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The ACLU and Human Rights Watch recently partnered to publish a report on the effects of youth in solitary confinement, along with recommendations to the federal government and state governments regarding the use of solitary confinement on teens.
The report, “Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States” [PDF download] reports that solitary confinement is even more harmful to teens than adults since their brains are still developing. Despite this, teens are held in solitary confinement every day, spending up to 22 hours alone in small cells completely isolated physically and socially from the outside world. From the report:

Sometimes there is a window allowing natural light to enter or a view of the world outside cell walls. Sometimes it is possible to communicate by yelling to other inmates, with voices distorted, reverberating against concrete and metal. Occasionally, they get a book or bible, and if they are lucky, study materials. But inside this cramped space, few contours distinguish one hour, one day, week, or one month, from the next.
Experts assert that young people are psychologically unable to handle solitary confinement with the resilience of an adult. And, because they are still developing, traumatic experiences like solitary confinement may have a profound effect on their chance to rehabilitate and grow. Solitary confinement can exacerbate, or make more likely, short and long-term mental health problems. The most common deprivation that accompanies solitary confinement, denial of physical exercise, is physically harmful to adolescents’ health and well-being.

The Women's Addiction Services Leadership Institute (WASLI) is now accepting applications for its leadership program. Supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), WASLI aims to strengthen the capacity to serve women with substance use and co-occurring disorders.
From the announcement:

There is an urgent need to accelerate leadership in women's services to address current challenges such as a changing and aging workforce, changing finance streams, increased management requirements, new service settings and collaborations and integrated service models. To respond to this need SAMHSA/CSAT has created the Women's Addiction Services Leadership Institute. WASLI has roots in the Partners for Recovery-Addiction Technology Transfer Center Leadership Institute; it has been customized to specifically meet the needs of professionals working in women's services.

WASLI strengthens the capacity of providers to meet the treatment and recovery needs of women with substance use and co-occuring disorders by: 

• Developing and improving leadership skills of participants
• Creating a network of the next generation of leaders in women's services
• Establishing a model of women's leadership training

Applications are due February 5, 2013.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback took the first step Friday to reorganize the state’s juvenile justice system, putting into motion his plan to move the management of more than 1,500 juvenile offenders under the auspices of the state department of corrections.
By signing an Executive Reorganization Order (ERO) on Friday, Jan. 18, Brownback sent to the Kansas Legislature his proposal to place the Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA) agency under the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC). The signing of the ERO gives the legislature 60 days to act on the issue. If neither legislative chamber rejects the ERO, the move will become official.
The Kansas JJA had been battered by criticism for some time, prompting Brownback to move aggressively. A post audit report released in 2012 brought to light inefficiencies and neglect in the agency.
But even before the post audit was made public, Brownback removed the commissioner of the JJA last March and began consolidating some of the administrative services of the two agencies.
“The post audit highlighted how the decades-old approach to a social-services focus failed to provide the safety and security that our juvenile offenders require and deserve,” Brownback said.
The JJA currently houses 328 juvenile offenders in two facilities – the Larned Juvenile Correctional Facility, and the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex in Topeka. The other juveniles under the supervision of the JJA are located in community placement.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Courts making strides in protecting children, vulnerable adults (Lincoln Journal Star)
  Supreme Court Chief Justice Heavican thanked lawmakers for passing legislation last session to enhance the Nebraska Juvenile Service Delivery Project, which is designed to keep children involved in the juvenile justice system from becoming repeat offenders. The project aims to keep children from being jailed while they receive services or treatment.
• Changes made in laws affecting youths (Midland Daily News)
  It’s been years in the making, but now some big changes have been made to laws pertaining to juveniles in court. “The predominant push is the idea that we need to have laws that are geared to juveniles,” Midland County Probate Judge Dorene S. Allen said. “Not use adult laws for juveniles.”
• Almost 50 percent fewer youth arrested in Florida schools (Florida Department of Juvenile Justice)
  The number of youth arrested in Florida’s public schools declined 48 percent in the past eight years, from more than 24,000 to 12,520, according to a study released by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The decline corresponds with a downward trend in juvenile delinquency in all categories across the state.
• Building their future: Youth offenders learn woodworking, life skills in lockup (Waco Tribune-Herald)
  In a small shop building at the state youth lockup in Mart, teenage boys who have gotten into trouble with the law are learning woodworking skills that officials hope can be put to good use for the community.
• Best Of 2012: Juvenile Justice Desk (Youth Radio)
  In 2012, Youth Radio's Juvenile Justice Desk followed some major changes to youth sentencing in California and the nation.

