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Every year, thousands of kids (disproportionately girls and youth of color) end up in the juvenile justice system not because they've committed a crime, but because they're runaways, skipping school, or are simply hard to control. While these "status offenders" and their families need services -- and it can be tempting to detain them in order to protect them -- it's important to minimze their contact with the juvenile justice system, as research has shown that contact with the juvenile justice system can increase their risk to  recidivate.
But despite the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which has a core requirement focused on discouraging detention of juvenile status offenders, status offenders are handled differently by each state, and sometimes quite aggressively. Now, the American Bar Association (ABA) has published Representing Juvenile Status Offenders, an excellent resource for attorneys who represent them. 

In case you missed it, the National Reentry Resource Center hosted an excellent webinar on juvenile entry last month, featuring David M. Altschuler, Ph.D., principal research scientist at the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and Shay Bilchik, founder and director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute.
The presentation, titled "Juvenile Reentry in Concept and Practice," defines juvenile reentry; lays out a conceptual framework for thinking about how youth should be reintegrated into the community; identifies the key risk and protective factors that services need to address; how to structure those services; and common obstacles to establishing adequate case management.
You can find a recording of the webinar and download the PowerPoint presentation at the National Reentry Resource Center's web page devoted to juveniles in the justice system.
 
Other Posts of Interest

• Dr. Altschuler on juvenile reentry
• Mr. Bilchik on addressing disproportionality in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems

Anyone following juvenile justice issues in New York state cannot help but be struck by how much attention the field has received in recent months. Even as the media—from The New York Times and New York Magazine (image at right) to National Public Radio—eagerly document the need for local reform, there seems to be a groundswell of people thinking about ways to treat children as children, at home in their communities rather than in locked facilities, without compromising public safety.
 
On the state level, for example, a statewide Governor’s Task Force, chaired by Jeremy Travis (and staffed by my colleagues at the Vera Institute of Justice), has issued a call for reform that the state’s top juvenile justice officer, Commissioner Gladys Carrión, is actively pursuing.  The task force report (seen at left), issued in December 2009, lays out a comprehensive roadmap for reducing juvenile corrections, reinvesting resources in community-based alternatives, eliminating racial inequities across the system, improving the supports and services provided to young people in state custody and upon release, and ensuring system accountability.

The NIATx ACTION Campaign II: Financial Strength in a Changing World, offers free process improvement tools for behavioral health care providers -- like adolescent substance abuse treatment agencies -- along with an easy way to get connected with NIATx.  
The Campaign features twice-monthly webinars tailored for beginners who are new to NIATx process improvement, or "advanced" webinars for those who have participated in a NIATx project in the past.  The Campaign web site also highlights promising practices that we encourage people to try in their own agencies. Join the Campaign here -- it's free! 
This month, our promising practices focus on tapping into referral sources and increasing collections from insurance companies. The webinar below is one of the associated events. 
[UPDATE:  Just follow the link here to access the archived recording and PowerPoints for "Increasing Collections from Insurance Companies" (advertised below). --Ed.]

Wow. Earlier this week, I blogged about a great opportunity to help youth, family members, and leaders of color become more effective juvenile justice advocates.
Now, here's another chance to do the same thing, organized by our friends at the Campaign for Youth Justice. They'll be holding a Leadership Institute for Families in Baltimore, Maryland in May 25-27, 2010. The application is attached.
Here's what they say about it (with a few edits from me):

Here's some potentially huge news for adolescent substance abuse treatment providers and juvenile courts across the country. It could mean that sharing information between treatment providers and juvenile courts gets easier -- but it could also seriously jeopardize young people's privacy and the likelihood that they'll get treatment.

[UPDATE: According to the NJJN, the Institute must be postponed until 2011. If you want to participate -- or be involved in the planning -- email Annie Balck. - Ed.] 
Anyone who has worked in the juvenile justice knows how hard it is to recruit, organize, and train advocates from the community to implement juvenile justice reform. But we also know they're out there. 
Fortunately, the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) is here to help.
This summer, the NJJN is offering its first ever Juvenile Justice Leadership Development Institute. They want to

create the foundation for a more effective juvenile justice reform movement by developing a strong base of well prepared and well trained advocates and organizers who reflect the communities most affected by juvenile justice system practices and policies, with a particular focus on cultivating and supporting leaders of color, youth and family members.

The Institute will be held in New Orleans July 11-16, and will include a year of distance learning and being mentored.  Applications are due March 12, 2010. NJJN will pay transportation to and from New Orleans for those who get accepted to the program.

Juvenile Justice Reform News

• Last year, the results of a a 20-year study in Canada showed that contact with the juvenile justice system makes boys more likely to commit crimes as adults. But according to a Youth Today article [subscription required], other researchers are coming up with similar conclusions. The question is, as the author of the article asks, what will juvenile justice system policy makers do about it?
  

Register now for the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) Annual National Conference & Council of SAGs’ Meeting, to be held on April 10-13, 2010, at the Renaissance Hotel Washington, D.C.
Conference highlights will include:

• Concurrent workshops exploring the conference theme, “Ensuring School Engagement and Success for Youth At Risk.” Click here to read the Call for Presentations. 
• Keynote addresses from learned speakers, including Professor James Forman, Jr., Co-Founder of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.