Experts Say Mental Health Effects of Hurricane Sandy Could be Powerful and More; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Juvenile Court Reform Details Emerging (MemphisDailyNews.com)
  Shelby County, Tennessee, Juvenile Court Chief Administrative Officer Larry Scroggs describes the court as being “sort of at the end of the beginning” in a review process by the U.S. Justice Department. And after this summer’s scathing report from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division of the court’s due process practices, Scroggs told those at a public hearing this week that the plan for systemic changes at the court will likely be a three- to five-year process.
• Juvenile Justice Judge Speaks to At-Risk Students about Staying in School (WFXG.com)
  As students celebrate Red Ribbon Week, the Burke County Alternative School in Georgia invited juvenile justice judge Doug Flanagan to talk to them about the importance of staying in school. Judge Flanagan says this is one of the best schools in Burke County.
• After the Violence, the Rest of Their Lives (The New York Times)
  At a time when the homicide rate in Chicago has risen sharply, jumping 25 percent over all since last year and 100 percent or more in a few gang-heavy neighborhoods, the research project offers a portrait of both the perpetrators and the victims in struggling, gang-ridden neighborhoods.
   

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

• Commentary: What Foundations Can Do to Fight the Opiate Epidemic (Drugfree.org)
  Foundations can play a vital role in battling the epidemic of opiate overdoses. Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States, while heroin use is also on the rise in communities around the country.
• Teen Prescription Drug Abuse: What Parents Should Know (Philly.com)
  While kids swipe pills from medicine cabinets and purses, trade them at school or pluck them from bowls at “pharma parties,” parents are often clueless. We don’t think it can happen to our kids, so we say little, miss early warning signs and fumble opportunities to educate and protect our kids.
• Experts Say Mental Health Effects of Hurricane Sandy Could be Powerful (Drugfree.org)
  Psychologists warn the mental health effects of Hurricane Sandy could be powerful, HealthDay reports. “Sandy, like all natural disasters, is considered a criterion ‘A1′ stressor in the diagnoses of acute stress disorder in the first month after the event and post-traumatic stress disorder, at least a month after the event,” said Simon Rego, Director of Psychology Training at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

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.