This Fall, the Adler School Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice (IPSSJ) and its partner organizations with the Cook County Juvenile Justice Task Force published a concept paper (PDF download) outlining community-based, trauma-informed, restorative solutions to youth crime and conflict in Cook County, Illinois. The report provides guiding thoughts on how the juvenile justice system can better support young people while making communities safer. It also recommends alternatives to existing centralized juvenile detention approaches in Cook County.
The Adler School IPSSJ paper reports that the majority of juvenile justice dollars are spent in only a few zip codes. By using community approaches to juvenile justice, the Adler School argues that the county could get a much higher return on investment, along with lowering the risk currently posed by teen crime. Via the report:

...if the county does not reinvest these dollars in the communities of greatest need, it is asking residents of those areas to assume substantial additional risks to their safety without funding the types of programs and initiatives that could effectively manage those risks. This is a very real danger. As we all labor to design the best possible future for juvenile justice in Cook County, we would like your help keeping the above ideas and concerns at the forefront of the process. We know fundamental change will take years to responsibly develop; yet the time to begin the work is now.

Watching a music awards show on television recently, I was struck by the number of winners who enthusiastically thanked someone who mentored them. If these talented young men and women benefitted by having a mentor, imagine how much mentoring could help the many at-risk kids who each day face social and economic pressures to disengage.
January is National Mentoring Month, a reminder of both the value of mentoring and the pressing need for caring adults to step forward and become involved in helping our youth.

There are more than 5,000 mentoring programs serving an estimated three million youth in the United States today. This sounds impressive, yet those of us in the field realize we are only scratching the surface when it comes to meeting the needs of at-risk youth -- youth who are struggling academically and socially because they lack caring adult guidance and support. An estimated 15 million young people nationwide are in need of a mentor. And the stakes are high: nationally, one out of four high school students will drop out this year.

"Over 75% of youth in the juvenile justice system have been exposed to some form of trauma," says Christa Collins of the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ). This can affect their ability to handle stress and to make decisions. 
In the video below, Christa explains what a trauma-informed approach to juvenile justice is and how it can decrease costs while improving safety.

Some juveniles who commit delinquent acts truly learn from their actions and are able to turn their lives around. For juveniles who have reached this level of rehabilitation, it is important that their past mistakes don’t stand in their way of living productive, law abiding lives.
Michigan recently enacted legislation that would allow rehabilitated youths convicted of three or fewer misdemeanors or certain felonies to seal their records after completing their sentence. Prior to this legislation, only first-time misdemeanants could seal their records in Michigan.
This measure is important to ensure that youths who have turned their behavior around and are set on the right path can go to college or find gainful employment without their record standing in their way. Sealing records can also incentivize good behavior and full adherence to rehabilitation, as juveniles know that if they make the right choices their past won’t unnecessarily hold them back.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• DJJ Study: Fewer kids Getting Booked at School (The Orlando Sentinel)
  A new Florida study says the number of students arrested at schools was cut in half over the last eight years, which ”correlates” with a decline in juvenile delinquency. The Department of Juvenile Justice report says school arrests fell from from more than 24,189 in the 2004-05 school year to 12,520 last year, a drop of 48 percent. School delinquency arrests fell 36 percent during the same period.
• Juvenile Defendants can Meet Victims, Settle Charges Outside Court (Courier-Journal.com)
  The suspect was caught on camera and admitted he caused about $1,800 worth of damage vandalizing a Louisville business. Instead of handling the 16-year-old defendant’s case in juvenile court, local officials asked the business owner, Keith Bush, if he would take part in a “restorative justice” pilot program designed to repair the harm caused by a crime and find ways to keep offenders from re-offending — instead of seeking only retribution.
• Juvenile-Justice Corrections Program Trains Dogs, Youths (Statesman.com)
  “This is a program where the girls can learn life skills through training these dogs,” said Mike Griffiths, executive director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. “It’s a small program that pays big dividends — for the girls and the dogs.” The dividends include allowing the dogs to be trained to erase their bad habits, or to at least teach them how to manage their problems and keep their actions in check, so they might be adopted into new homes, he said.
• Putting a Developmental Approach Into Practice (JJIE.org)
  Having developmental competence means understanding that children and adolescents’ perceptions and behaviors are influenced by biological and psychological factors related to their developmental stage. For adults working with young people, taking a developmental approach could lead to better outcomes for kids.
• Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice? (The New York Times)
  At 2:15 in the afternoon on March 28, 2010, Conor McBride, a tall, sandy-haired 19-year-old wearing jeans, a T-shirt and New Balance sneakers, walked into the Tallahassee Police Department and approached the desk in the main lobby. Gina Maddox, the officer on duty, noticed that he looked upset and asked him how she could help. “You need to arrest me,” McBride answered. “I just shot my fiancée in the head.” When Maddox, taken aback, didn’t respond right away, McBride added, “This is not a joke.”
• Looking Back and Casting Forward: An Emerging Shift for Juvenile Justice in America (Chicago-Bureau.org)
  The close of 2012 focused so narrowly on terrible events and startling numbers – the Newtown massacre, for example, or Chicago’s sharp rise in homicides – some major criminal justice developments were nearly squeezed out of the national conversation.