Healing Words: Creative Writing Programs as Therapy for Kids in Detention and More; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• A Handful of States Lead the Way on Juvenile Crime Prevention (TheCrimeReport.org)
  States are "surprisingly slow" in adopting proven methods to deal with violent or delinquent youth and their families, a national juvenile justice conference was told today. Failure to use the programs has been shown to result in higher crime rates and higher costs.
• Healing Words: Creative Writing Programs as Therapy for Kids in Detention (JJIE.org)
  Many programs incorporating elements of creative writing have been set up across the nation’s juvenile halls and treatment facilities, with the National Endowment for the Arts recognizing creative writing workshops like Massachusetts’ Actors’ Shakespeare Project and the Los Angeles-based InsideOUT Writers.
• St. Clair County Gives Child Court Cases Special Treatment (BND.com)
  Court cases involving children will be handled by a new team at the St. Clair County, Illinois, State's Attorney's Office. St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly created the Children's Justice Division, headed by assistant state's attorney and new mother Anna Young.
• Foundation Strives to Create Legacy for Juvenile Justice Reform (JJIE.org)
  The nonprofit MacArthur Foundation has spent more than $100 million since 2004 on developing blueprints for reform within the juvenile justice systems of 16 states. Earlier this week, its reform initiative, Models for Change, brought together nearly 400 judges, advocates, probation officers and other juvenile justice professionals for two days of workshops in Washington, D.C.

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

• Study Finds Possible Link Between Gene Variation and Teen Binge Drinking (Drugfree.org)
  Scientists in London have found a genetic variation that may play a role in binge drinking in teenagers, Reuters reports. The two-phase study included mice and teenage boys.
• Is Medical Marijuana Safe for Children? (CNN.com)
  Like some cancer patients in states where it's allowed, Mykayla Comstock uses cannabis as part of her treatment. Comstock is 7-years old. Her mother, a long time advocate for medical use of the illegal drug, has been giving her a gram of oral cannabis oil every day. 
• Psychiatric Association Creates Category of “Substance Use and Addictive Disorders” (Drugfree.org)
  The American Psychiatric Association has approved a new edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that combines substance abuse and dependence into a single category of “substance use and addictive disorders.” The DSM is the official guide to classifying psychiatric illness, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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.