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Improving State Juvenile Justice Systems and More -- News Roundup

  • Why Are All the Black Kids in Special Ed?
    Minority students (and especially Black students) are disproportionately diagnosed with disabilities and placed in special education or lowest-level courses. The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia makes the case for seeking a second opinion.
  • Lasting Drop in Smoking, Delinquency, Drug Use
    Study shows that tenth-graders in towns using Communities That Care, a prevention system developed by University of Washington researchers, are less likely to have tried drinking or smoking compared with teens living in towns that had not adopted the system. Delinquent behavior, including stealing, vandalism and physical fights, decreased too.
  • Kids-for-Cash Sentencing Set for November 4
    Robert J. Powell, the former co-owner of two juvenile detention centers in Pennsylvania who testified he paid kickbacks to two judges, may serve 21 to 27 months in prison for failing to report a felony and abetting tax evasion.

Serious Juvenile Offenders: Do Mental Health Problems Elevate Risk?

juvenile-justice-system_fence-at-nightNOTE: Two of the co-authors of this post, Carol A. Schubert M.P.H., and Edward P. Mulvey, Ph.D., will be presenting on other aspects of their research on youth in the juvenile justice system at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) juvenile justice conference next week.

The general adolescent population is estimated to have a rate of 9% to 21% in occurrence of diagnosable psychiatric disorders. In comparison, researchers have established that the juvenile offender population has a disproportionately high rate of mental health problems, with estimates suggesting it is as high as 50% to 70%. Additionally, a majority of the diagnosable youth in the juvenile system have a co-occurring substance-use disorder.
Many initiatives dealing with mental health problems in juvenile offenders have treated them as a criminogenic risk factor; positing that, if these problems are addressed, youth’s risk for repeat offenses will decrease and their involvement in pro-social activity will increase. It is important that mental health problems be addressed for these youth,  but we require a better understanding of the role mental health problems play for offending to better inform program development.
Demonstrations that youth with mental health problems have an increased risk for criminal involvement proves an association, but not a definite cause or explanation about the means by which mental disorders elevate criminal risk. It is possible that there is a deeper root cause in the relationship between the two and that having a better understanding of this association can help determine the most effective treatment options.
There is not much data regarding whether and/or how mental health problems relate to continued offending or adjustment problems in adolescent offenders. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among certain mental health problems (affective, anxiety, ADHD, and substance use disorders), criminogenic risk, and outcomes (such as re-arrest) in a sample of serious adolescent offenders.
This investigation used data from a longitudinal study of serious adolescent offenders (The Pathways to Desistance Study). The sample of serious adolescent offenders included 949 individuals (84% male; 78% minority) with a mean age sixteen. 57.7% of the sample met the criteria for at least one of the assessed MPHs. The study investigated three questions:

Visit Reclaiming Futures at the OJJDP Conference and Win a Free iPad!

juvenile-justice-system_iPad-with-OJJDP-logoIf you're lucky enough to attend the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) conference on juvenlie justice in Maryland next week, October 12-14, 2011, then you might just be lucky enough to win a free iPad.
Make sure you stop by the Reclaiming Futures booth (#209) in the exhibition hall at the conference, where we'll be showing off our blog (ahem) and answering your questions about Reclaiming Futures. We'll be there:
Tues 10/11 - 10/11 1pm-6pm
Wed 10/12  - 7:30am-6pm
Thur 10/13   - 7:30am-6pm
Leave your business card with us to subscribe to our e-newsletter -- (and what the heck - you may as well sign up all your co-workers and friends, if they're willing) -- and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a free iPad! (If you're already a subscriber, your entry will still count in the drawing.)
 
Photo: mikepetrucci under Creative Commons license/edits Benjamin Chambers

OJJDP 2011 Conference - Final Agenda

juvenile-justice-system_OJJDP-conference-logo-2011The complete program/agenda for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's 2011 conference is now available (just follow the link).  For those of you who can attend in person in Maryland next week, it looks like a fantastic, jam-packed event. (Be sure to pass on what you learn to those of us who can't go!)
The main conference runs October 12-14, 2011. The agenda's enormous, and I haven't had time to read it thoroughly yet, so what follows are just a few things that jumped out at me that you might want to catch (remember, all sessions are first-come, first-serve!). Only in a few cases have I reproduced the session description - for those you're interested in, see the full program (use the "find" function to find things quickly).
NOTE: I've also hyperlinked individuals who have written blog posts or webinars for Reclaiming Futures - click through to learn more about each one.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Development of the Adolescent Brain: These Are Not Miniature Adults
Randy Muck, Advocates for Youth and Family Behavioral Health Treatment, LLC
Moderator: Gwendolyn Williams, OJJDP
Serious Adolescent Offenders Moving Into Adulthood: Life events and the Role of Deterrence
Edward P. Mulvey, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Thomas Loughran, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland
Joseph J. Cocozza, National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
Moderator/Presenter: Carol A. Schubert, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

OJJDP Pre-Conference Livecast: Reclaiming Futures and the Juvenile Drug Court

juvenile-justice-reform_broadcast-antennaReclaiming Futures will be hosting an all-day workshop on October 10, 2011 at the the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) pre-conference next week, the Monday before the full juvenile justice conference gets underway. 
 
