Juvenile Justice Reform

As of the mid-2000s, the research on the effectiveness of juvenile drug courts was unclear. Now, that's starting to change. In coming weeks, I'll post about new research from John Roman at the Urban Institute about what works and how juvenile drug courts should adjust their practices to be more effective.
 
Juvenile Drug Courts - How Do They Compare to Outpatient Treatment?

Today, I want to share with you a new quasi-experimental study I saw mentioned at JMATE 2010 that compares 1,120 youth in juvenile drug courts in multiple jurisdictions with 1,120 youth not in juvenile drug court, but who particiated in adolescent outpatient treatment. The goal was to see how the two groups differed in terms of services and in their treatment outcomes.
Bottom line? Juvenile drug courts appeared to do a better job (compared to treatment alone) of helping youth reduce symptoms of their emotional problems and cut their substance use, as measured six months post-intake. (This doesn't mean, of course, that every teen who needs drug or alcohol treatment should be in juvenile drug court--!) In general, youth in juvenile drug courts received -- unsurprisingly -- more family services, more wrap-around support, more urine tests, and more supervision.

In 2010, we posted tons of useful links for professionals, policymakers, and advocates connected with the juvenile justice system and adolescent substance abuse treatment.
Rather than warehouse them all on the blog, we're wheeling some of them out on display again. Maybe you overlooked some of them last year, or never got a chance to download that nifty tool kit -- now's your chance. Here's 20 of them, listed below in random order:

1. The Partnership at Drugfree.org's Treatment E-Book for parents. (Follow link, go to first bullet.)
2. How to Get Teens to Engage in Treatment - a proven toolkit from NIATx that increases retention by on orienting teens to treatment. (Follow link, scroll to third bullet down.)
3. What works in juvenile justice? Check out this international literature review, compiled for an Australian Member of Parliament. (Follow link and scroll to third bullet.)

We're sponsoring a free one-hour webinar, “Investing in Reclaiming Futures,” on January 20, 2011 at 10:30 am PST / 1:30 pm EST. It's designed specifically for public agencies, policymakers, and foundations wanting to learn more about the Reclaiming Futures model and how the model has been adopted as a cost-effective juvenile justice reform initiative. 
The webinar will:

1. review the need for system improvement for young people involved with juvenile justice and substance abuse;
2. describe the Reclaiming Futures model;
3. describe a statewide framework for Reclaiming Futures, and
4. discuss the role of public policy makers and foundations in adopting Reclaiming Futures as a framework at the state level. 

What were our top three stories for 2010? You can pick from stories on juvenile justice reform ... juvenile drug courts ... adolescent substance abuse treatment ... positive youth development ... family engagement ... or the juvenile justice system in general? 
What was most useful to you? What was the most intriguing?  What did you pass on to your colleagues? 
You can pick from any story we published here on the blog in 2010.  But just to make it easy, I've listed 20 stories below that I'd expect to  be on everyone's top-stories list.  If you don't find your favorite below -- and I had to leave out a heck of a lot of good stuff -- feel free to vote for it anyway. 
(By the way, they stories below are not listed in any particular order.)

• Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders - a new bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) discussing findings from the landmark Pathways to Desistance research. One of the few things that works to reduce recidivism in this population? Family-focused substance abuse treatment.
• What the heck is "parity," anyway? - the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) gives a quick overview of one of the key recent legislative shifts affecting adolescent substance abuse treatment. (Hat tip to SAMHSA.)

Anyone concerned about sharing information about juveniles in the justice system -- and if you're a probation officer, evaluator, policy maker, or program developer, you should be -- will want to get hold of this new tool kit from the Models for Change initiative.
Authored by the Child Welfare League of America and the Juvenile Law Center and underwritten by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the tool kit articulates the "principles that govern information and data sharing including legal, constitutional and ethical concerns; and the use of aggregate data to best inform practice."
But what kind of information-sharing are we talking about? All kinds: you'll find the kit is covers information-sharing for three different purposes:

[The following is reprinted with permission from the November 2010 newsletter from the Campaign for Youth Justice, where it appeared under a different title. --Ed.]
At the Campaign for Youth Justice, we are asked regularly why we take a campaign approach to ending the practice of prosecuting youth in adult courts and thought we'd start a series of conversations in our newsletter to discuss all the various aspects of a "campaign." 

How do you get started on a campaign?  Here are five steps to "get started":
 

1. Find others:  Identify and talk to other people who may be interested in the issue of youth in adult criminal court. Start with your family, your block, your neighborhood, your place of worship or community center. Not sure how to make that first contact? Check out this organizing guide.

• Should Teen Girls Be Arrested for Prostitution? The median age for girls entering prostitution in the United States is 12 to 14; they often come from histories of abuse and are frequently coerced into prostituting themselves. Several states have moved to decriminalize the offense.  What do you think?  Leave a comment. (Hat tip to the Campaign for Youth Justice.)
• New York Times: Close More Juvenile Prisons. After reforms have left 10 of New York state's 25 juvenile prisons half-empty, the Times called for Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo to shut more down for being wasteful and ineffective.

Three more communities will be implementing the Reclaiming Futures model, thanks to $4.1  million in funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). That brings the number of Reclaiming Futures communities to 29 in 17 states.
Each of the grantees will be implementing the model over four years in a juvenile drug court, with the aim of reducing substance abuse among youth in the juvenile justice system:

• Hardin County, OH - Hardin Partnership to Aid Community Teens (Hardin PACT). 
• Snohomish County, WA - Re-Enter, Re-Engage, Re-Claim (R3).
• Travis County, TX - Travis County Juvenile Probation Department.

Congratulations! We look forward to working with them.
>>Read the complete news release, with statements from SAMHSA, OJJDP, RWJF.
 

Are you a parent of a teen in the juvenile justice system (or even the adult justice system)? Or do you work with parents who would be interested in connecting with other parents around the country on reforming the juvenile justice system? 
Then check out the National Parent Caucus. Run by the Campaign for Youth Justice, the caucus meets by phone on the first Thursday of every month 1 pm PST / 4 pm CST / 5 pm EST.  For call-in information, follow the link to get on the email list.