What Does Obama's Budget Mean for Your Juvenile Justice System? and More: Roundup

Top Juvenile Justice System News

• "Kids-for-Cash" Judge Found Guilty on 12 Counts
  Breaking: Remember the two Pennsylvania juvenile court judges accused of putting teens in detention in exchange for cash? The jury has found one of them, Mark A. Ciaravella, guilty of 12 of 39 charges, including racketeering, mail fraud, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and filing false tax returns. Ciaravella's lawyers say they will appeal. (Hat tip to the Juvenile Law Center, was responsible for bring the case to light.)
• Obama's New Budget: What Does it Mean for Your Juvenile Justice System?
  We posted last week about the huge changes President Obama's new federal budget make to juvenile justice funding.  While some commentators liked the sound of using a competitive structure to spur innovation in juvenile justice, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) instantly attacked Obama's plan (as well as its proposals for criminal justice spending overall) for not investing in prevention. In a separate editorial in Youth Today, JPI's executive director argued that the new proposal weakens key building blocks of federal juvenile justice reform policy. What do you think?  Let us know by leaving a comment or participating in our discussion on our LinkedIn group, "Juvenile Justice Reform and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment."

 
Understanding the Federal Budget

• The impact on juvenile justice isn't the only aspect of federal funding that matters to youth and family advocates. To help you understand the budget and how the process works, here's a budget decoder from Children's Defense Fund, and a similar federal budget guide from sparkaction.  You can see a full breakdown of youth spending in the proposed federal budget here.

Advocacy

• Speak Up! Help Youth Advocate for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
  You can help youth learn to be their own advocates, using this interactive tool developed by the National Clearinghouse for Youth and Families to assist young people in advocating constructively at home, in school -- or with Congress.  Could be a useful teaching aid for youth in detention, treatment, alternative schools ...
• Communicating with Congress: How to be an Effective Citizen-Advocate
  Check out this March 8, 2011 webinar sponsored by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), in close collaboration with the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) and SparkAction. Among other things: learn "what congressional staff believe are the most effective communications tactics for influencing undecided Members of Congress." Starts at 10:30 PST / 12:30 CST / 1:30 EST.  (H/t sparkaction.)
• Why Send Family Members to Conferences?
  Hint: you build incredibly effective youth advocates.  (H/t to Paul Savery.)

Restorative Justice and the School-to-Prison Pipeline

• Zero Tolerance Policies Feed School-to-Prison Pipeline: Restorative Justice Offers Hope for Change
  In many school districts, zero tolerance policies have led to absurd situations where low-level misbehavior by youth is criminalized. (A report released in September 2010, analyzing 20 years of national data from urban middle schools shows how damaging the policies have been.) Restorative justice offers a useful alternative -- check out this report showing that restorative justice reduced school violence and suspensions in six U.S. schools and four in Britain and Canada.  (H/t to Ellen Miller at the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange.)

Addiction Recovery News

• New research indicates that a sober living environment is critical to sustained recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. (The study, which focused on adult men, found that attendance at 12-step groups was the "strongest predictor" of success.) True, recovery homes can be a lightning rod for neighbors who fear crime -- but recovery homes can make neighborhoods safer. Teens, of course, often can't choose their living environment, so recovery schools may offer an alternative way to support them.
• Insurance companies now have to underwrite treatment for mental health and susbstance abuse issues comparably to other medical issues, but most Americans have not heard of the "parity" legislation that made it possible, an American Psychological Association survey found. (H/t to Faces & Voices of Recovery.)
• Having trouble with an insurance company over a parity issue? Check out the toolkit for consumers, providers, and advocates on how to win disputes with a health care plan over treatment coverage. (Thanks to Faces & Voices of Recovery for the reminder.)
• Addiction Recovery Support Summit in Seattle - The Science and Management of Addictions (SAMA) Foundation in Seattle, WA, will be holding its third annual summit April 8, 2011, 11:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Conference theme will be "'Nothing About Us Without Us:' Lessons from a National Dialogue with Youth in Recovery," and the goal is to "increase the dialogue about the gaps and needs in providing recovery support for young people in the community." Treatment proviers, youth, and family will all be present. One of the featured speakers will be Greg Williams of Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families (and columnist for Reclaiming Futures). He will be speaking on the recent national dialogue held with young people about what works in recovery.