Juvenile Justice Reform

Did you know that Reclaiming Futures has a LinkedIn group? Becoming a member lets you stay on top of the latest news related to juvenile justice reform and adolescent substance abuse treatment, participate in thought-provoking discussions, and connect with peers and thought leaders in the industry. All you have to do is visit our Juvenile Justice Reform and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment LinkedIn group and request to join.
Our group will be especially beneficial if you are a:

• Policy maker or legislator
• Professional in the field of juvenile justice or adolescent substance abuse treatment
• Family or youth advocate

Reclaiming Futures Snohomish County recently released its 2013 Annual Report detailing its remarkable accomplishments over the last year. Also known as R-3 (Re-enter, Re-Engage, and Re-Claim), Reclaiming Futures of Snohomish County strives to provide comprehensive services for young people within and outside of the criminal justice system.
In 2013, Snohomish County successfully implemented, or sustained, the following programs to further its mission to meet the needs of young people in the juvenile justice system and at-risk teens:

• Youth Partner Program: a mentorship program that matches young people with positive adults who share similar interests.
• Journey: a gender-responsive program that utilizes the One Circle Foundation Curriculum and focuses on relationships with peers, body image, and path to the future.
• Promising Artists in Recovery (PAIR): a variety of eight-week art workshops for teens in recovery with the goal to exhibit the teens’ work at local venues.
• The Seven Challenges Program: Snohomish County had its first fidelity visit—a day of training, reviewing of quality assurance documents and observing youth groups at each agency.
• Music Futures: a performing arts program for teens actively involved in substance abuse treatment who are interested in attending guitar, percussion and song-writing workshops.

Of these programs, PAIR had the most significant results with a 23.3 percent misdemeanor recidivism rate and a 10 percent felony recidivism rate. 

James Bell, a founding member of the Reclaiming Futures National Advisory Committee in 2001, will be speaking at the Native American Student and Community Center at Portland State University on April 17. See the description below from the event announcement:

The remanding of youth to adult criminal court is a social justice issue of national significance. Mr. James Bell of the Haywood Burns Institute will speak on a campaign soon to be launched in California called "Reclaiming Childhood.” This initiative will stand up against the forces that move youth (and disproportionately youth from low income communities and communities of color) into the adult system. Mr. Bell has worked closely with juvenile justice advocates in Oregon and his comments will be directly relevant to the work being done in our state.

This event is free and open to the community. Light refreshments will be served. To register, visit the PSU website.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Confronting an Unseen Problem: Abuse and Its Long-Term Effects on Incarcerated Juveniles (Chicago Policy Review)
  Children and adolescents who find themselves in the juvenile justice system often come from backgrounds characterized by abuse. Recent studies indicate that once incarcerated, that trend is appallingly likely to continue.
• Experts Concerned that LA County Youth Not Always Well Served by the Juvenile Justice System (Public CEO)
  Nearly 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court established the rights of juveniles to have adequate legal representation in a landmark case known as In re Gault, due process rights remain unclear for thousands of indigent juvenile defendants facing felony charges that could lead to years of incarceration.
• Question of Raising Criminal Age in Texas Fraught With Complexity (El Paso Times)
  Texas criminal courts have regarded 17 as the age of adulthood since 1918. But recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions conflict with the law in some ways, prompting Texas and the eight other states to consider making 18 the age at which criminal offenders are sent into the adult legal system.
• Racial Disparity in Juvenile Facilities Increased as Overall Incarceration Plummeted, Report Says (The Chronicle of Social Change)
  Racial disparity in juvenile facilities may have widened as the overall number of youths declined in recent years, according to a report released today by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Last week the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange launched a new multimedia digital magazine in celebration of its fourth year of journalism. The new magazine will feature top stories in juvenile justice on key issues including mental health, substance abuse and disproportionate minority contact.

