Juvenile Justice Reform

The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition published a report this month, Community Solutions for Youth in Trouble, detailing improvements in their state’s juvenile justice system. Texas has made many changes over the past several years, most notably shifting youth rehabilitation from large state-run facilities--often far from teens’ homes--to smaller community programs. Via the report (emphasis mine):

Texas is building a more effective juvenile justice system. The old system – which sent thousands of kids to large remote state facilities each year – fostered dangerous conditions for incarcerated youth, likely increased recidivism, and wasted millions of tax dollars. As we learn from those mistakes, our new system is making a wiser investment in county programs that connect kids and their families to community resources. Research and Texas’ experience confirm that these community programs are better at getting our kids on the right path and keeping them on the right path, at a fraction of the cost of state secure facilities.

Pathways to Desistance, a study of serious youth offenders, finds that long institutional commitments do not reduce recidivism and in fact can have the opposite effect. The study follows over 1,300 youth convicted of serious felonies (inc. murder, robbery, and sex offenses) across the country over a seven-year period.

A September 2012 factsheet from the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) summarizes the latest findings of the study:

• A youth’s future likelihood to re-offend cannot be predicted based on their presenting offense.
• Placing youth in long-term confinement has no effect on their rate of re-arrest.
• Substance abuse issues can significantly increase the risk of recidivism; however, appropriate treatment reduces this risk.

These findings have significant policy implications for California’s juvenile justice system. For example, Proposition 21 (2000) requires that youth who commit certain serious crimes be directly transferred to adult criminal court. However, as the researchers note, this sort of blanket policy makes little sense, as the data demonstrate their offense does not determine their risk level, and sending youth to the adult system severely limits their access to rehabilitative services.

A new article from the New York Law School Law Review examines the problems with the juvenile justice system and offers solutions for a more productive youth justice system. “When the Cure Makes You Ill: Seven Core Principles to Change the Course of Youth Justice,” calls the extremity of youth justice to trial and shares statistics of the negative effects the system has on children.
Our current juvenile justice system is “iatrogenic,” says author Gabrielle Prisco. Being in the system worsens outcomes for troubled teens and more often than not, results in violence and recidivism -- the very same outcome it tries to remedy.
Prisco outlines seven core principles to change the course of youth justice:
Principle One: Treat Children as Children
Research shows children lack critical thinking skills and the ability to fully understand risk management. “The region of the brain that is the last to develop is the one that controls many of the abilities that govern goal-oriented, ‘rational’ decision-making, such as long-term planning, impulse control, insight, and judgment,” writes Prisco. Children who are incarcerated in an adult jail are thirty-six times more likely to commit suicide because they are not properly cared for in a youth facility, yet thirty-nine states in the United States presently allow juveniles to be tried in adult court and sentenced to life without the chance of parole (JLWOP). 

What do Native American juvenile justice systems look like? And how can they more effectively deal with juvenile problems while simultaneously conveying their own communities’ unique cultural values? These are the questions I examined in a recent law review article entitled, “The Kids Aren’t Alright: An Argument to Use the Nation Building Model in the Development of Native Juvenile Justice Systems to Combat the Effects of Failed Assimilative Policies.” The article appears in the most recent Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law and can also be found on the Project for Indigenous Self-Determination website. It covers three main topics:
First, the article examines how Native American juveniles interact with justice systems – both on- and off-reservation. This section demonstrates that when Native youths are forced to interact with state or federal justice systems, they are exposed to values and policies designed by foreign (i.e. non-Native) governments. The consequences of such interactions are that, over time, relationships between Native peoples and their children are disrupted. Fortunately, more and more Native American communities are utilizing their own systems to adjudicate their youths. That said, oftentimes juvenile justice systems on Native American reservations mirror the Anglo-American systems used by the states and federal government and, thus, do not reflect Native concepts of justice.

Reclaiming Futures has helped communities break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime for 10 years. But how exactly does Reclaiming Futures accomplish systems change? We sat down with National Executive Director Susan Richardson to learn about the model and benefits of becoming a Reclaiming Futures site.

