Juvenile Justice Reform

As anyone who knows about the juvenile justice system will tell you, girls who are in the system are there because of a history of abuse. But why girls are there and the unique needs faced by girls of color is something largely ignored, even by those working in the justice system. For example, we know that girls’ brains develop earlier than boys do; we also know that so do their bodies. Unique factors such as these are precisely why I recently wrote and presented, “Blind Discretion: Girls of Color and Delinquency in the Juvenile Justice System.”
The juvenile justice system was designed to empower its decisionmakers with a wide grant of discretion in hopes of better addressing youth in a more individualistic and holistic, and therefore more effective, manner. Unfortunately for girls of color in the system, this discretionary charter given to police, probation officers, and especially judges has operated without sufficiently acknowledging and addressing their unique position. Indeed, the dearth of adequate gender/race intersectional analysis in the research and stark absence of significant system tools directed at the specific characteristics of and circumstances faced by girls of color has tracked alarming trends such as the rising number of girls in the system and relatively harsher punishment they receive compared to boys for similar offenses. This willful blindness must stop.

The policy of trying 16- and 17-year-old nonviolent offenders as adults in criminal court has a damaging effect on the lifetime earnings potential of nearly 1,000 teenaged New Yorkers each year—costing them an estimated, cumulative total of between $50 million and $60 million in lost income over the course of their lives.
A Child Welfare Watch analysis demonstrates that the policy of trying 16- and 17-year-old nonviolent felony and misdemeanor offenders in adult criminal court has a high cost in foregone wages for each annual cohort of 16- and 17-year-olds that passes through the adult criminal courts, and also costs the government unknown millions in lost taxes.
The Watch reached its estimate using a method similar to that applied by researchers at the Vera Institute of Justice when they performed a 2011 cost-benefit analysis for a North Carolina state legislature task force. At the time, North Carolina was considering a legislative change that would have shifted cases of 16- and 17-year-olds charged with nonviolent crime to the state’s juvenile system.
Our analysis did not approach the full scope of the North Carolina study. Instead, we adapted one particular component—the cost of the current policy in lost earnings potential for young people tried in adult court who end up with a permanent criminal record. The authors of the North Carolina analysis calculated the loss in wages over a lifetime, finding that the average net present value of the earning differential between people with a record and those without totals $61,691 per person.

Thank you to Jessica Jones for delivering a welcome message to the new sites in North Carolina receiving $888,000 in support from a public-private partnership that is working to break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime for teens.
 
 

Juvenile Justice Reform

• State Turns Attention to Juvenile Justice Reforms (AJC.com)
  A special state council in Atlanta will recommend repairs for a juvenile justice system that spends $91,000 a year for each bed in its state detention centers. Council members point to the enormous expense of incarcerating young offenders in a state “youth development campus,” or YDC, while producing poor results, as evidence that the system isn’t working.
• Juvenile Judge: My Court Was Inundated With Non-Dangerous Kids Arrested Because They ‘Make Adults Mad’ (ThinkProgress.org)
  The United States is not just the number one jailer in the world. It also incarcerates juveniles at a rate that eclipses every other country. Evidence has long been building that schools use the correctional system as a misplaced mechanism for discipline, with children being sent to detention facilities for offenses as minor as wearing the wrong color socks to school.
• Arrests, Juvenile Detention, and High School Dropouts in Chicago (ChicagoMag.com)
  Descriptively, our data reveal that of the Chicago public school students who steered clear of the juvenile justice system, 64 percent went on to graduate high school. In contrast, a mere 26 percent of arrested students graduated high school. Of those young adults without a criminal record who graduated high school or obtained a GED, 35 percent enrolled in a 4-year college. Yet for arrestees, 16 percent subsequently enrolled in a 4-year college.
• York Co. South Carolina Juvenile Justice Kids Collecting Food for Hungry (HeraldOnline.com)
  For the first time this year, DJJ is collecting nonperishable canned goods to distribute to four York County, South Carolina charities for the holidays. The drive, which started Nov. 1, ends Friday. Aiming to become part of a “community of givers,” DJJ teamed up with the county solicitor’s office, Coca Cola and Best Buy to find a “creative” way to bolster donations that are common this time of year, said Amahl Bennett, DJJ director.
• Governor Wants To Merge Juvenile Justice & Corrections (KCUR.org)
  Kansas Governor Sam Brownback wants to merge the state's Juvenile Justice Authority with the Department of Corrections. The governor says he’ll propose an executive reorganization order in the coming legislative session to merge the two agencies.
• New Ga. Juvenile Justice Chief Focuses on Problems (SFGate.com)
  When five young men slipped out of a juvenile detention center a month and a half ago in Augusta, stealing a car and leading police on a chase, it was just the latest in a string of setbacks for officials trying to turn around Georgia's system for young criminals.
• Strengthening Florida's Juvenile Justice System (TBO.com)
  There is a lot to like about the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice's new "Roadmap to System Excellence," the topic of town hall meetings last week in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Members of the Florida Juvenile Justice Association, who deliver services across Florida, ranging from prevention through reentry and everything in between, know that with every well-intentioned plan, the devil is often in the details.

