Juvenile Justice Reform

• Youth in Recovery Paint the Town - with a Mural Celebrating Healthy Living - Youth in recovery are eager to contribute to the community, and share their experiences and their creativity. So Reclaiming Futures Forsyth County, in North Carolina, worked with a local artist to help them paint a huge mural about recovery and healthy living on the side of a building (see before-and-during photos at right) that was formerly an eyesore. >>Full story here.
• Juvenile Court Supervisor, Coach -- and Institution - You might not know Lawrence Bass, but you should. He's been a steadying force in the lives of teens on the basketball court and in juvenile court in Guilford County, NC (a Reclaiming Futures site) for 40 years now. The News & Record in Greensboro, NC -- where he works as a juvenile court supervisor -- recently profiled him; check it out!
• Private Juvenile/Adult Prison in Mississippi Source of Profits -- and Abuse - The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU National Prison Project have filed a class-action lawsuit over Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi. "If there's mistreatment going on at Walnut Grove and the Justice Department finds that it is, they ought to sue the hell out of somebody," says state representative John Mayo. "I can't understand why we have to be sued to do what's right."
• Where Did the Jobs for Teens Go? - Youth Today has the story on a new study from the Center for Labor Market Studies showing that the number of employed teens aged 16-19 with jobs has dropped significantly. Also: teens who work in high school are more likely to graduate; low-income teens without jobs are more likely to engage in crime.
• Why Juvenile Justice Reform Makes Sense to Conservatives - Juvenile justice reform -- traditionally a liberal cause -- aligns very well with conservative political principles, Marc Levin, of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, explains in this PowerPoint. This is a great resource to draw upon when you're advocating for juvenile justice reform in your own community -- reform can be a uniter, not a divider. (Hat tip to John Kelly at Youth Today.) 

Recently, we posted about the Obama administration's plan to overhaul juvenile justice funding given to states. While the funding plan would have eliminated juvenile justice earmarks (if I remember correctly), it also would have made almost all of the remaining monies available only on a competitive basis.
Further, states would only be eligible to apply for the funds if they were in compliance with the core provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) -- things like keeping status offenders out of the justice system, keeping teens in lock up out of sight and sound of adult offenders, and making serious efforts to address disproportionate minority contact.  (This was a big change, as states have historically received federal funding to help them comply with the JJDPA. Critics have worried that the amount of funding has gotten small enough that states might soon opt out of the JJDPA in large numbers.) 
The funding proposal came under heavy fire from the Justice Policy Institute, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, and the Campaign for Youth Justice - all of whom feared the proposal weakened juvenlie justice reform efforts. Another concern was that the administration's adoption of a "Race to the Top" funding competition model was being applied to the bulk of juvenile justice funds, whereas it was used for approxiomately 1% of federal education dollars. 
This morning, I woke up to news from @heatherkellyphd and from the National Council on Crime & Deliquency that the Obama administration had heard the criticisms, and reversed course.  Here's the official word, via JUVJUST:  

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has announced the following funding opportunities:
1. Community-Based Violence Prevention Demonstration Program - deadline May 23, 2011
2. Mentoring for Youth with Disabilities Initiative -- deadline May 16, 2011
3. State Juvenile Justice Formula and Block Grants Training and Technical Assistance Program -- deadline May 16, 2011
Resources:
To obtain further information about the above and other current OJJDP solicitations, including eligibility criteria and application deadlines, visit http://www.ojjdp.gov/funding/FundingList.asp.
 

When I was at the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) in Washington D.C. in December, I caught up with John Roman, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at The Urban Institute, just before he gave a fantastic presentation on emerging research on juvenile drug courts.  Click on the video above to hear what John has to say. Since the video sound is not ideal, I've also provided a transcript, below:

Does the juvenile justice system really work? 
Reading comments from readers on news stories about youth in trouble, you'd think the juvenile justice system was designed to mollycoddle dangerous kids, turning them into super-predators.
Nothing could be further from the truth. 
Among other reasons, we know this because of "Pathways to Desistance," a research study led by Edward P. Mulvey, Director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. (Dr. Mulvey and Carol Schubert contributed a post to us on their findings in April 2010.)
The "Pathways to Desistance" research study is a unique study of what works in the juvenile justice system. This large, multi-site research project followed 1,354 serious juvenile offenders for seven years. An informative brief on the study findings was released in 2009 by the MacArthur Foundation; now, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has released another fact sheet, titled, "Highlights From Pathways to Desistance: A Longitudinal Study of Serious Adolescent Offenders."
Here's what the study found:

 
Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, has a unique perspective on what teens in prison need to be successful.
Locked up in federal prison at age 34 for a drug crime committed in her early 20s, Kerman spent a year living in close quarters with many women, including 18- and 19-year-old girls.
What were the three things she thought they needed to be successful?

