Juvenile Justice Reform

Wow. Earlier this week, I blogged about a great opportunity to help youth, family members, and leaders of color become more effective juvenile justice advocates.
Now, here's another chance to do the same thing, organized by our friends at the Campaign for Youth Justice. They'll be holding a Leadership Institute for Families in Baltimore, Maryland in May 25-27, 2010. The application is attached.
Here's what they say about it (with a few edits from me):

Here's some potentially huge news for adolescent substance abuse treatment providers and juvenile courts across the country. It could mean that sharing information between treatment providers and juvenile courts gets easier -- but it could also seriously jeopardize young people's privacy and the likelihood that they'll get treatment.

Want to address mental health issues in your juvenile court?
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications that demonstrate a collaborative
project between criminal justice and mental health partners from eligible applicants to plan,
implement, or expand a justice and mental health collaboration program.
Grants will be targeted at anyone -- juvenile or adult -- who:

• Has been diagnosed as having a mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorder; and
• Has faced, are facing, or could face criminal charges for a misdemeanor or nonviolent offense.

[UPDATE: According to the NJJN, the Institute must be postponed until 2011. If you want to participate -- or be involved in the planning -- email Annie Balck. - Ed.] 
Anyone who has worked in the juvenile justice knows how hard it is to recruit, organize, and train advocates from the community to implement juvenile justice reform. But we also know they're out there. 
Fortunately, the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) is here to help.
This summer, the NJJN is offering its first ever Juvenile Justice Leadership Development Institute. They want to

create the foundation for a more effective juvenile justice reform movement by developing a strong base of well prepared and well trained advocates and organizers who reflect the communities most affected by juvenile justice system practices and policies, with a particular focus on cultivating and supporting leaders of color, youth and family members.

The Institute will be held in New Orleans July 11-16, and will include a year of distance learning and being mentored.  Applications are due March 12, 2010. NJJN will pay transportation to and from New Orleans for those who get accepted to the program.

Want to get some expert pointers on how to talk to the media about juvenile justice issues? 
Then check out the presentations from the Coalition for Juvenile Justice's(CJJ) Southern Regional conference. Held January 29-31 in Charleston, SC, the conference focused on working with the media to promote juvenile justice reform and to strengthen the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act's (JJDPA) four core requirements.
On the conference web page, you can find:

• the conference agenda;
• a presentation from Judge Steve Teske of Clayton County, GA, offering pointers on working with the media;
• a presentation on how Jefferson County, AL successfully worked to reduce court referrals from Birmingham schools by a whopping 84% (this collaborative effort also had a media strategy);
• a presentation from Linda O'Neal of the Frameworks Institute on how framing the message correctly is necessary to get members of the public to care about teens in the juvenile justice system; and
• an overview by Tara Andrews, deputy director of CJJ, of key talking points with regard to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).

Juvenile Justice Reform News

• Last year, the results of a a 20-year study in Canada showed that contact with the juvenile justice system makes boys more likely to commit crimes as adults. But according to a Youth Today article [subscription required], other researchers are coming up with similar conclusions. The question is, as the author of the article asks, what will juvenile justice system policy makers do about it?
  

President Obama released his proposed 2011 federal budget this week. Here's a sneak peek at what that might mean for funding in the adolescent substance abuse treatment arena and for juvenile justice systems across the country. 
 
According to a summary from the Department of Health and Human Services, the President's budget:

Register now for the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) Annual National Conference & Council of SAGs’ Meeting, to be held on April 10-13, 2010, at the Renaissance Hotel Washington, D.C.
Conference highlights will include:

• Concurrent workshops exploring the conference theme, “Ensuring School Engagement and Success for Youth At Risk.” Click here to read the Call for Presentations. 
• Keynote addresses from learned speakers, including Professor James Forman, Jr., Co-Founder of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.

Are you attending the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) 20th Annual National Leadership Forum in National Harbor, MD next week?
Come and join us to learn more about how Reclaiming Futures is being implemented through juvenile drug court grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
The workshop, titled, "Juvenile Drug Courts:  Building the Model," will give an overview of juvenile drug courts -- their history, challenges, 16 strategies for developing and maintaining them, and current performance measures for success. It will also focus on OJJDP's work to build the juvenile drug court program model through its partnerships with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Reclaiming Futures.
Gwen Williams, MSW, who is a Program manager at OJJDP, will be the primary presenter. She will be joined by Yvonne Sherrer, Community Fellow at the Reclaiming Futures site in Dayton, OH, and Christa Meyers, Project Director at the Reclaiming Futures site in Hocking County, OH. 
"Juvenile Drug Courts:  Building the Model" will be held on Thursday, February 11th, from 4:15 pm - 5:15 pm, in the room called "National Harbor 4/5."

The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), in coordination with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, has published a new edition of its “Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence.”
Designed to assist local communities, the guide describes the roles of the school, community, families, law enforcement, and justice system in working together to take effective action to address school violence.
 
[Text from a press release.]