Juvenile Justice Reform

• Scholarships for Judges Managing Challenging Family Law
  This training is co-sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National Judicial College, October 24-27, 2011, in Reno, Nevada. The scholarships would cover the $985 tuition fee and the participant would be responsible for the $245 conference fee as well as their own travel expenses.
• National Geographic Examines the Teenage Brain
  Excitement, Novelty and Risk: A strength-based look at adolescence as a highly functional, even adaptive period.
• OJJDP Bulletin Examines State Juvenile Transfer Laws
  In the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures in nearly every state expanded transfer laws that allowed or required the prosecution of juveniles in adult criminal courts. This bulletin, which is part of the Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report Series, provides the latest overview of state transfer laws and practices and examines available state-level data on juveniles adjudicated in the criminal justice system.

Make access to alcohol more difficult and young adults are likely to commit fewer violent crimes. That’s what two studies by University of California at Riverside researchers showed recently, according to an article published by CBS Los Angeles.
The first study, which examined 91 of the largest American cities in 36 states, found a link between alcohol store density and violent crime among teens and young adults aged 13-24.
In the second study, researchers found higher rates of violent crimes in neighborhoods near alcohol outlets with more than 10 percent of freezer space for single-serve containers. The researchers described the effect as “modest,” yet crime did increase in areas with a higher percentage of single serve alcohol containers.

Ronaldi Rollins’ view from his corner office on the third floor is typical of metro Atlanta. A parking lot, some two-story apartment building, all nestled in the middle of a bunch of pine trees. Welcome to Jonesboro, Ga., command central for one juvenile probation officer in charge of 20 struggling teens.
To pay a visit to Rollins, a kid has to make it past two levels of security. First, the metal detector and officer at the front door. Then comes the thick, fiberglass window and receptionist at the third floor waiting room. Just about every door, with the exception of the restrooms, requires a four-digit code to pass.
But probationers showing up unannounced may have a hard time finding Rollins behind his desk.
“A big part of my job is mentoring,” Rollins [seen in photos above and at right] says. And the best way to be a mentor is to relate to the kids on common ground. And common ground means the front yards, street corners, vacant lots and schoolyards of this suburban Atlanta community they all call home.
In Clayton County, juvenile probation beats are divided by school. That means an officer assigned to Lovejoy High School, for instance, would likely supervise kids living in the city of Lovejoy.
But Rollins works a different kind of beat. He’s tasked with overseeing the Clayton County Virtual Alternative School, and that means keeping up with kids from one end of the county to the other, from Lovejoy to Forest Park.
Forest Park. That’s where 15-year-old Marko was picked up on a probation violation after taking his mom’s car, again.

In Connecticut, you need a good reason to arrest a kid. That shouldn’t be any big surprise. But to advocates who’ve witnessed decades of increases in school-based arrests for things like dress code violations and running in the hallway, it’s huge.
 
Connecticut’s judicial branch is now rejecting delinquency summonses and status offender complaints unless “the facts, if true, would be sufficient to be a juvenile matter, and whether the interests of the public or the child require that further action be taken …” If Judicial’s Court Supportive Service Division [juvenile probation officers] rejects an arrest, the arresting officer and the youth’s parents will receive a letter informing them of services in the community that could more appropriately address the problem behavior.
 
The credit for this enlightened policy goes largely to Court Supportive Service Division Executive Director William Carbone, who has been a champion of good, evidence-based programming throughout his tenure. Carbone was shocked by the number of children who enter the juvenile justice system for things like possession of tobacco. (No kidding -- there was at least one school district in Connecticut that had kids arrested for that.)

• NYT Editorial: Fewer Teenagers Locked Up in the US
  There are 25% fewer incarcerated young people than last decade. Learn more about that federal data from the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and sustainability and strategy from Three Strategies for Changing Juvenile Justice, a previous post on www.reclaimingfutures.org.
• Restorative Justice: Hot Topic in SF District Attorney’s Race
  Candidates debate bringing together offenders, victims and community members to discuss the impact of a crime and help repair the damage through accountability and rehabilitation rather than punishment.
• Liquor Store Density Linked to Youth Homicides
  U.S. studies find a correlation between the density of alcohol outlets, availability of single-serve alcoholic beverages and violent crime rates among teens and young adults ages 13 to 24.