1. Positive attention. She found the teens in particular were incredibly responsive to positive attention, creating significant opportunities for change -- opportunities that were often missed.
2. Continued connection to their families and their own children.
3. Alcohol and drug treatment and mental health services.

But you should really hear it from her own lips. Fortunately, when she was in town earlier this week, Piper graciously agreed to be interviewed (see above).
What impact did the experience have on her?  Among other things, it has turned her into an eloquent advocate for juvenile justice reform, and addressing disproportionate minority contact in the adult and juvenile justice systems. Now that's a great outcome. 

In a recent column, I compared the costs of trying teens in the juvenile justice system and trying them as adults. Some argue that trying youth in adult criminal court is cheaper than trying them in juvenile court, and I pointed to research showing that while trying kids in juvenile court may cost more money upfront, the rehabilitative approach saves money in the long run.
One of the reasons it can cost a lot to try youth in juvenile or adult court is the need to detain some teens while their cases are resolved. And there's no question that the cost of juvenile pretrial detention is enormous. This is true whether “costs” are seen in the effects on individuals and communities, or in more cynical terms of dollars and cents.
However, both of these costs go up when kids are placed in detention at adult facilities.  
Pretrial detention in an adult facility is extremely perilous to youth. Compared to their counterparts in juvenile detention, kids held in adult facilities are 36% more likely to commit suicide. And, although youth under 18 make up less than 1% of the total population in adult facilities, they comprise 21% of the victims of inmate perpetrated sexual assault. The longer youth stay in adult facilities, the greater these risks become.

Want to review grant applications submitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)? Now could be your moment.
From an OJJDP press release (hat tip to JUVJUST): 

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) invites researchers and practitioners with expertise related to juvenile justice to apply to serve as peer reviewers for its competitive grant applications. Applicants should indicate their juvenile justice-related knowledge and experience, including: gangs, mentoring, girls’ delinquency, children’s exposure to violence, substance abuse, tribal juvenile justice, Internet crimes against children, and more.
To apply, e-mail a current résumé or curriculum vitae to OJJDPConsultantPool@usdoj.gov. Write “Peer Reviewer Candidate” in the subject line. OJJDP will compensate peer reviewers for their time and effort.

Resources:
To apply, send a résumé or curriculum vitae to OJJDPConsultantPool@usdoj.gov. Write “Peer Reviewer Candidate” in the subject line.
>>Information on OJJDP funding opportunities and awards.

 
Hat tip to Robert Ackley. 

• White House May Rethink its Juvenile Justice Spending Plan
  In mid-February, Youth Today reported that President Obama's budget contained a proposal to radically change federal juvenile justice funding for the states. Now, Youth Today's John Kelly reports that it may be reconsidering, after strongly negative reactions from juvenile justice advocates.
• VIDEO: Mississippi County Sued After Video Reveals "Hogtied" Youth and Other Abuse
  The Southern Poverty Law Center has sued Forrest County, Missisissippi, over revelations of numerous instances of juvenile detention center personnel physically abusing youth in their care (many documented on surveillance video cameras) and force them to allow youth access to lawyers and civil rights advocates, in accord with federal law. Follow the link to see the video coverage. (Hat tip to sparkaction.)

The Unites States Supreme Court is set to hear a number of cases this month that look at how the Constitution applies to children.  In each of the cases kids were questioned behind closed doors at their schools with no attorneys present and without being read their Miranda rights.
In one of the cases an Oregon family is suing a case worker and deputy sheriff for “badgering” their 9-year old-daughter into accusing her father of molestation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th District ruled that the girl’s questioning violated the Fourth Amendment’s ban on “unreasonable search and seizure,” according to a story in The Washington Post.
Advocates say that the courts should treat children differently than adults.
[Editor's Update 3/23/11: Youth Today examines the "three key questions" at the heart of one of the cases before the court: (1) Is age an objective or subjective criteria? (2) Does the school setting matter? (3) Do state trends matter?]