Lori Howell (LH): What makes Reclaiming Futures successful in a variety of communities across the country?  
Susan J. Richardson (SJR): Reclaiming Futures offers powerful tools and resources to communities helping teens overcome drugs, alcohol and crime. We work to improve drug, alcohol and mental health treatment and connect teens to positive activities and caring adults.
LH: That sounds like quite a feat! How do you accomplish this? 
SJR: Reclaiming Futures unites juvenile courts, probation, adolescent substance abuse treatment, teen mental health treatment and the community to reclaim youth.

This morning, DC Lawyers for Youth (DCLY), launched a capital-wide campaign to reach out to kids, families, policymakers, practitioners and systems administrators to relay the errors in spending and judgement when it comes to juvenile justice.
DCLY asks whether it makes sense to spend tens of thousands on matriculating through the justice system, or successfully matriculating through school. They asks if spending should occur to lock kids up, or if investing should occur to employ youths and families. Community investment, responsible spending and responding to youth early on is the answer to making Washington, DC -- and cities nationwide - stronger and safer. 
Check out the full infographic after the jump.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Youth Crime's Decline (NewsObserver.com)
  The new approach to juvenile crime hasn’t just worked. It has worked spectacularly. A report last Sunday by The News & Observer’s Thomasi McDonald said that the number of young people under 16 charged with violent crimes has dropped by nearly 37 percent. The arrests in that same age group for property crimes are down 40 percent.
• Georgia Considers Juvenile Justice Reforms (The Augusta Chronicle)
  After overhauling its adult criminal justice system to provide alternative sentences for nonviolent offenders and reduce skyrocketing prison costs, the state of Georgia is turning its attention to the juvenile justice system.
• DJJ Launches Roadmap to System Excellence (Florida Department of Juvenile Justice)
  The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) invited the people of Florida today to participate in a conversation about the Roadmap to System Excellence. The Roadmap builds on reforms already underway at DJJ and guides Florida on the path to becoming the national model for juvenile justice administration.
• Should 24-Year-Old Offenders be Considered Juveniles? (JJIE.org)
  When the National Partnership for Juvenile Services annual symposium opened in Las Vegas, Jason Bowser, a youth service director from Columbus, Ind., told an executive committee that one of the standing committees was focusing on the question of “What is a juvenile?”
• Counties Push to Bypass State Youth Lockups (Statesman.com)
  Counties in Texas might soon be allowed to incarcerate all their teenage lawbreakers locally rather than send them to state-run lockups that have been plagued by violence, high recidivism rates and gang activity in recent years, officials confirmed Wednesday.
• Juvenile Justice and the Campaign (TheCrimeReport.org)
  California's second largest county is coping with widespread gang violence and prescription drug abuse among youth. But as election day nears, juvenile justice remains a whisper in a monsoon of economic rhetoric.
• [Opinion] Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails (The New York Times)
  The practice of confining young people to adult jails and prisons is both counterproductive and inhumane. Adolescents who are locked up with adults are more likely to be raped, battered or driven to suicide than young people who are handled through the juvenile justice system. After the trauma of doing hard, adult time, young people often return home as damaged individuals who are more likely to commit violent crimes and end up back inside.
• Florida To Completely Privatize Juvenile Correctional Facilities (HuffingtonPost.com)
  In an effort to reduce costs, Florida's state-run residential programs for juveniles will soon be completely privatized. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice announced Monday that the state will relinquish control of the five remaining public youth residential centers by October 2013.
• Dog Trainer Teaches Empathy at Tehama Juvenile Hall (Redding.com)
  When dog trainer Gary Watts faces a group of kids detained in juvenile hall, he's focused on his mission. With a Labrador retriever named Abby in tow, he puts her through her paces and methodically demonstrates the fine points of canine obedience.