Our mantra at Reclaiming Futures sums up our goals for youth in the juvenile justice system: more treatment, better treatment, and beyond treatment.  
While not every young person who uses or abuses drugs and alcohol is addicted, we know that addiction is a disease that usually has its onset in adolescence, so intervening early is important. But the problem is particularly acute in the juvenile justice system, which refers nearly half of all teens who enter publicly-funded substance abuse treatment.
We also know that nearly one in five youth at the door of the juvenile justice system have diagnosable substance abuse disorders-- and that the percentage goes up, the deeper youth penetrate the system. Of youth in post-adjudication placements, 47%  have alcohol and drug disorders.  Furthermore, the groundbreaking Pathways to Desistance research on serious juvenile offenders found that substance use was strongly related to their continued criminal activity.
The good news is that substance abuse programs that involve an individual’s family in the intervention are one of the few things that reduced recidivism. That's why, in the communities we work with, we promote the expansion of treatment – more treatment – and the implementation of evidence-based screening and assessment tools, such as the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) – better treatment.  Many times, trauma or other unmet needs can be a contributing factor in a youth's negative behavior choices and need to be addressed.  

What does national health care reform mean for teens in the juvenile justice system who have substance abuse disorders?
On September 29, 2011 at 10:00am PDT / 1:00pm EDT, Doreen Cavanaugh, Ph.D., of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, presented a webinar sponsored by Reclaiming Futures, titled, "Health Reform: Opportunities for Juvenile Justice Involved Youth with Substance Use Disorders and their Families."
Dr. Cavanaugh addressed the existing and upcoming changes in the U.S. health care system by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health reform law.
She:

• identified existing funding sources supporting treatment and recovery services for youth with substance use disorders who are involved in the juvenile justice system;
• highlighted new opportunities for these youth and their families under health care reform;
• discussed ways to enhance collaborative relationships across the health and juvenile justice sectors; and
• detailed the steps to take now at state and local levels to improve access and quality of treatment and recovery services for youth in the juvenile justice system.

View the archived webinar: follow the link and scroll down for webinars under "Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment" (or search by title or the presenter's name).

• Messaging Brief: Human Needs on the National Radar Screen
  This brief from the National Human Services Assembly provides a great summary of framing messages effectively to support human services; includes worksheets.
• Video: "What's Your Elevator Speech?"
  Youth workers give their best pitches telling viewers what their organization does to help youth -- and why viewers should support it. Thanks to National clearinghouse on Families and Youth.

Recommendation also zeroes out money for reentry programs
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill this afternoon that would fund the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs (OJJDP) at $251 million, approximately $24 million below the diminished budget that the agency faced this fiscal year after a last-minute spending deal.  
The committee broke up the $251 million in spending this way:  
-$60 million for the missing and exploited children programs.
-$55 million for mentoring grants.
-$45 million for state formula grants, given to states on the condition that they adhere to basic standards in regard to the detainment of juveniles, and address racial disparities in the system.
-$30 million for Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG), which go to state juvenile justice planning agencies based on the size of a state’s youth population.

At a  training of Massachusetts MBTA Training Academy recruits in July, a police officer said to the group, “What I am telling you today we did not get when we were in the academy. Now you’ve got a leg up in dealing with kids by knowing this stuff.” The officer had been trained in a train-the-trainer capacity building effort by Strategies for Youth. “Knowing this stuff about kids makes working with them easier and less stressful and believe me, they can be stressful,” he told the recruits.
The newly released findings of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) survey on juvenile justice and youth training needs suggest this officer is both right and unusual. Training in best practices for working with youth is helpful, but remains the exception to the rule across the country.
The IACP’s survey, the “2011 Juvenile Justice Training Needs Assessment,” found that police chiefs want training but lack funding and agency resources to provide it to their officers.  They wanted their officers to have the skills to work with the increasing and challenging demands posed by youth. The top 5 areas in which chiefs want their officers trained are:

1. substance abuse;
2. physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse;
3. dealing with chronic juvenile offenders;
4. bullying/cyber-bullying; and
5. gangs. Other topics included internet offending, runaways, and school safety. 

The survey is notable for the unusually large size of the sample: over 672 law enforcement officers in 404 law enforcement agencies in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The agencies represented the gamut of departments, from small and rural, to suburban, to large and urban; 77% were police departments.  
Demands on  Law Enforcement:
While officers have always dealt with children and youth, arguably today they are asked to deal with them more than ever. Cuts in youth serving programs, the increased placement of officers in schools, and the common reaction of calling the police for any youth-related issue, combine to make police the first responders to incidents involving youth.