Juvenile Justice Reform

To stay up to date on juvenile justice news, consider using Twitter. There are several accounts
that will keep you up to date on all the news and events you need to know about!

Here are ten of the best, most informative accounts for juvenile justice news:

1. @JJIE: The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange is the only U.S publication that features daily coverage of juvenile justice and related issues around the nation.
2. @JusticeforYouth: The Campaign for Youth Justice advocates for juvenile justice reform by providing support to federal, state, and local campaigns.
3. @JusticeReform: The Justice Fellowship works to reform the criminal justice system so communities are safer, victims are respected and offenders are transformed.
4. @JuvenileCrime: The Global Youth Justice Organization are “juvenile crime champions” that work to prevent the escalation of juvenile crime and incarceration rates around the world by advancing the global expansion of quality youth justice and juvenile justice diversions programs.
5. @SentencingProj: The Sentencing Project has been working for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system since 1986.
6. @JuvLaw1975: The Juvenile Law Center is a nonprofit law firm working nationally to shape and use the law on behalf of children in the child welfare and justice systems.
7. @AntiRecidivism: The Anti-Recidivism Coalition strives to improve outcomes of formerly incarcerated individuals and build healthier communities. ARC is a support network and advocate for fair and just policy.
8. @NCJFCJ: The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges works to ensure justice for every family and every child in every court throughout this country.
9. @VeraInstitute: The Vera Institute of Justice focuses on making justice systems fairer and more effective through research and innovation.
10. @CourtInnovation: Center for Court Innovation is a nonprofit that helps courts and criminal justice agencies aid victims, reduce crime, and improve public trust in justice.

And don't forget to follow Reclaiming Futures!

A new PBS Documentary “15 to Life” takes a close look at one man’s story to combat his life sentence after being convicted at age 15. Though Kenneth Young was convicted more than a decade ago for armed robbery, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled four years ago that a life in prison sentence without parole for a juvenile offender in a non-homicide case was unconstitutional.

The documentary follows Young’s journey to secure a resentencing under the Supreme Court ruling, addressing along the way his developments in maturity and education gained in prison.

"I'm not sure if Kenneth Young knew the consequences, quite frankly, at that time. At that age, they really don't," explains interviewee and chief of the Pinellas County sheriff's office.

Not only does the story bring to light current issues around juvenile courts and impact on life sentences, it reinforces the need to provide treatment services and community support to at-risk youths early on to prevent more stories like Young’s.

Watch the documentary and share your thoughts below.

Almost 70,000 teens are incarcerated on any given day. Among incarcerated young girls with a life sentence, 77 percent have reported sexual abuse. Author Nicholas Kristof gives insight into this issue in a recent New York Times article, referencing the story of “Jane Doe” who has spent her life in and out of the juvenile justice system.

Both at home and in the juvenile system, Jane suffered years of sexual abuse and violence. After two months of isolation in an adult prison, Jane was moved to a girls’ detention center in Middletown, Conn., with the goal to provide her care that will ideally lead to placement in a loving foster-care family, which is what those around her know she needs:

“All I wanted was someone to tell me they loved me, that everything would be all right,” Jane says in the affidavit. “But that never happened.”

Kristof emphasizes that Jane’s story is a prime example of a larger issue within the juvenile justice system:

“We systematically over-rely on the criminal justice toolbox to deal with youths, rather than on social services or education. The United States incarcerates children at a rate that is 10 or 20 times higher than in some other industrial countries.”

Kristof, among other experts, believe stories like Jane’s can be prevented through programs that provide stability, education and safety to at-risk children from a young age. Programs that focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration. Programs like Reclaiming Futures.

This past Sunday, we recognized the inspiring work of the Montgomery County Ohio Reclaiming Futures site and the leadership of Judge Anthony Capizzi. Their tireless work to reclaim our youth serves as an example to communities across the country. This is truly a group effort, supported by community leaders, treatment providers, court staff, faith community, parents' advisory board and the youth.
Over the past two months, the team has recruited 30 new natural helpers, with another 22 currently in the application process. Sunday's event was a huge success, bringing together local pastors and churches, and helped spark even more interest! Roma Stephens, Reclaiming Futures community fellow, said of the event, "The interesting thing about this type of event is that the total effect is actually immeasurable and ongoing beyond the day of the event. I believe the pastors who were there will cause a tsunami effect."
The proclamation below serves as a reminder of how important our natural helpers and supporters are in this effort.
Proclamation
June 29, 2014
Whereas, Judge Anthony Capizzi has led the Montgomery County Ohio Reclaiming Futures team for over a decade, an exemplary and leading site among the Reclaiming Futures initiative,
Whereas, Judge Capizzi serves as the Judicial Faculty and Trainer for Reclaiming Futures across the country,
Whereas, Judge Capizzi serves tirelessly on a national level with several organizations including the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the United States Department of Justice’s Global Justice Information Sharing Committee, and on the state level with the Ohio Judicial College, as the chair of the Ohio Juvenile Judges Curriculum Committee, and as the former President of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Juvenile Court Judges Association,
Whereas, Judge Capizzi has held leadership positions in various government, civic, and professional organizations that focus on family and children’s issues over the past 35 years,
Whereas, Judge Capizzi has empowered his team to share their expertise with other courts and communities across the country to reclaim the lives of youth,
Whereas, the entire Reclaiming Futures Montgomery County Ohio team has significantly contributed to the development and spread of Reclaiming Futures across the country as a model for the nation,
Whereas, we believe we can reclaim youth in Montgomery County, Ohio, with your help, in any way large or small, as natural helpers or supporters,
We therefore declare June 29, 2014 as Judge Anthony Capizzi and Montgomery County Ohio Reclaiming Futures Day in recognition of their outstanding and dedicated work to children and to the outstanding county-wide community that supports their efforts.
Duly adopted this 25th day of June 2014
- Susan J. Richardson, National Executive Director

