Tampa, FL. Follow the link for more information.
- Reclaiming Futures El Paso Publishes Winners of Youth Writing Contest - In the latest issue of its newsletter, Reclaiming Futures El Paso has published the winners of a writing contest held for (I believe) youth in detention. Follow the link to check out the kids' remarkable work.
- Youth Are at the Table - Now What? - Okay, the truth is, youth probably aren't at your table yet. (My hat's off to you if they are.) But either way, here's some great pointers on making sure they feel included from the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health, courtesy of Paul Savery.
Updated: February 08 2018