Blog

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.

A new report, “Better Solutions for Youth with Mental Health Needs in the Juvenile Justice System [PDF],” details effective responses to youth with mental health needs in the juvenile justice system. The Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Collaborative for Change's report highlights the scope of the problem, identifies scientific breakthroughs, and encourages community-based treatment interventions that provide more appropriate, effective responses to youth with mental health needs. 
The key takeaway from the report explains:

Whenever safe and appropriate, youth with mental health needs should be prevented from entering the juvenile justice system in the first place.

View or download the report in full [PDF].

MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership recently released "The Mentoring Effect: Young People's Perspectives on the Outcomes and Availability of Mentoring.”Via the press release (emphasis mine):

The publication links mentoring to significant life outcomes for youth and highlights a substantial gap that exists in America: one in three young people will reach adulthood without having a mentor. A nationally representative survey of youth informs this report, which reveals that at-risk youth with mentors are much more likely to attend college, participate in extracurricular activities, take on leadership roles, and regularly volunteer in their communities. The publication outlines opportunities for the public, private, and philanthropic sectors to integrate mentoring as a key youth development strategy.

View or download the report and executive summary.

Will yours be one of five states selected to receive expert technical assistance to help young people? You won't know if you don't apply.
Applications are being accepted for Improving Diversion Policies and Programs for Justice-Involved Youth with Behavioral Health Disorders: An Integrated Policy Academy-Action Network Initiative, made possible with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Selected states will convene core teams of senior-level officials at the state and local levels to implement a school-based or probation-intake diversion program for youth with behavioral health disorders. This work will emphasize:

• Decreasing the unnecessary involvement of youth with behavioral health problems in the justice system
• Using research-based screening and assessment practices
• Recognizing the important role of evidence-based and trauma-informed practice and treatment
• Increasing collaboration among stakeholders to facilitate access to community treatment and services
• Reducing the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system

The full announcement and application materials are available for download at www.ncmhjj.com. Applications will be accepted through Friday, February 28, 2014. 

Below you'll find a selection of the latest grants, jobs, webinars and events posted to our Opportunity Board. 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!
Webinars

• Drilling Down: An Analytical Look at Evidence-Based Practice Resources: Feb. 6

Events

• Juvenile In Justice Artist Talk with Richard Ross: Feb. 6
• Juvenile In Justice: Photographs by Richard Ross on Display: Jan. 25-March 13
• 2014 Coalition for Juvenile Justice: June 18-21

Jobs

• Program Specialist | Nevada
• Web/Database Developer | Nevada

Grants

• Improving Diversion Policies and Programs for Justice-Involved Youth with Behavioral Health Disorder: Ends Feb. 28

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Big Difference Between Juvenile, Adult Courts (DailyHerald.com)
  If the teenager accused of stabbing to death her 11-year-old half-sister is charged as a juvenile and eventually found guilty, she could serve as little as seven years in detention. If she's charged with murder as an adult and convicted, she could serve as many as 60. That's just one of the differences in how the rules can differ for young people accused of serious crimes.
• Tribal Juvenile Justice Outdated (DurangoHerald.com)
  Although Native Americans make up little more than 1 percent of the nation’s population, a 10-year study found that at any given time, 43 percent to 60 percent of juveniles held in federal custody were Native Americans, a wildly disproportionate number.
• Center for Health Program Management Announces Implementation of $4.5 Million Initiative to Transform California's Juvenile Justice Systems (SacBee.com)
  he Center for Health Program Management, and funding partners Sierra Health Foundation, The California Endowment and The California Wellness Foundation announced that $1.6 million in grant funding has been awarded to four counties to implement an innovative approach to juvenile justice reform known as the Positive Youth Justice Initiative.

Earlier this month, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), published a guide detailing a drug abuse approach that goes way beyond "Just Say No!" The guide, "Presents research-based principles of adolescent substance use disorder treatment; covers treatment for a variety of drugs including, illicit and prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; presents settings and evidence-based approaches unique to treating adolescents." Via the report:

People are most likely to begin abusing drugs—including tobacco, alcohol, and illegal and prescription drugs—during adolescence and young adulthood.
By the time they are seniors, almost 70 percent of high school students will have tried alcohol, half will have taken an illegal drug, nearly 40 percent will have smoked a cigarette, and more than 20 percent will have used a prescription drug for a nonmedical purpose.1 There are many reasons adolescents use these substances, including the desire for new experiences, an attempt to deal with problems or perform better in school, and simple peer pressure. Adolescents are “biologically wired” to seek new experiences and take risks, as well as to carve out their own identity. Trying drugs may fulfill all of these normal developmental drives, but in an unhealthy way that can have very serious long-term consequences.
Many factors influence whether an adolescent tries drugs, including the availability of drugs within the neighborhood, community, and school and whether the adolescent’s friends are using them. The family environment is also important: Violence, physical or emotional abuse, mental illness, or drug use in the household increase the likelihood an adolescent will use drugs. Finally, an adolescent’s inherited genetic vulnerability; personality traits like poor impulse control or a high need for excitement; mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, or ADHD; and beliefs such as that drugs are “cool” or harmless make it more likely that an adolescent will use drugs.

Get the full publication on DrugAbuse.gov >>

Comedian Jake Johannsen recently got serious (well, a little more serious than usual) with psychologist Evan Elkin during his Jakethis podcast. The two sat down and talked about the juvenile justice system, and problems with how we handle crime and punishment. The podcast is embedded below for your listening pleasure. Jump to the 18 minute mark for the discussion of the juvenile justice system.  

Did you know that around 70 percent of all youth in contact with the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental health disorder? 
A new white paper by the Collaborative for Change—a training, technical assistance and education center and a member of the Models for Change Resource Center Partnership—discusses the scope of this problem, scientific breakthroughs that can help, and how communities can adopt better solutions for youth with mental health needs in the juvenile justice system.
In the white paper, Better Solutions for Youth with Mental Health Needs in the Juvenile Justice System, the substantive focus of the Collaborative for Change includes: 

1. Mental health screening within juvenile justice settings
2. Diversion strategies and models for youth with mental
health needs
3. Adolescent mental health training for juvenile justice
staff and police
4. Guidance around the implementation of evidence-based
practices
5. Training and resources to support family involvement in
the juvenile justice system
6. Juvenile competency

Access the full white paper on http://cfc.ncmhjj.com/