This new magazine platform will combine video, text and photography to offer a multimedia picture of juvenile justice and the complex issues surrounding it. The first issue, released last week, includes the following feature stories:

• Waiting a Year for Mental Health Assessment
• Execution of a 14-Year-Old
• A Tattoo At a Time, Doctor Erases the Past
• Girls’ Path to Detention
• Documenting ‘Stop and Frisk’
• Trans Teens
• In Boxing Ring, Two Men Confront Their Demons
• Battling Meth: A Mother’s Road to Recovery
• Ghosts of the Past
• ‘Sesame Street’ Helps Kids of Incarcerated Parents

Last year, we reported about a new poetry initiative designed to introduce young people involved with the juvenile justice system to the therapeutic power of writing, give them hope, and inspire them to persevere in overcoming challenges posed by addiction and crime. Developed by the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings (CEEAS), Words Unlocked is a month-long poetry curriculum culminating in a nationwide competition open only to incarcerated teens.
We’re excited to see that Words Unlocked is happening again this April, this year with the theme “Boundaries.” Via Words Unlocked:

Boundaries exist in all shapes and forms; boundaries can be physical, social, emotional, or personal. Through Words Unlocked we hope to encourage thousands of students who are locked up to explore this theme and not let the boundaries prescribed by their locked rooms or the razor wire that they see every day limit their creativity, seriousness, or passion for writing and expression.
Far too many young people are locked up around the country. Through this initiative, we intend to ensure that their words are not.

A report from the Vera Institute of Justice, Ohio Department of Youth Services and the Public Welfare Foundation underscores the importance of family involvement for incarcerated youth. The Families as Partners: Supporting Youth Reentry Project’s findings reveal the positive correlation between family visitation and behavior and school performance, and suggest juvenile correctional facilities should change their visitation policies to promote more frequent visitation with families.
In the study, teens who were never visited earned the lowest GPA scores and had three times as many behavior incidents as those who saw their families at least once a week. Conversely, youth who had regular family visits experienced the lowest levels of behavioral incidents and earned the highest GPAs.
Here are some highlights from the report:

• Youth who were visited regularly committed an average of four behavioral incidents per month, compared to six among those visited infrequently and 14 among those who were never visited.
• Youth who had never received a visit exhibited the highest rates of behavioral incidents.
• Average GPAs for youth who never had a visitor was 80.4, compared to 82 for those who had visits infrequently and 85 for youth who had frequent visits.

Find the full report from the Families as Partners: Supporting Youth Reentry Project.

Mark your calendars! This Wednesday, March 19, at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) is hosting, “Show Policymakers How Your Court Helps Your Community: Five Steps for Building Relationships that Last.”
This webinar will provide insight on how building relationships with policymakers can help your community, including by raising public attention for your issue, building new community support, or even increasing funding. It can take time to establish the strong relationships necessary to reach these results.
Guest speakers Mac Prichard and Jessica Williams of Prichard Communications will share lessons learned and tips from their experiences helping juvenile courts and nonprofits in Washington, DC, and across the country, focusing on three learning objectives:

• Understand the benefits of building relationships with policy makers.
• Share strategic principles for working with elected officials in your
• community.
• Review case studies of juvenile courts in Dayton, Ohio, and Seattle.

To register for Wednesday’s webinar, email Jessica Pearce at jpearce [at] ncjfcj [dot] org.

Community leaders in Snohomish County, Washington, are helping teens overcome drugs, alcohol, mental health issues and crime.
They have a lofty goal: To have a caring adult help every teen.
The Herald of Everett, Washington, recently highlighted mentors who spoke out on behalf of young people involved in the juvenile justice system: 

"They're not bad kids. A detour has taken them off the road to success," Litzkow says, repeating a mantra favored by Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss. Weiss presides over the juvenile drug court at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center. He also is a champion for the county's Reclaiming Futures project. The pilot program was launched in 2010 in the county's juvenile court system. It's modeled after a national initiative aimed at providing effective treatment for drug- and alcohol-addicted teens, and caring for their needs once they're out of the criminal justice system. A large part of that initiative is connecting kids with positive role models.

Deena Eckroth, 49, believes young people need support regardless of some of the bad decisions that they may make. "They've had enough people abandon them," Eckroth said. The Mukilteo mother of two grown children recently was paired up with a 15-year-old girl. Eckroth said she was compelled to volunteer with at-risk youth in part because of her experience as a human resources manager. She has had to turn people away for jobs because of their past mistakes. "It made me wonder what happened in their life and what could have helped that person turn around," she said. "This really makes sense for me." Eckroth now is recruiting co-workers and others to become mentors.

This effort builds on the success of the Promising Artists in Recovery program that is still going strong in Snohomish County. 

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.