Cultivating Better Futures for Troubled Bronx Youths; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Cultivating Better Futures for Troubled Bronx Youths (JJIE)
  They could have been locked up for offenses ranging from theft to assault to armed robbery. Instead, they planted vegetables at an urban farm, painted a mural to honor a community activist, staged a youth talent show, organized “safe parties” for teens at a local community center – away from the gunfire and stabbings outside.

• Focus on the Figures: Juvenile Felony Arrests, by Race (Chronicle of Social Change)
  Every other week, The Chronicle of Social Change will feature one key indicator from Kidsdata, which offers comprehensive data about the health and well being of children across California. In this installment, we examine the racial breakdown of juvenile felony arrest rate in California, perhaps the most diverse state in the union.

• 10-Year-Old Murder Defendant Shows Failure of U.S. Juvenile Justice System (Daily Beast)
  On Monday, prosecutors there charged a ten-year old boy as an adult for the murder of an elderly woman under the care of his grandfather—making him one of the youngest Americans ever to face a criminal homicide conviction.
• New Juvenile Court Judge Looks for “Balance” (Memphis Flyer)
  Citing the Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 37, Section 1, from which Juvenile Court derives its authority, Michael defined that role as one of providing “care and protection [and] wholesome moral, mental, and physical development’ of juveniles, while, “consistent with the protection of the public interest,” removing “from children committing delinquent acts the taint of criminality and the consequences of criminal behavior and substituting therefore a program of training, treatment, and rehabilitation.”

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

• Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It’s free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Link Between Underage Substance Use and Problems in Adulthood (SAMHSA)
  Children and adolescents who use alcohol and drugs at an early age are more likely to face problems with substance use as adults, according to a new SAMHSA Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) Report.

• Proposal Would Rewrite Utah Drug Laws in a Major Way (Fox 13)
  “This is not final, but the bottom line is we need to find ways to get more drug possession offenders out of prison into community treatment programs that are appropriate and will address their specific needs,” said Ron Gordon, the executive director of CCJJ.

• Indiana Project Screenings Show Need for More Mental Health Services in Youth Detention (IUSM Newsroom)
  Indiana is at the forefront of providing mental health screening and services to juvenile offenders, but more efforts are needed to improve the services provided to detained youths, according to Indiana University School of Medicine research findings published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health.