Juvenile Justice Reform

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Program helps juvenile offenders stay out of jail  Belleville News-Democrat A federal government official, state officials, judges and local leaders met in East St. Louis Wednesday to discuss and learn about Redeploy Illinois, a state program that works to keep juvenile offenders out of detention centers.
• Opinion: Juvenile justice reform Orlando Sentinel In Florida, Orange and Osceola counties smartly realized one bad decision shouldn't ruin a kid's life.
• Fixing juvenile court, we can't let this stand Tri-State Defender A unified response to the findings of the U.S. Justice Department’s recently released investigation of Shelby County Juvenile Court is driving the push for a town hall meeting being spearheaded by Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks.
• Reports underscore safety, security issues at Giddings youth lockup Chicago Tribune Confidential reports reveals that long before a state ombudsman made public an alarming report about safety and security issues at the Giddings State School, attacks on workers and reports of violence and out-of-control youth had been on an upswing.

We know how to break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime, writes National Executive Director Susan Richardson at Join Together. And now is an important time to do so.
She explains:

Almost two million American youth need treatment for alcohol and other drug use or abuse. But only 1 in 20 will receive treatment.
Research shows that teens with substance abuse problems are more likely to break the law, behave violently or drop out of school. In fact, 4 out of 5 young people in the juvenile justice system commit crimes while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Young people need to be held accountable when they break the law. Unless they receive treatment for a substance abuse problem that helped them get in trouble in the first place, they will often find themselves back in juvenile court again and again.

Read the full piece here.

Bart Lubow, who has been working for more than 20 years to reduce the number of youth being sent to detention centers, told a gathering of approximately 700 conference attendees last week that now “may prove to be a unique moment in juvenile justice history, a time when, as a nation, we shed some of the system’s worst baggage—including our unnecessary and often inappropriate reliance on secure confinement” of youth.
The conference attendees were in Houston for the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative conference, which as its name implies is working to reduce the number of youth sent into detention and instead aims to provide community-centered alternatives. The conference is hosted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Apparently the 19-year quest is working. Lubow, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Casey Foundation, told the gathering that “JDAI sites have reduced reliance on secure detention overall by 42 percent, with numerous jurisdictions posting reductions in excess of 50 percent.” All of this happening without compromising public safety, he said.
The quest in the end means, in Lubow’s words, “We need to detain the right kids, but only the right kids.”

Juvenile Justice Reform
Ex-Police Chief: Reform Juvenile Justice
Omaha World-Herald
Former Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren on Wednesday called for comprehensive reform of the state juvenile justice system, in response to a new study showing widespread racial disparities in how cases are handled.

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
Teen Use of Ecstasy and Speed Linked with Developing Depression
Join Together
A new study links teenagers’ use of Ecstasy and speed (methamphetamine and/or amphetamine) with a higher risk of developing depression.
Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board.
The job listings and webinars below are from the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board. Please share these postings and events with your colleagues working in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!
Jobs
Lecturer in Criminal Justice at Colorado Mesa University
Grand Junction
CO
Closes 5/4/2012
Program Officer at Open Society Institute
Baltimore
Maryland
Closes 5/4/2012
Juvenile Justice Consultant Title IV-E at Unificare, Ltd.
Dallas
TX
Closes 5/13/2012
Executive Director at Oklahoma Board of Juvenile Affairs
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Closes 5/25/2012
Community Justice Educational Program Coordinator at AmeriCorps
Providence
Rhode Island
Closes 6/24/2012
Juvenile Probation Officer III at Travis County
Austin
TX
Closes 8/15/2012

Our friends at the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE) spent this week at the Kids Behind Bars: Where's the Justice in America's Juvenile Justice System? conference in New York, discussing the juvenile justice system and the role of the media in reporting facts (good) and sensationalizing stories (bad). 
Their takeaways are relevant for journalists and bloggers but also for readers of this blog, many of whom work with(in) the juvenile system. During day 1 of the John Jay Symposium, speakers discussed:

• the now discounted superpredator theory from the 1990s and the role of the press in perpetuating it
• research findings showing that the human brain does not reach full maturity until the mid-20s
• the importance of mentoring
• disproportionate minority contact
• school discipline policies
• juvenile justice reform efforts

This week, several schools and districts are grappling with the issue of when—if ever—it is appropriate for police officers to get involved with school discipline issues.
The Albuquerque school district, for example, is currently the defendant in a class action lawsuit over referring students to law enforcement for allegedly minor offenses. When a student was talking to her friend and refused to return to her seat, her teacher called the police.
In contrast, a Georgia six-year-old throwing a violent tantrum—which included destruction of property and assault, according to published reports—was arrested and taken away in a police cruiser. She was also put in handcuffs while in the cruiser, according to standard department policy, but to the outrage of many.

In case you missed it: The Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention are looking for communities interested in implementing the Reclaiming Futures model. And they have $1.325 million (over 4 years) in funding to give away. 
From the request for proposals:

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is pleased to announce that it is seeking applications for funding under the FY 2012 Juvenile Drug Courts/Reclaiming Futures program. This program furthers the Department’s mission by building the capacity of states, state and local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to develop and establish juvenile drug courts for substance abusing juvenile offenders.

The deadline is May 16, 2012, so apply today! We look forward to working with you!

