Blog: Juvenile Justice Reform

Last week, School Health Services Coalition, a division of Alameda County Health Care Services Agency in California, released Restorative Justice: A Working Guide for Our Schools. [Be patient: the document can take a bit to load in your browser. --Ed.] The publication is a resource for anyone who seeks to implement restorative justice in the school setting. The 43 page PDF covers the following:

• Introduction to restorative justice and its application to schools
• Use of the approach on three levels (1) as a school-wide prevention practice, (2) to manage difficulties, and (3) for intense intervention
• Benefits, outcomes and impacts from current evaluative reports
• Guidance on initiating restorative justice at the school or district level
• Abstracts of publications and websites for additional information and support.

 
Making change in the juvenile justice system to help teens with drug and alcohol problems requires a strong community leader who can convene diverse players, some of whom are not used to working together. Judges are uniquely placed to take on this role.
 
That's why we're offering two trainings for juvenile court judges new to the Reclaiming Futures model, titled, "Leading Change in the Juvenile Justice System for Teens with Drug and Alcohol Problems." (see below for details). 

In the wake of the images and footage we've all seen coming out of the U.K. this week, as teens and young adults rioted and looted in London and other cities, it will be hard for the general public to remember that young people who commit crimes have strengths -- and have something to offer.
Youth should, of course, be held accountable for their actions. But youth workers in Britain understand that fear of teens as a result of the riots may well set the field back by years (e.g., "Youth charities blast riots as disastrous for image of young people"), especially if the only response is a punitive, nail-'em-and-a-jail-'em-response that neglects to provide appropriate supportive services that will help young people be successfull.
And I expect that fear of young people will rise in the United States, too. Which is why this brief, two-minute video interview (below) with Connie Flanagan, a national expert on engaging troubled youth in civic life, is timely.
A professor of Youth Civic Development at Penn State University the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ms. Flanagan speaks about the importance of giving youth in the juvenile justice system the opportunity to work together with adults on projects that benefit their communities. Only then do they get a chance to see that what they do can change their communities for the better -- they can use their powers for good, in other words.
(I should point out that Ms. Flanagan was interviewed in May, well before the riots, and was addressing a general question about how to help youth in the juvenile justice system. I just happen to think that what she said is a helpful reminder about how we can work to make sure that youth feel that they matter, and that they're invested enough in their communities so that they don't engage in riots.)
Watch the video after the jump:
 

Focusing on changing youth behavior is important. However, youth success also depends on what we as adults do, particularly when it comes to youth who come in contact with the justice system. The Justice Policy Institute’s new report, “System Overload,” shows how our shortchanging of public defender systems can have significant and lasting negative affects for both youth and adults who rely on them.
The right to effective counsel, regardless of ability to pay, is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. This includes youth facing juvenile delinquency proceedings. However, a lack of financial resources for public defenders means that attorneys don’t have enough time for each case. Youth may not see their attorney until shortly before a hearing, or their public defender’s office might not have funding for investigators to look into the facts around the alleged offense. The following are some possible consequences of not having a robust public defender system:

In the interviews we’ve conducted for our evaluation of six Reclaiming Futures sites in North Carolina, we often hear the initiative characterized as “exciting” and “promising,” but also as complex, challenging and messy. Those of you who are living Reclaiming Futures on a day-to-day basis recognize that changing systems is a process full of ups and downs, wins and setbacks. It’s easy to lose track of the larger progress that your initiative is making in improving the lives of youth who come through the justice system.
 
Collectively, the two of us have close to 25 years of experience evaluating programs and initiatives. Through this experience, we’ve learned that one of the most important benefits that evaluation can bring is a clearer, broader picture of what’s happening on the ground. Toward that end, we have developed a model of the “stages of development” that occur for systems-change initiatives like Reclaiming Futures. 
 
