Juvenile Justice Reform

 
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Research News and Resources

• An advisory group has recommended that the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institutes on Alcoholism and Aclohol Abuse (NIAAA) be merged, along with all other addiction research efforts conducted by the National Institutes of Health. The group said that a new Institute of Addictions would integrate addiction research more effectively. The idea still has a number of hoops to jump through before it becomes a reality, but I was pleased to see that the working group's report recommended (see page 8) that adolescent substance abuse treatment should be prioritized. (Full disclosure: I wrote the post for Join Together that I've linked to here.)

Reclaiming Futures is featured in, "Models to Guide System Reform for At-Risk Youth," which appeared online July 4 in Child and Youth Care Forum. (Sorry -- I can only link to the abstract.)
The authors, Susan A. McCarter, Mason G. Haber, and Donna Kazemi, ransacked the research literature for reform models that could help policy makers. They noted that although youth in the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems have complex issues -- and coordinating multiple services to provide appropriate care for them is difficult -- there's actually very little guidance on how to do it well. They found five promising models, however, and I'm pleased to say that Reclaiming Futures (ahem) was one of them.

 
Juvenile Justice Reform in a Time of Tight Budgets

The financial collapse of 2008 and 2009 means that almost all states are facing alarming budget shortfalls. And one might think that juvenile justice reform efforts have to move to the back burner.
Yet far from being a time to hold back, now's the time to search for new opportunities to advocate for cost-effective juvenile justice reform. Fortunately, the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) is here to help. It's sponsoring a webinar, Finding Opportunities for Reform During Difficult Fiscal Times on September 23, 2010, 10:30 am PDT / 11:30 am MDT / 12:30 pm CDT / 1:30 pm EDT. The webinar will provide examples from states that have succeeded in achieving progressive, fiscally-minded reforms, with specific insights from NJJN members and partners in Wisconsin, Ohio and Washington state. Register now.

Events - Juvenile Justice and Adolescent Substance Abuse

• September is National Youth Court Month, and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) has posted resources about them to celebrate. Also called "teen courts" and "peer courts," youth courts are an alternative disposition for youth who've committed low-level, first-time offenses in which teens hold each other accountable. (Hat tip to OJJDP.) UPDATED: Global Youth Justice is hosting a conference titled, "Establish or Enhance a local Teen Court/Youth Court Diversion Program," December 7-9, 2010, in Las Vegas. (H/t to John Kelly at Youth Today.)
• Don't miss out on the National Take Back Initiative, sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Held on September 25, 2010, 10am-2pm (local time, I believe), law enforcement agencies are collaborating with the DEA to collect unused prescription drugs.  Find a collection site near you. (H/t to @SPHEREproject.)

Is Your Juvenile Justice System Budget in Freefall?

Do you manage a local or state juvenile justice agency? How can you manage a dwindling budget and still pursue effective public safety? 
Check out this webinar from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), "Corrections Budgets in Free Fall – Time for Action." (Hat tip to Lore Joplin.)
According to the web site, the webinar will be held September 22, 2010, at 8 am PST / 9am MST / 10 am CST / 11 am EST. However, the listing in the NIC Training Catalog says it'll be held at 9am GMT -0700, which is an hour later. I've emailed for clarification and will update when I hear back.

James Bell on Juvenile Justice Reform

• In the brief video below, James Bell, director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute, sounds off on youth incarceration:

I am still, at 51, propelled by outrage. I am just p***d off that the greatest country in the world -- that the only way they can figure out to socially control teenagers is to put them in cages... But we don't do that to White people. That is the bottom line.
It's worth watching all 10 minutes of this video, because Bell is passionate, entertaining, and motivating. My only caveat (which I'm sure Mr. Bell would agree with) has to do with his urgent call to people of color to put pressure on vested interests and the White community to reform the justice system. It can't just be on people of color to change the system -- allies from all communities are needed so that the effort is not pigeonholed by skeptics. (Hat tip to the W. Haywood Burns Institute on Facebook.) 

Could juvenile justice agencies and Medicaid agencies work together to make sure teens in the juvenile justice system get evidence-based care when it comes to treatment for substance abuse, mental health issues, and medical care?
Could they improve the continuity of health care for youth leaving the justice system for the community? 

Hello, I’m person behind the Reclaiming Futures Twitter account. As you know, Twitter is a free service where people post very short updates and links.
If you’re like many professionals in the fields of juvenile justice and adolescent substance abuse, you might think that Twitter has nothing to offer you. And while that might once have been true, nothing could be further from the truth now.
 
What are some of the ways you can use Twitter and to support your work?

• Exchange ideas about juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment. 
• Many people post links, so use it like a search engine. 
• Show support for others by following them. 
• Demonstrate the good work of your organization.

A few weeks ago, I announced here that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) had completed its first-ever "Census of Juveniles on Probation" (CJP). Since the report's not done, however, I didn't have any data to share.
The report still isn't done, but it turns out that some preliminary data from the juvenile probation census is available online from George Mason University, where the work is being done.
Curious about the survey? You download the 2009 survey sent to juvenile probation offices in PDF format here.  Next, you can review answers to some "frequently-asked questions," such as number of youth on probation by state, or the ratio of youth on formal probation to those on informal probation. 
In addition, you can also view graphs for 18 pre-set reports based on the juvenile probation data, like the one pictured here for drug offenses. You can see nationwide snapshots of juvenile probationers broken down by age, race/ethnicity, gender and offense category, and many more. Just bear in mind that the data isn't final and may change.  (Hat tip to Lore Joplin.)

Adolescent Substance Abuse and Related Treatment News

• Is marijuana a "gateway" to other drug use? Not so much, according to new research, and "over-criminalizing" its use can contribute to young adults' use of other illicit drugs. According to the study, race and ethnicity are the best predictors of whether someone will use illicit drugs besides marijuana: non-Hispanic whites are more likely to use them than are (in order) Hispanics or African Americans. Furthermore, although marijuana use in one's teen years might lead to use of other drugs, youth apparently "age out" of that when they reach 21. Unemployment is a factor too, which suggests that, as one researcher concluded, "over-criminalizing youth marijuana use might create more serious problems if it interferes with later employment opportunities." (Hat tip to Robert Ackley.) Related reading: Jeff Butts on "The Enduring Gateway Myth."
• Teen use of alcohol and drugs can be significantly reduced with brief, school-based interventions by mental health therapists or even by teachers given minimal training, according to a new study from the U.K. Researchers evaluated their use of alcohol and drugs at six months post-intervention, so it's not clear if the effects would need to be repeated on a regular basis.