The National Juvenile Justice Network recently published new research exploring the significant differences in teens’ brains compared to adults’. The latest research, “Using Adolescent Brain Research to Inform Policy: A Guide for Juvenile Justice Advocates,” looks at specific areas of the brain and how they function when involved in particular activities and thinking. This has allowed researchers to learn a great deal about how teens and adults differ when using their brains.
Major findings from the report include:

• Brain development takes place in stages and is not fully complete in adolescence. The frontal lobe, tasked with decision making, planning, judgement, expression of emotions and impulse control may not be fully mature until the mid-20s.
• The limbic system, which helps to process and manage emotion, is also developing during adolescence. This causes adolescents to experience more mood swings and impulsive behavior than adults.
• Levels of dopamine production shift during adolescence. As a result, activities that once were exciting to youth may not be so as they enter adolescence, and thus they may seek excitement through increasingly risky behavior.
• When adolescents make choices involving risk, they do not engage the higher-thinking, decision-and reward areas of the brain as much as adults do. This can lead adolescents to actually overstate rewards without fully evaluating the long-term consequences or risks involved in a situation.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Memphis Seeking Alternatives to Locking up Wayward Youths (The Commercial Appeal)
  National experts arrived in Memphis to help guide juvenile justice officials, law enforcement and community leaders Tuesday on reforming a system that has been cited for disparate treatment of black youths.
• Departing Georgia Juvenile Boss: Crisis Passed (JJIE.org)
  After serving for nearly one year, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Gale Buckner announces her departure, with a parting message for the agency, “the crisis stage is passed and we’re on to better opportunities.”
• Mayor Highlights "Close To Home" Juvenile Justice Program (NY1.com)
  Juvenile offenders are now living within New York's five boroughs and attending schools here after years of serving time upstate. The Close to Home initiative transfers the majority of young offenders to the city's control from the state. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in Brooklyn Thursday to highlight the program. NY1's Zack Fink filed the following report.
• Morgan State Forum Illuminates Justice System's Racial Disparity (The Baltimore Sun)
  Nearly every juvenile housed in Baltimore's adult prison in August — 41 of 42 — was black, an issue that brought more than 300 stakeholders together Wednesday at Morgan State University to discuss racial disparity in the criminal justice system.
• New York to Try Again to ‘Raise the Age’ (JJIE.org)
  New York state 16- and 17-year-olds go to adult court, a practice nearly unique to the state. But that may change, as the New York legislature is expected to take another look at proposals to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
• Number Of Juveniles Behind Fences At South Carolina Department Of Juvenile Justice Drops Dramatically (WJBF.com)
  The number of juveniles behind the razor wire at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) has dropped to 95, down from 175 two years ago. DJJ Director Margaret Barber says there are a number of reasons why, including the fact that juvenile crime overall is down nationwide and in South Carolina.
• Reforms Credited for Driving Juvenile Crime Down in North Carolina (NewsObserver.com)
  In the last couple of decades, combating teen crime and gangs in North Carolina attracted the attention of legislators, policymakers and a governor. Now there’s evidence that their solutions are working. While overall violent crimes have declined by nearly 14 percent in the state since 2002, the number of teens under 16 charged with violent crimes has dropped by nearly 37 percent.
• Georgia Judge: Schools--Not Courts--Should Handle Truancy (RightOnCrime.com)
  Truancy cases are increasingly referred to courts across the country rather than handled between schools and the parents. This process is expensive, ties up court resources from more pressing public safety priorities, and is ineffective in addressing chronic absenteeism.

It's hard to sum up a year's worth of work in four minutes, but that's exactly what a group of young people from the juvenile justice system did this summer when they participated in a film-making workshop with the Media Awareness Project. The project was created in partnership with Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS), an organization working to create a Texas where all youth have access to the resources, support and opportunities they need to thrive. TNOYS brings together people and organizations to promote youth advocacy, strengthen professional development and create youth engagement.

Youth Voices in Juvenile Justice from Media Awareness Project on Vimeo.
This project was a great fit for us at MAP, because we share the belief that teaching youth to advocate for themselves and for the issues that affect them is a strong foundation for helping them examine and process the intricate stories of their lives.