2014 Brings Change to the Georgia Juvenile Justice System; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Juvenile Justice Redefined (BostonHerald.com)
  Times change. And science changes. And however belatedly sometimes the law needs to change to take all of that into account. In reaction to some admittedly horrific crimes, lawmakers — here and around the country — rewrote laws that allowed juveniles to be sentenced in adult courts to some very adult penalties, including life in prison without the possibility of parole.
• 2014 Brings Change to the Georgia Juvenile Justice System (WALB.com)
  Georgia is making some changes when it comes to juvenile offenders, a new law will be put in place to reduce the number of minors in lockup and help save the state thousands of dollars. Starting this year, only those who commit serious offenses will be held in custody and as for those accountable for minor offenses, they will be placed in community based programs instead.
• Looking Back: A Year in Juvenile Justice (JJIE.org)
  As 2013 concludes and 2014 begins, JJIE has compiled a selection of some of our most compelling stories from the last year. Collectively, these articles tell of issues in juvenile mental health, improvements in alternative forms of treatment, the danger of stop and frisk, and more.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Marijuana Use Rising Among American Teens (FloydCountyTimes.com)
  Not that it wasn’t predictable, but the federal government, fueled by new Monitoring the Future data collected by the University of Michigan on behalf of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is reporting a rise in the illicit use of marijuana among high school students.
• Teen Substance Use Fight Goes On (TheColumbian.com)
  Just because adults 21 and older are allowed to smoke pot in Washington, it doesn't mean marijuana is any less damaging to children and teens. That's one of the messages West Van for Youth hopes to spread in the coming years. Members of the fledgling community organization, which aims to prevent youth substance abuse in west Vancouver, say the 2012 legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington will make their job more difficult.
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy Found Beneficial in Treating Adolescent Girls with PTSD (HealthCanal.com)
  Researchers at Penn Medicine report in the December 25 issue of JAMA that a modified form of prolonged exposure therapy – in which patients revisit and recount aloud their trauma-related thoughts, feelings and situations – shows greater success than supportive counseling for treating adolescent PTSD patients who have been sexually abused.

David Backes writes the Friday news roundup for Reclaiming Futures and contributes articles about juvenile justice reform and adolescent substance abuse treatment to ReclaimingFutures.org. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Santa Clara University. David works as an account executive for Prichard Communications.