Blog: Juvenile Justice Reform

Over the last few decades, the victims' rights movement has been effective in highlighting the needs and concerns of victims of crime. This movement –- born out of the women’s right era of the early 1970s -– continues to pick up steam as states amend laws and policies to give victims more defined rights and services. However, as the victims' right movement has evolved, so must its recognition of and treatment of victims.
When you hear the word “victim,” seldom do you associate that with young African American men. Society, through sensationalist media reporting, scapegoating and rhetoric-laden politicking, has done a thorough job of painting what a “perpetrator” and a “victim” look like. One of those paintings uses more color than the other.
The irony of such mischaracterization is that young black males are victimized at a higher rate than any other demographic. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2008, blacks are victimized at a personal crime rate of 26.6 percent in comparison to whites, who are victimized at a personal crime rate of 18.6 percent –- yet when victims are talked about, this population doesn’t enter the discussion.

Going into my senior year in high school, I worked an entire summer from sun-up to sundown to save enough money to help my mother buy me a car. When I finally got that car, it was broken into not long afterward. I felt angry, stranded, violated, sad and a whole host of other emotions, but for whatever reason, I never felt like a victim.
Why not? I had obviously just been victimized.

Reclaiming Futures depends for its success on the creation of multi-disciplinary teams at the local level. We ask participating jurisdictions to begin with a judge, probation officer, treatment provider, community representative, and project director. We encourage communities to expand from there, and most do -- after all, there's usually a lot more players who need to be at the table to make significant, lasting reforms.
But many jurisdictions -- whether they're engaged in Reclaiming Futures or some other juvenile justice reform effort -- stumble when it comes to including prosecutors. Yet their support and participation can be key.
That's why we're offering this webinar, "Working with Prosecutors," presented by Susan Broderick, J.D., on September 22, 2011 at 11:00am PDT / 2:00pm EDT.  UPDATE: Ms. Broderick's webinar has been archived on this page - just search for her name or by the title of the webinar.

 
[The following post was written for a Georgia-based publication, but I thought it likely applied to other states.  PLEASE NOTE: the fake mug shot at left was posed for by the photographer, who is not related to the author of this post. -- Ed.]
Late one night, one of my sons was picked up by police in the parking lot at a Wal-Mart in downtown Atlanta. Video cameras showed he was with a group of young people who “forgot” to pay as they strolled out of the store with a cart full of camping equipment.
He was waiting at the car for his friends to finish shopping and claimed he had no idea they didn’t intend to pay for their goods. Police arrested the entire group, leaving it up to the courts to sort the innocent from the guilty. After a frantic middle of the night phone call where he INSISTED he was innocent of shoplifting, we bailed him out of jail with $1,500 in cash, and about a month later the case was heard by a judge and the charges against him were dismissed.
Despite the fact that he was never charged with a crime, his mug shot from the Fulton County Jail lives on forever and it’s the first thing that pops up when a potential employer does a Google search. Ouch! That’s when we discovered the convoluted and difficult process of getting a record expunged. Not everyone is eligible for expungement, but it’s worth the time and effort.  This kind of thing can haunt you the rest of your life as you apply for jobs, ask for financial aid or fill out a rental agreement.
Seems like double jeopardy for the person involved.

• Report: Tribal Youth in the Federal Justice System
  Cosponsored by OJJDP and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this report is now available online. The report describes findings from a study that explored issues surrounding American Indian youth who are processed in the federal justice system, and discusses the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes at each stage of the justice system.
• From PBS: Stats and Facts on Juveniles Tried as Adults
  Evidence that deterrent effects are minimal or nonexistent, and that, trying juveniles in criminal court may result in higher rates of reoffending.
• Juvenile Offender Becomes Advocate for Youth At-Risk
  Starcia Ague helped push through a law in the state of Washington that allows Class A juvenile felony records to be sealed, at the discretion of the judge, as long as youth have a clean record for five years after their release.

Two million juveniles are arrested each year, and the collateral consequences they could face begin at this first point of contact with the system, regardless of whether charges are subsequently applied and the individual is convicted. People involved in the justice system encounter substantial challenges in gaining employment, civic participation, finding housing, applying to college, and accessing medical and mental health care. Placement on public registries such as sex offender registries are an increasingly common policy tools,, despite lack of evidence of effectiveness and mounting evidence of harm.  
A popular area of focus among advocates, practitioners, law enforcement and right-minded policymakers over the past decade has been to strengthen reentry support so that the odds of recidivism and return to the system are minimized. Less attention has been paid to the consequences that accompany a juvenile conviction but young people as well as adults face system-imposed obstacles to success based on a delinquent or criminal record. 
The philosophical beginnings of the juvenile justice system rested on the notion that young people who became delinquent were amenable to reform and the system should respond by providing ample rehabilitation services. It was also emphasized that youth should be spared from the stigma of involvement with the adult criminal justice system and not be branded as “criminals.” Matters that were dealt with in the juvenile justice system were to be done so in an informal, non-adversarial, and highly confidential manner. 