The premise of the model is that a coalition carrying out systems-change work passes through five distinct stages at predictable points in its life course. We’ve named these stages:

1. initiation
2. team development
3. initial impact
4. extending the impact
5. sustaining the process of innovation and reform

 
The nature of a coalition’s work shifts considerably from one stage to the next. Moreover, each stage has a unique set of “developmental tasks” that must be mastered if the initiative is to succeed in moving on to later stages.

Eliminating the revolving door of the criminal and juvenile justice systems is one of the Nation’s biggest challenges in reducing the devastating consequences of drug use. It deprives our youngest generations of their chance to lead healthy, safe and productive lives, and often fosters intergenerational violence. That’s why the Obama Administration is taking steps to prevent young people from becoming involved in drug use and crime, and providing intervention, treatment, alternatives to incarceration, and reentry support for those that do.
Last year, the Administration released its inaugural strategy for coordinating national drug control activities and reducing the effects of drug use and its consequences and stressed the need for effective substance abuse treatment for adolescents. The week before last, the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy built upon that foundation and expanded support for these efforts. Evidence-based, early interventions are critical tools to keep young people from cycling in and out of the juvenile justice system, or worse, entering and cycling through the adult system. Youth should not only be screened and treated for substance use problems, but also for unmet emotional, behavioral, or academic needs.

I met Emmitt Hayes about 10 years ago, when I first learned about Reclaiming Futures. He had led Travis County, TX through a project funded inthe mid-1990s by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) -- a project that laid the groundwork for Reclaiming Futures. (Interestingly, Travis County, TX is one of our newest sites.)
In the decade since, he's continued to serve Reclaiming Futures as a valued advisor, sharing --  with humor and humility -- his uncompromising commitment to youth and famlies caught up in the juvenile justice system.
When I saw him at the Reclaiming Futures Leadership Institute in Miami in May 2011, I asked him to talk with me a little about what he saw as the most important next step in implementing Reclaming Futures. He reflected briefly on his thirty years of working with youth in the justice system and observed that family engagement was the key to success when he started, and it's still the key, despite years of focus on evidence-based practices in treatment.
But heck, I'll let him tell it. After all, he's a lot more inspiring than I:

Much to our dismay, A&E Network will air a second season of "Beyond 'Scared Straight,'" its hit reality-TV show, beginning August 18, 2011. As you may know, the program exposes a group of teens who've committed offenses to a group of adult prison inmates who scream, yell, and talk tough, in an effort to convince the kids to "going straight." 
There's a lot of problems with this approach, but the chief one is this: it doesn't work. There's not a single piece of independent research that indicates it's effective, and quite a lot that shows it isn't -- in fact, an overview of nine studies shows that youth who participate are more likely to commit crimes than kids who don't.  That may make for great television, but it's not good for the kids or our communities. 
We've given a lot of coverage in the past to why "Scared Straight" is a bad idea, so I'll just link to it here:

• Beyond "Scared Straight" – Moving to Programs that Actually Work
• U.S. Department of Justice: Scared Straight is "Scary and Ineffective"
• Scared Straight: Don’t Believe the Hype (Facts from CJJ)
• Scared Straight -- or Just Scared? Judges Speak Out Against "Beyond 'Scared Straight'"
• "Scared Straight" Programs on Hold in Two States

Photo: anna gutermuth under a Creative Commons license.

• SAMHSA Recovery Month Hosting Twitter Chat July 27 at 3:30 (EDT)
  The July RecoveryChat will focus on youth and recovery, and will be co-hosted by Danielle Tarino, board member for the Association of Recovery Schools and current SAMHSA team member. Can't attend? Tweet your questions to @RecoveryMonth in advance, using the hashtag #RecoveryChat. If you aren’t on Twitter, but are interested in asking a question, feel free to post questions on the Recovery Month Facebook Page or send questions in an e-mail to recoverymonthfan@samhsa.hhs.gov.
• How Much is Your State Spending on Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice and Youth?
  Youth Today is on a mission to capture state-by-state information as about youth-related spending decisions the effect on programs and services providers. Follow the link to check out figures for your state -- and let Youth Today if you have information that's missing.