Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Justice Department Pushes New Thinking on Kids and Crime (npr.org)
  Robert L. Listenbee, administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, advocates for understanding adolescent brain development to stop what experts describe as a "school-to-prison pipeline."
• Bipartisan Support for Criminal Justice Reform (vera.org)
  The current moment of government shutdown might seem the antithesis to bipartisanship. But one area in which bipartisanship is in evidence might offer some hope: criminal justice reform.
• Nearly Half of U.S. States Enact Juvenile Justice Reforms (jjie.org)
  A new report from the Washington-based Campaign for Youth Justice finds that nearly half of U.S. states have made great strides in the past eight years toward reducing the prosecution of juveniles in the adult criminal justice system or preventing youths from being placed in adult jails and prisons.

The national program staff of Reclaiming Futures, communities helping teens overcome drugs, alcohol and crime, is sporting orange today and celebrating some superstars in support of Unity Day and National Bully Prevention Month.
In 37 communities across the country, Reclaiming Futures experiences the excitement of helping kids build positive outcomes. But, without support for physical, social and emotional development, young people can run into problems, like bullying and substance abuse. Research shows a clear link between the two:

• Teens who bully their classmates are more likely than others to use substances such as cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana.
• Both school bullies and their victims are likely to abuse alcohol after a bullying episode.
• According to data published in 2011, 17% of young people at the door of the juvenile justice system meet criteria for substance abuse disorders; in detention, 39% do.

Because of the relationship between emotional health and substance abuse, we’re always cheering on colleagues who are working with young people and helping break the cycle early on.
Today we’re sending special kudos to Playworks, for empowering school staff and proactively managing students to reduce bullying behavior.
We are grateful to Playworks and all organizations that raise awareness and inspire action to prevent bullying and build healthier kids, communities and schools. Keep up the good work!

Preventing drug use before it begins, especially among our youth, is a cost-effective way to reduce substance abuse and its negative consequences. A great way to achieve this is by encouraging an overall healthy lifestyle, which is exactly what the Hocking County Juvenile Court (HCJC) did this summer in Ohio.
HCJC partnered with North’s Fitness Center, a local gym, to invite 14 court-involved young people to exercise in their facility at no cost for the duration of the six-week summer program called “Crush-It Fitness”.
Similar to programs like SPORT and InShape, Hocking County’s Crush-It Fitness was designed to channel the youth’s free time into something positive and guide them toward a healthier lifestyle—a tactic that can be very effective to prevent substance abuse and reduce recidivism.
A celebration ceremony was held on Sept. 12, 2013 to recognize the young people who completed the program. They received t-shirts and positive affirmations. Participants gave mixed reviews on the program—mandating exercise is tough business! But, a combination of logistic and planning feedback came in that will help Hocking County succeed if they continue the “Crush-It Fitness” program in summer 2014.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Complex Trauma Among Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: Impact and Implications (Corrections.com)
  Youth who have experienced complex trauma—repeated and various forms of victimization, life-threatening accidents or disasters, and interpersonal losses at an early age or for prolonged periods—have difficulties forming attachments with caregivers and self-regulating emotions.
• Family Seeks Change in Law to Protect Students (JJIE.org)
  The government has a duty to protect prisoners from harm. It also has a duty to protect people who have been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment. Yet that same duty doesn’t apply to the government when it comes to protecting students in school, according to case law.
• Grant to Help Men Leaving Juvenile Justice System (The Boston Herald)
  The U.S. Labor Department is giving Massachusetts an $11.7 million grant for a project to increase employment and reduce repeat crimes for men leaving the state's juvenile justice system. The grant will first go to serve 535 men ages 16-22 in Chelsea and Springfield who are leaving the juvenile justice system. It will provide education and pre-vocational training to help them get jobs.
• When Young Offenders–and Their Teacher–Say Goodbye (Kids in the System Blog)
  Last month, due to a lack of funding, the juvenile lock-up where I taught a weekly “life skills” workshop was shuttered. According to my very rough calculation, in the year that I worked there I had about 400 young men of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds pass through my group. Of those, about half came and went frequently, often gone for a couple of months to less than a week, and then re-offended to find themselves right back where they started.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Underage Suspects Are Apt to Confess to Crimes They Didn’t Commit. Here’s Why. (Slate.com)
  Why so many false confessions? Juvenile suspects are generally more deferential to authority—at least in the context of a police interrogation—and less likely to understand the consequences of confessing to something they didn’t do.
• [OPINION] Time to Affirm What We Mean by ‘Juvenile’ (The New York Times)
  Recent Supreme Court rulings on juvenile sentencing raise issues that go beyond what’s at stake in Miller v. Alabama. They also present an opportunity to affirm what we mean by “juvenile.” New York State may soon be the only state in the country that processes all youth as young as 16 in the criminal justice system, regardless of the severity of the offense.
• Health and Incarceration: A Workshop Summary (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
  The health disparities that exist in our communities are concentrated in the population that cycles in and out of our jails and prisons. Justice-involved populations have very high rates of physical illness, mental illness, and substance use disorders. And their health problems have significant impacts on the communities from which they come and to which, in nearly all cases, they will return.
• [OPINION] A Court Just for Juveniles in N.Y. (The New York Times)
  Teenagers prosecuted in adult courts or who do time in adult jails fare worse in life and can go on to commit more violent crimes than those who are handled by the juvenile justice system. Neuroscience research has found that these young offenders don’t weigh risks the way adults do, making them prone to rash judgments that can land them in trouble with the law.

