Underage Suspects Are Apt to Confess to Crimes They Didn’t Commit. Here’s Why; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Underage Suspects Are Apt to Confess to Crimes They Didn’t Commit. Here’s Why. (Slate.com)
  Why so many false confessions? Juvenile suspects are generally more deferential to authority—at least in the context of a police interrogation—and less likely to understand the consequences of confessing to something they didn’t do.
• [OPINION] Time to Affirm What We Mean by ‘Juvenile’ (The New York Times)
  Recent Supreme Court rulings on juvenile sentencing raise issues that go beyond what’s at stake in Miller v. Alabama. They also present an opportunity to affirm what we mean by “juvenile.” New York State may soon be the only state in the country that processes all youth as young as 16 in the criminal justice system, regardless of the severity of the offense.
• Health and Incarceration: A Workshop Summary (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
  The health disparities that exist in our communities are concentrated in the population that cycles in and out of our jails and prisons. Justice-involved populations have very high rates of physical illness, mental illness, and substance use disorders. And their health problems have significant impacts on the communities from which they come and to which, in nearly all cases, they will return.
• [OPINION] A Court Just for Juveniles in N.Y. (The New York Times)
  Teenagers prosecuted in adult courts or who do time in adult jails fare worse in life and can go on to commit more violent crimes than those who are handled by the juvenile justice system. Neuroscience research has found that these young offenders don’t weigh risks the way adults do, making them prone to rash judgments that can land them in trouble with the law.

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Study: Bullying can Lead to Long-Term Negative Health Effects (KOMONews.com)
  A new study reports children who are bullied are at significantly higher risk of developing physical ailments caused by stress than those who are not picked on. A local specialist warns these health impacts, if ignored, could last into adulthood.
• Schizophrenia: 'I Felt Like I'd Been Given a Life Sentence' (TheGuardian.com)
  A diagnosis of schizophrenia has turned film-maker Jonny Benjamin into a poster boy for young people's mental health.
• Bullying may Cause Children to Show Physical Symptoms That can Act as Signs for Teachers, Parents: Pediatrics Study (Canada.com)
  Bullying may lead to more physical reactions than just bumps and bruises, as a new study shows many victims suffer unexplained psychosomatic symptoms as well. Parents and teachers might want to take a closer look when children are experiencing ailments with an unknown cause, such as stomach pains, headaches and sleeping problems, these could be red flags of a deeper problem.
• Alarming Numbers Released On Teen Suicide (WOWT.com)
  Douglas County, Nebraska is home to an alarming number of youngsters who have tried to commit suicide. The local number is nearly twice the average found across the rest of the state and twice that of the national average as well. Of the 1,087 students ages 15 to 19 who returned surveys on various issues involving youth risk behaviors, 12.4 percent of them said they had attempted suicide in the past year.

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.