In 1858, the San Francisco Industrial School, California’s first large juvenile facility opened its doors and ushered in a new era of large dormitory-style institutions that would plague California to the present day. Rife with scandal, abuse, violence and a significant deficit of programming, congregate care institutions have proven a failed model since the 19th century. While Missouri and Washington have abandoned this broken system and rebuilt their juvenile justice systems anew, focusing on smaller therapeutic regional facilities; California continues to fixate on an archaic system with large training schools that cannot be repaired.

Currently, California operates a dual system of juvenile justice — probation, group homes, ranches and camps are provided by its 58 counties, while the state provides youth prisons reserved for adolescents who have committed a serious or violent offense as defined in the state’s Welfare and Institutions Code.

All parole and reentry services are provided by the counties. Currently, there are only 1,193 youths housed at the state level, approximately 190 of them are juveniles tried as adults but who are too young to be housed in adult prison.

[Editor's note: We're extremely proud of the work Kentucky has done with the Reclaiming Futures model to serve the needs of teens in the juvenile justice struggling with alcohol, drugs and crime.
Given the tenacity of our Kentucky contingent, it's only to be expected that they'd find a creative way to apply the Reclaiming Futures model in a new way -- and what Kentucky Youth Advocates proposes below may be a promising indication of the model's applicability to other problems relating to young people in the juvenile justice system. We're gratified that Kentucky recognizes the power of the model to drive change at the systems level.
Though we're pleased that the model is gaining traction, the Reclaiming Futures national program will continue to focus on youth in the juvenile justice system with alcohol and drug issues. We were launched by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2001 because that population was not getting the services it needed, and though progress has been made, there's still a lot to do.]

Many things make me proud to call Kentucky home – beautiful horses, great college basketball, and friendly people. But behind the rolling hills, the thrilling games, and smiling faces, are several things about my great state that make me concerned. Kentucky frequently ranks at the bottom of the pile on health, economic well-being and other measures of how children are faring. One particularly disconcerting benchmark is the frequency with which our youth end up being locked up for things like skipping school or running away from home. Kentucky has the second-highest rate in the nation of doing so.

[About a month ago we published a post titled, School-to-Prison Pipeline: Chicago Youth Calling for a Dollars and Sense Policy, in which a guest columnist wrote about a group of Chicago high school students who had organized to protest against zero tolerance discipline policies. Their report, Failed Policies, Broken Futures: the True Cost of Zero Tolerance in Chicago, got a lot of attention in the media, including a story by NPR. --Ed.]
Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) is a youth-led collaborative  made up of seven community organizations and eight high schools across the city of Chicago working to lower the dropout rate and increase college readiness in our schools. As youth leaders with Logan Square Neighborhood Association (one of the organizations involved in VOYCE), we want to share what being youth leaders in our school and community has meant to us. Being part of VOYCE has brought many changes in our lives, in our school, and in our community.
One question that adults sometimes ask is, “How do you get youth involved?” In our experience, there is a big difference between attending your first meeting and actually staying involved and becoming a youth leader. Many of us get involved because we are struggling in school and want to find a way to improve, or, simply because we have friends who are in VOYCE.
But we stay because we feel like we are a part of something important.

What did young people in the U.K. think about the recent riots in the U.K.?  Here's a few answers (one free registration required for most items):

• Young people unite to air their views on riots
  "Young people turned out in their scores in central London as part of an event aimed at giving them the opportunity to air their views on the recent unrest and its causes."
• Young people must be consulted on the causes of violence
  "Young people from areas affected by violence and looting have spoken out to condemn the riots and have called for more attention to be placed on young voices as the causes of the outbreaks begin to be examined." (No log-in required.)
• Young people blame riots on "mindless vandalism"
  "This month's rioting was caused by "mindless vandalism" rather than cuts to youth services and inequality, according to a survey of young people."
• U.K. Children's Minister Denies Link Between Riots and Youth Cuts
  He said "current reports estimate three-quarters of those charged in relation to the riots are over 18, and it would be wrong to condemn a whole generation of young people." He went on to say that, "Recent events highlight the importance of ensuring a 'positive for youth' mindset is promoted so young people get the credit they deserve for the good work they do," he said.

  In other words, instead of an "unfunded mandate," he's talking about an "unfunded mindset" for youth.