Roundup: Four Inspiring Programs for Teens in the Justice System, Cocaine Vaccine on Horizon, and Much More

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment News

• A "vaccine" to treat cocaine addiction appears to be on the horizon.

• Want national data on adolescent treatment admissions? Check out a new report from SAMHSA on substance abuse treatment admissions.

Juvenile Justice-Related News

• More evidence, if any were needed, that the schools have to part of our crime prevention efforts: drop out of high school, and you stand a good chance of ending up in jail or detention -- especially if you're a young black male.
• A secure juvenile justice facility in Florida is still struggling with reform, despite past attempts to reform it in 1909, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1920, 1921, 1953, 1963, 1968, 1976, 1982 & 2007 ... 

• Meanwhile, Jetson, a juvenile justice facility in Louisiana that's come under fire in the past, may be turning around, judging from this profile of a teen there, although and activists say Louisiana's overall juvenile justice system still needs a lot of work.

Youth News from Abroad

• British supermarket giant, Tesco, recently banned energy drinks for young people at one of its stores, because a local schoolteacher complained that they interfered with her students' ability to concentrate.

• The U.N. is unhappy that Denmark is proposing to lower the age of criminal responsibility in its country to 14 years. (Hat tip to @TdhInfoCenter.)

Inspiring Programs for Youth in the Justice System

• The sixth annual Free Minds Poetry Reading was held recently, featuring young former inmates of the Washington D.C. Jail.
  • Related post: Missed the reading but want to know more about poetry and teens in the juvenile justice system? Check out this post for some notes on the therapeutic power of poetry and some examples of teens' poems.

• Something to aspire to: a yoga program in Oakland, California, offers 70 classes per week to at-risk youth, including kids who are incarcerated.

• Want to recruit teens as "Peace Ambassadors" to do anti-violence outreach in the streets? Then listen to this recorded interview with Clemmie Greenlee, who's done just that in Nashville.

• What happens to teens who are kicked out of school ... and then kicked out of their alternative school? They usually spend their days in the streets, but not in Anchorage, where a new "last chance" school gives them hope.

Useful Resources, Webinars, and Research

• A California study shows that treatment dramatically cuts recidivism among adult offenders, especially among women. Anyone know of any similar recent data on juvenile offenders?

• Next week is National Drug-Free Work Week, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. You can celebrate by attending a webinar on Monday, 10/19 that introduces a new toolkit for training parents in the workplace on how to prevent underage drinking. (Hat tip to Join Together.)
• Meanwhile, according to the ATTC Network, a new anti-meth handbook for community anti-drug coalitions is now available. It was developed collaboratively by the Office of National Drug Control Programs (ONDCP) and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA).
• A national re-entry resource center website (for adults and juveniles) was launched last week, sponsored by the Council of State Governments, in partnership with the Urban Institute, the Association of State Correctional Administrators, the American Probation and Parole Association, and a national advisory board. Check it out!

Juvenile Justice Policy

• The National Juvenile Justice Network republished a piece from the Seattle Journal for Social Justice on a major loophole in the federal Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA) that allows judges to lock up juvenile status offenders who violate a valid court order.
• I enjoyed this editorial on the need for systemic, evidence-based approach to addressing juvenile justice policy, in part because the author cited an excellent study from the National Council on Crime & Delinquency (NCCD) that looked closely at the public's attitudes towards juveniles in trouble with the law. Two key points from the study, quoted by the author (emphasis added):
  • Most adults have little contact with youth and most never have direct experience with youth crime. They base their impressions on word of mouth, public officials and the media.
  • Most stories on youth depict them as 'troubled or, more likely trouble for society' with stories identifying them as either the perpetrators or victims of violence. Too much coverage focuses on infrequent but heinous cases without any context.