We welcome Lucas County, Ohio, to Reclaiming Futures!
In the news clip above, Project Director LaTonya Harris, explains how new funding will transform their juvenile drug court by coordinating services so young people have access to better treatment and support beyond treatment.
Lucas County, Ohio, will receive $1.32 million in funding from the Office of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), over the next four years, to improve and enhance their juvenile drug courts by integrating the Reclaiming Futures' model into the court.

On December 10, 2012, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced new investments in a public-private partnership with the Duke Endowment and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust to reform the state's juvenile justice system. Together the foundations are contributing $888,000 to bring Reclaiming Futures to six additional communities in North Carolina.

On December 11, 2012, Reclaiming Futures announced a $5.27 million award from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to improve drug and alcohol treatment for teens in trouble with the law in the following communities: 

• Lucas County, Ohio
• Forsyth County, N.C. 
• Duval County, Fla.

The funding will also provide training and technical assistance for the existing six federally-funded Reclaiming Futures sites in addition to these three new communities.
Reclaiming Futures brings together judges, probation officers, treatment providers, families and community members to focus on three common goals for teens: more treatment, better treatment and community connections beyond treatment, in 37 sites across 18 states.

The Chicago Reporter has a great infographic looking at the juvenile justice system in Illinois. The flowchart explains how teens are charged, sentenced and punished for crimes, depending on their age.
 
Click through to see the full version.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)'s December bulletin focuses on a new study, “Transfer of Adolescents to Adult Court: Effects of a Broad Policy in One Court.” The bulletin discusses the effects and implications of transferring juveniles from youth court to adult court. The data shared provides a deeper understanding of how juveniles mature out of offending and how the justice system can promote positive changes in the lives of juvenile youth.
The bulletin presents findings from the Pathways to Desistance, which looks to answer the question “How and why do many serious adolescent offenders stop offending while others continue to commit crimes?” The authors share the findings from the Pathways study to discuss the implications for juveniles when looking at future youth transfers.
Findings show that most of the youth in the study who were sent to adult facilities returned to the community within a few years, varying widely in their levels of adjustment. Prior work indicates that transferred youth are more likely to commit criminal acts than adolescents kept in the juvenile justice system.
To read the full bulletin click here.
 

Juvenile Justice Reform

• A Handful of States Lead the Way on Juvenile Crime Prevention (TheCrimeReport.org)
  States are "surprisingly slow" in adopting proven methods to deal with violent or delinquent youth and their families, a national juvenile justice conference was told today. Failure to use the programs has been shown to result in higher crime rates and higher costs.
• Healing Words: Creative Writing Programs as Therapy for Kids in Detention (JJIE.org)
  Many programs incorporating elements of creative writing have been set up across the nation’s juvenile halls and treatment facilities, with the National Endowment for the Arts recognizing creative writing workshops like Massachusetts’ Actors’ Shakespeare Project and the Los Angeles-based InsideOUT Writers.
• St. Clair County Gives Child Court Cases Special Treatment (BND.com)
  Court cases involving children will be handled by a new team at the St. Clair County, Illinois, State's Attorney's Office. St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly created the Children's Justice Division, headed by assistant state's attorney and new mother Anna Young.
• Foundation Strives to Create Legacy for Juvenile Justice Reform (JJIE.org)
  The nonprofit MacArthur Foundation has spent more than $100 million since 2004 on developing blueprints for reform within the juvenile justice systems of 16 states. Earlier this week, its reform initiative, Models for Change, brought together nearly 400 judges, advocates, probation officers and other juvenile justice professionals for two days of workshops in Washington, D.C.

On November 13 and 15 in Mt. Laurel and Morristown, New Jersey, leaders from around the state of New Jersey and a variety of youth-serving disciplines, gathered to learn more about the national and local problems facing communities and the solutions offered by Reclaiming Futures.
Reclaiming Futures is working with New Jersey Health Initiatives (NJHI), a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to conduct a six-month readiness assessment to determine if the Reclaiming Futures model, offering more treatement, better treatment and support beyond treatment, can be implemented in New Jersey, with support and funding through NJHI.
According to national data, almost two million young people ages 12 to 17 need treatment for substance abuse or dependence, but only one in 20 will get treated. That's unfortunate, because effective adolescent substance abuse treatment can help teens stay out of trouble, make our communities safer, and save money.
Young people need to be held accountable when they break the law, but unless they receive treatment when they have a substance abuse problem, they will likely find themselves back in juvenile court again and again.
Please contact Reclaiming Futures at 503-725-8911, or email info@reclaimingfutures.org for more information about bringing Reclaiming Futures to your community.