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently published a short video detailing the system of care in Clayton County, Georgia, designed to support young men of color from dropping out of school and becoming involved with the juvenile justice system. From RWJF: “[Clayton County has] partnered with local organizations, juvenile courts, and school districts to provide comprehensive services to help young males achieve in the classroom, develop career goals and make healthy decisions.”
This system of care aligns well with the Reclaiming Futures model, focusing on engaging the community at large, and the services available within, to help teens make better decisions and develop into healthy adults.
See the video below for more:

The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown University‘s McCourt School of Public Policy has announced that applicants will now be accepted for the 2014 Multi-System Integration Program through July 25, 2014.
The Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Multi-System Integration Certificate Program is a weeklong program of intensive study designed for those who want to improve outcomes for crossover youth—defined as children and youth who are known to multiple systems of care, particularly juvenile justice and child welfare.
The Multi-System Integration Certificate Program was created to achieve the following goals:
•Bring together current and future leaders to increase knowledge about multi-system reform efforts related to crossover youth
•Improve the operation of organizations in serving this population
•Provide an opportunity for the development of collaborative leadership skills
•Create a mutually supportive network of individuals across the country committed to systems reform
The Crossover Youth Practice Model, developed by the CJJR in response to the growth in knowledge of crossover youth, will be used throughout the program to illustrate specific values, standards, evidence-based practices, policies, procedures and quality assurance processes that must be in place within a jurisdiction in order to implement or improve practices that directly affect the outcomes for crossover youth.

The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) and Models for Change —a MacArthur Foundation initiative—have released a new online database that will allow policy makers, advocates, researchers and the media to chart nationwide change in juvenile justice policy, practices, and statistics.
This powerful new tool, called the Juvenile Justice GPS (JJGPS - Geography, Policy, Practice & Statistics), is a website that monitors juvenile justice system change by examining state laws and juvenile justice practice, combined with the most relevant state and national statistics.
The JJGPS is the first of its kind and will provide a much fuller national and historical overview of the juvenile justice system. It was created with the purpose of increasing clarity on critical issues and encouraging reform.
Director of the NCJJ Melissa Sickmund believes the JJGPS will prove to be an invaluable resource in the years ahead:
“We hope that policy makers will use the information to see where they stand, and when they realize what other states have accomplished, be inspired to make improvements in their own systems.”
The JJGPS will be organized in six main sections, starting with the jurisdictional boundaries section, which includes all laws that transfer juvenile offenders to the criminal court to be tried as adults:

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency recently released the brief “Supervision Strategies for Justice-Involved Youth [PDF],” which reports on improved supervision strategies for young people on probation or parole by juvenile departments to help keep them out of facilities.
The brief is based on a field survey of more than 140 juvenile justice system leaders around the country, and found that the following three supervision strategies are working effectively:

• Systems Are Improving Practice by Reducing Supervision for Youth Who Do Not Need It: The overall approach to supervision relies on risk assessments, screening instruments, and other tools to help systems shift youth to the lowest form of supervision needed to meet their needs and, in some cases, to divert youth from the system entirely;
• Justice Systems Are Working to Reduce Revocations: Juvenile departments are engaging in training with line staff to encourage different responses to behaviors to avoid revocation, clarifying which rules may no longer result in revocation, and problem solving with the youth and families around the right response;
• Systems Are Working to Build Stronger Supervision Partnerships With Families and Service Providers: Strategies include clearly articulating roles for each member of the supervision team in the work and their relationships to each other, shared access to information systems, joint trainings, reliance on models that seek to place families at the center of the process, hiring people to work with families in the system, and developing family orientation programs.

Lane County, among 13 other jurisdictions across the nation, has been selected to implement a new juvenile justice program created by Georgetown University. The program, “Crossover Youth,” is designed to reduce the number of young people who crossover between child welfare and the juvenile justice system.
Staff from Lane County Youth Services, as well as former juvenile delinquent Denise Ramirez, share what this program means to Lane County in the clip below.
 

May 18-24 is National Prevention Week 2014, and the theme this year focuses on the important role each one of us has in maintaining a healthy life to ensure a productive future: Our Lives. Our Health. Our Future.
National Prevention Week 2014 is a SAMHSA-supported annual health observance dedicated to increasing public awareness of, and action around, substance abuse and mental health issues. National Prevention Week begins near the start of summer each year due to the increase in recreational activities and events that tend to spark substance use among young people.
SAMHSA urges us all to take part in National Prevention Week this year and help ensure a safe and healthy summer season!
There are many different ways to get involved:
•Take the Prevention Pledge to add your own “brick” to the wall, and share it among friends.
•Host your own awareness event using the National Prevention Week 2014 Participant Toolkit.
•Attend an awareness event and spread the word among your personal networks.
•Share National Prevention Week 2014 information with friends and family using the provided promotional materials from SAMHSA.
•Submit an entry to the National Prevention Week “I Choose” Project.
However you decide to participate, SAMHSA looks forward to observing National Prevention Week 2014 with you!