It's not too late to add your voice in support of National Recovery Month 2013 and promote the benefits of prevention, treatment and recovery for mental and substance use disorders.
Forsyth County Reclaiming Futures is leading the way this September in Winston-Salem, N.C. with:

• A city proclamation, signed by Mayor Allen Joines,
• A free community event on September 28, with food, music, activities, and exhibits
• Wonderful photography through the lenses of teens in treatment.

I encourage you to visit Facebook to see the powerful images of teens' choices, their motivations for recovery and hopes for the future.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• OP-ED: Digging up the Past (JJIE.org & The Miami Herald)
  Sometimes, only by unearthing the skeletons of a tortured past can they be given a proper burial. That is what is happening in Marianna, in North Florida, literally and figuratively. A team of researchers, including anthropologists, archeologists, students and police detectives are searching, painstakingly, for the remains of young boys once confined to the Dozier School for Boys.
• Wisconsin Considers Keeping Non-Violent Teen Offenders In Juvenile Court (Wisconsin Public Radio News)
  Wisconsin is moving slowly towards changing the age at which teenagers are automatically treated as adults when they commit a crime. A bill introduced Thursday would allow 17-year-olds who commit nonviolent crimes to be tried in juvenile court.
• OP-ED: Juvenile Life Without Parole: The Confusion Remains (JJIE.org)
  "Last June, on the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Miller v. Alabama, I spoke to a long-time advocate for the elimination of juvenile life without parole. Like a lot of people, I was pleased with the ruling, and saw it as a victory not only for activists but for science-based research into the juvenile brain."

Recovery Month promotes the societal benefits of prevention, treatment, and recovery for mental and substance use disorders, celebrates people in recovery, lauds the contributions of treatment and service providers, and promotes the message that recovery in all its forms is possible.
What are you doing to help spread the positive message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover?
It's not too late. Add your community's voice to the celebration now at Recoverymonth.gov. You'll find the following helpful resources:

• Proclamations
• Press materials
• Fast facts, glossaries and guides
• Infographics

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Years Later, Mother and Daughter Still Scarred By Teen Boot Camp Experiences (JJIE.org)
  Nicole’s story is one demonstrating both how far -- and how little -- mental health treatment in the nation’s juvenile justice systems have progressed. In a state fraught with Department of Youth Services troubles, she did not receive intensive treatment or rehabilitative services when she entered Alabama’s juvenile justice system.
• A Court to Give Juveniles a Chance (Tampa Bay Times)
  "Plenty of kids who commit serious crimes deserve adult court and adult sanctions. Others — like juveniles who end up there because a co-defendant qualifies for adult court — might be salvageable. As Judge Stoddard put it: 'Some kids have burned all their bridges. Some kids haven't had the opportunity.'"
• OP-ED: New Hope – Health Care for Justice-Involved Youth (JJIE.org)
  "We may not all become astronauts, actresses or the next NBA all-star, but the beliefs we have in ourselves during childhood are often reflections of the paths we take into adulthood. For this reason it is important for the health of a society to nurture, respect and enrich its youth."
• Courts Split Over Ruling on Juvenile Life Sentences (The Wall Street Journal)
  Jeffrey Ragland, sentenced to life without parole in 1986 for his involvement in the killing of a fellow teen with a tire-iron blow to the head, could soon be a free man. That outcome is the result of a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court last month that found the sentence handed down to Mr. Ragland, now 44 years old, unconstitutional.

Editor's Update:
Please join us for a free webinar October 29, 2013, 10 am (PDT)/1 pm (EDT):
Deliver the Scientific Facts About Drug Abuse to Teens During National Drug Facts Week, hosted by Reclaiming Futures, presented by the National Institute on Drug Abuse

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites you to participate in National Drug Facts Week, a national health observance from January 27 to February 2, 2014, now in its 4th year. NIDA, part of the National Institutes of Health, developed National Drug Facts Week to get the science out to teens about the effects of drug use on the brain and body through community-based events and activities to help shatter their myths about drug abuse and addiction.
Reclaiming Futures supports National Drug Facts Week and encourages you to work with local youth, schools, juvenile justice programs, and prevention coalitions to organize an educational event or activity for teens that delivers real, factual information about drugs and drug abuse.
Here’s how you can get involved:

• Share this information with your networks and encourage their participation, www.drugfactsweek.drugabuse.gov
• Beginning September 9, register to organize an educational event or activity for youth during National Drug Facts Week
• Promote through social media with sample messages, provided by NIDA, about National Drug Facts Week and the scientific facts about drug abuse

To help you plan, NIDA provides a step-by-step toolkit, which includes a list of suggested activities, and a free drug facts booklet, which you can distribute at your event. 
For more information about National Drug Facts Week (January 27 to February 2, 2014), contact Brian Marquis at bmarquis@nida.nih.gov or register for the free webinar on October 29, 2013.