According to recent figures from the Department of Justice, national youth violence rates are currently half what they were in the 90s. In Florida in particular, rates of violent youth crime dropped 57% between 1995 and 2010. And Florida transfers more young offenders to adult criminal court than any other state in the nation.
However, it's important to note that Florida's falling rates of violent juvenile crime are NOT caused by transferring kids to the adult criminal system. 
Dr. Jeffrey Butts has a must-read op-ed in today's Orlando Sentinel, detailing why transferring troubled kids to adult court does not actually reduce violent crime rates. He writes:

If Florida prosecutors were correct [in their belief that trying youth in adult courts has decreased violent crime rates], these variations in the falling rate of juvenile violence would follow a pattern. Namely, we would see the largest crime declines in the states that transferred the most juveniles to criminal court.
Florida's use of transfer (approximately 165 transfers per 100,000 youth population) is nearly double that of its closest competitors, Oregon and Arizona (96 and 84 per 100,000, respectively). Yet, both of those states beat Florida in the crime drop.
In fact, the state with the lowest use of transfer was Ohio at 20 per 100,000, but Ohio's crime decline of 74 percent was the steepest of all six states.
If Florida transfers far more juveniles to criminal court than any other state and yet the state's crime decline is about average, then it is simply wrong to credit criminal-court transfer for recent reductions in youth violence.

Juvenile Justice Reform

Opinion: Trust judges with juvenile placements
Denver Post
Right on Crime's research indicates that judges are the best public officials to make the determination of which system should handle a juvenile offender, as opposed to the current system where a prosecutor can directly transfer a juvenile to the adult system under the direct-file system.
Youth volunteers needed to continue Prince George’s County’s teen court program
Gazette.net
The Prince George’s County state attorney’s office’s Teen Court program is looking for additional teen volunteers to maintain the program. Teen Court is a diversion program for first-time juvenile offenders and provides them with a second chance to avoid the juvenile justice system. Juvenile offenders have the opportunity to admit their guilt and perform various tasks as punishment for their crimes.
Problems spiked in 2011 at troubled juvenile detention facilities
Baltimore Sun
Youth violence and staff uses of force spiked in 2011 at Maryland's most troubled juvenile detention centers, according to an annual report by the state's Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, part of the attorney general's office. The number of incident reports filed rose 25 percent from 2010 to 2011 across the state's juvenile justice system to nearly 8,000, while some of the more violent categories of incidents increased even more.
Across the nation, state legislatures focus on children in 2012
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
State legislatures across the United States have been busy this year with youth and juvenile justice-related legislation.
Youth court aims to get misbehaving teens back on the right track
KSL
In Sandy, Utah, Youth Court is praised as one of the most successful juvenile programs in the state.
Guest Column: Sentencing children to die in prison is cruel and unusual punishment
Jurist
This past month, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, two cases challenging the constitutionality of sentences of life without parole for children convicted of homicide. Many questions centered on the appropriate age limit for a constitutional prohibition on these sentences. The Court has to look no further than its recent precedent to find the answer: 18
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
Teens in Treatment for Substance Abuse can Benefit from 12-Step Programs
Join Together
Teenagers in treatment for substance abuse can benefit from 12-step programs, a new study suggests.
Synthetic Marijuana On the Rise: Looks Like Pot, but ‘Far Worse’
Christian Science Monitor
Antidrug activists are concerned by the rising use of man-made drugs known as synthetic marijuana, which purport to be a legal way to a herbal high but are actually dangerous chemical concoctions that are banned in many states.
New Florida State Law to Help get Synthetic Marijuana Off Store Shelves in Indian River County
TC Palm
Last year, Florida banned five of the chemicals used in Spice. This year, the state’s passed new legislation to eliminate the loopholes and provide a more effective ban on synthetic marijuana.
Six Tips to Protect Your Child from Online Drug Threats
Join Together
The Treatment Research Institute has developed a training program for parents that provides practical recommendations to help them defend their children from these online drug threats.
Sharp increase in prescription drug poisonings among teens reported
Join Together
Poisoning deaths among teenagers rose 91 percent between 2000 and 2009, primarily due to prescription drug abuse, according to anew report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDC.
Economies of Scale in the Cocaine Industry
NYT’s Freakonomics Blog
As drug traffickers have become more organized (in processing, transport, and retail networks), the price of cocaine has plunged.
A Night Out with a Small Town Heroin Dealer
The Crime Report
Prescription pills are increasingly becoming a gateway drug that leads to heroin use. And small and suburban towns are not immune to the spread of this dangerous drug.
Drug Court can Claim Enviable Success Rate
Ledger-Enquirer
A Georgia county Juvenile Drug Court has reduced the recidivism rate to 15% while saving taxpayer dollars and getting teens into treatment programs.

On May 9, 2012, the OJJDP and SAMHSA will observe National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day to promote recovery and resilience for young people in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. The two agencies will support efforts to help the public recognize signs of chlid trauma, promote treatment for children's traumatic experiences and promote trauma-informed social services and supports. 
Why is this important?
As we learned at this year's JMATE conference, childhood mental health problems increase the risk of substance use and addiction (because many teens are self-medicating) and substance use increases the risk of developing mental health problems. Trauma (especially when experienced at a young age) severely affects a child's ability to cope and affects brain size (NOT intelligence). And 92% of incarcerated kids have experienced one or more traumas during their childhood.
To learn more about National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day and to plan an activity, visit www.samhsa.gov/children.