State Supreme Court Ruling Seals Juvenile Records; News Roundup

Every week Reclaiming Futures rounds up the latest news on juvenile justice reform, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and teen mental health. 

Clinical Conversations about Cannabis: Using Elicit-Provide-Elicit (ATTC Network)
Given the current climate of conflicting messages and changing policy related to marijuana, counselors need both sources of reliable information and effective strategies to guide their interventions as they talk with clients about this controversial subject. The purpose of this article is to describe how Motivational Interviewing (MI) strategies can inform clinical conversations about cannabis use, with a focus on the Elicit – Provide – Elicit (EPE) model as one potentially useful tool.

Kid Criminals: Tagged, Tracked and Cast Off by Society (British Journal of Photography)
America’s iniquitous criminal justice system targets young disenfranchised black men in disproportionate numbers, setting them up for a lifetime of ostracisation. In his series Corrections, Zora Murff considers how images of the juvenile penal system define young offenders deemed to be criminals.

State Supreme Court Ruling Seals Juvenile Records (Crosscut)
It’s a “huge decision, one of the biggest juvenile-justice decisions in state history,” exults attorney Casey Trupin, managing attorney at Columbia Legal Services. He was talking about the Washington Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday that resoundingly affirmed the constitutionality of letting youthful offenders start their adult lives without the door-slamming stigmata of public criminal records.

Justice Advocates Fight to Limit Shackles, Seclusion for Juveniles (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange)
“For due process, identity development, adolescent development, rehabilitative reasons, we see that kids’ behavior is better in court when they’re not shackled,” attorney David Shapiro said. “They’re more likely to think the process is fair when they are not shackled indiscriminately.”

New Jersey Moves to Keep Kids Under 15 From Adult Court (The Marshall Project)
Like many other state legislatures, New Jersey’s is debating a juvenile-justice bill that would raise the age of adult criminal responsibility for some crimes, limit solitary confinement for teenagers, and house more juvenile offenders in facilities focused on rehabilitation, instead of in adult prisons. But unlike legislation in other states, New Jersey’s bill would prevent the cases of teenagers under 15 from being transferred to adult court under any circumstances, even murder. That would make New Jersey unique.

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