The Shocking Details of a Mississippi School-to-Prison Pipeline and More; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Viewpoint: Localizing Juvenile Justice Spurs National Reforms (American City & County)
  Across the country, jurisdictions are moving away from centralized juvenile justice systems and toward smaller, local programs. Local systems are less expensive and are proving to be highly effective.
• New Report: Minors in ‘Solitary’ Hallucinate, Harm Themselves (JJIE.org)
  A new report on solitary confinement of minors includes harrowing descriptions of the psychological and physical impact ‘solitary’ has on young people, as well as surprising revelations about why some authorities resort to isolating juveniles.
• Juvenile Courts were Created to Get Kids on Track (DesMoinesRegister.com)
  Experts believe teenage brains are not fully developed. Society knows they should not be judged and punished in the same way as adults. So like other states, Iowa created a juvenile justice system to ensure that young offenders are given the help to get their lives moving in the right direction.
• Opinion: Juvenile Justice (Tallahassee.com)
  The state Department of Juvenile Justice’s new Roadmap to System Excellence is indeed an exercise in common sense. The Roadmap, which was discussed Thursday in Tallahassee in the first of a series of town hall meetings to hear from citizens and stakeholders, has the lofty goal of making Florida a leader in juvenile justice.
• Avery D. Niles Sworn In As New Georgia Department Of Juvenile Justice Commissioner (WJBF.com)
  Avery D. Niles, of Clermont, Georgia was sworn in Friday as the new Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).
• States Mull Ohio-Style Juvenile Justice Reform (JJIE.org)
  Georgia has room to make its juvenile justice system more regular, cheaper and better, according to preliminary suggestions from a blue-ribbon panel charged with drafting an overhaul. States including Texas and Ohio have gone down the same path, which, say experts, is not completely smooth.
• The Shocking Details of a Mississippi School-to-Prison Pipeline (COLORLINES.com)
  Cedrico Green can’t exactly remember how many times he went back and forth to juvenile. When asked to venture a guess he says, “Maybe 30.” He was put on probation by a youth court judge for getting into a fight when he was in eighth grade. Thereafter, any of Green’s school-based infractions, from being a few minutes late for class to breaking the school dress code by wearing the wrong color socks, counted as violations of his probation and led to his immediate suspension and incarceration in the local juvenile detention center.
• First Court of Appeals Hears Case Challenging Transfer of Juvenile to Adult Court (ChildrenAndTheLawBlog.com)
  Children in Texas can be tried in adult criminal court under a waiver statute that permits the transfer of a juvenile to adult court after a hearing is conducted by a juvenile judge. On October 31, 2012 the First Court of Appeals in Houston heard a case challenging the transfer of a child, C.M. The decision of the Court is pending.
• EDITORIAL: Juvenile Injustice (The New York Times)
  Step by step, the Supreme Court has been trying to reshape the way the American criminal justice system deals with those under the age of 18. In Miller v. Alabama this June, it ruled that a mandatory life sentence without parole for a juvenile is cruel and unusual punishment, even when the crime is homicide.
• Marijuana Decriminalization Law Brings Down Juvenile Arrests in California (PublicIntegrity.org)
  Marijuana — it’s one of the primary reasons why California experienced a stunning 20 percent drop in juvenile arrests in just one year, between 2010 and 2011, according to provocative new research.
• For the Newly-Elected Judge, a Different View of Juvenile Court (YouthToday.org)
  Dozens of lawyers won their first elections as judges this month, and they will soon experience the sensation of viewing the courtroom from the other side of the bench and hearing the words “your honor” directed at them.

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

• Study Finds High Rate of Underage Drinking (Drugfree.org)
  One-quarter of 12-to-20-year-olds say they drank alcohol in the past month, according to a new government report. Almost 9 percent said they purchased their own alcohol the last time they drank.
• Using the Data: Q&A with National Survey on Drug Use and Health Statisticians (SAMSHA.gov)
  A recently released NSDUH Report on state-level underage alcohol use and self-purchase of alcohol showed that rates varied somewhat from state to state.
• A Vaccine to Curb Addicts' Highs (The Wall Street Journal)
  The idea of using the body's immune system to combat the effects of addictive drugs goes back to animal studies conducted in the early 1970s, but the first evidence that a vaccine could help people with cocaine addiction didn't emerge until 2009.

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.