Best of all - we'll be livecasting it: you can watch it right here on our blog. The workshop is called, "Reclaiming Futures and Juvenile Drug Courts." It kicks off at 8:30 am EST, and finished up at 4:45 pm EST.
 
To sit in, tune in on Monday, October 10, right here at www.reclaimingfutures.org.
 
At the end of the day, participants will be able to:
•    Define and describe the increasing challenge of substance abuse (and other behavioral health issues) for juvenile offenders.
•    Define and describe Reclaiming Futures as a standard of care to address this challenge.
•    Begin the process of assessing readiness and preparing to retool local juvenile justice responses to substance abuse and delinquency.
•    Take steps to assess community recovery capital and increase direct community engagement options at the local level.  
Can't tune in for the whole thing? Here's our agenda:

County Jails a Bad Place for All Children, Especially Girls

juvenile-justice-reform_pensive-girlImagine a group of young girls who suffer from depression, severe neglect, sexual and physical abuse and are in the care of a government agency. 
Now imagine that these girls’ caretakers have little or no experience working with children, little or no familiarity with the medical and mental health needs of emotionally and physically battered girls, little or no support for formalized training on child development and no supervision by professionals with child-specific experience either. Then consider extremely limited resources for the care, health services and education of these particularly vulnerable and needy children. 
This scenario sounds like it would lead straight to public calls for vastly improved child protection and investigations into government agencies’ poor management and improper use of taxpayers’ dollars. Unfortunately, it accurately describes legislation that was rushed through by the 2011 Florida Legislature (Senate Bill 2112) and signed into law.

Scholarships, Data and More: Juvenile Justice and Adolescent Treatment News Roundup

  • Scholarships for Judges Managing Challenging Family Law
    This training is co-sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National Judicial College, October 24-27, 2011, in Reno, Nevada. The scholarships would cover the $985 tuition fee and the participant would be responsible for the $245 conference fee as well as their own travel expenses.
  • National Geographic Examines the Teenage Brain
    Excitement, Novelty and Risk: A strength-based look at adolescence as a highly functional, even adaptive period.
  • OJJDP Bulletin Examines State Juvenile Transfer Laws
    In the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures in nearly every state expanded transfer laws that allowed or required the prosecution of juveniles in adult criminal courts. This bulletin, which is part of the Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report Series, provides the latest overview of state transfer laws and practices and examines available state-level data on juveniles adjudicated in the criminal justice system.

Youth Violence Can Be Reduced By Increasing Alcohol Controls, Studies Suggest

juvenile-justice-system_liquor-store-signMake access to alcohol more difficult and young adults are likely to commit fewer violent crimes. That’s what two studies by University of California at Riverside researchers showed recently, according to an article published by CBS Los Angeles.
The first study, which examined 91 of the largest American cities in 36 states, found a link between alcohol store density and violent crime among teens and young adults aged 13-24.
In the second study, researchers found higher rates of violent crimes in neighborhoods near alcohol outlets with more than 10 percent of freezer space for single-serve containers. The researchers described the effect as “modest,” yet crime did increase in areas with a higher percentage of single serve alcohol containers.

Teen Brain Development: Neural Gawkiness

 
adolescent-brain-development_young-woman-with-door-in-her-head-showing-smaller-young-womanThe young are heated by Nature as drunken men by wine.   -- Artistotle
Adults' enduring perplexity about teenagers are captured in quotes by Aristotle and Shakespeare in The New Science of the Teenage Brain, the cover story of the October National Geographic Magazine. The article, by David Dobbs, explains how young people's lives are shaped by the mind-blowing reorganization occurring in the brains of adolescents between the ages of 12-25. The article is fascinating, and it's worth reading the entire piece. It's also a fabulous tool for us to use to get policymakers' attention as to why so many policies and programs like Scared Straight, lock them up, and zero tolerance don't work. So after reading the article, spend a few minutes sending an email or two or a letter to the editor of your local paper.

According to Dobbs, scientists started to look at what was happening in young people's brains in the 1990's. He explains what the scans showed:

How to Use the SAMHSA Recovery Month Toolkit to Promote Teen Recovery

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_national-recovery-month-logoAs a busy project director for Reclaiming Futures Hocking County, communications with the community and positive staff recognition often fall to the bottom of my to-do list, despite my best intentions. This is why the designation of September as National Recovery Month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and their annual Recovery Month toolkit is extremely helpful to me. I know that during the month of August and September, I will be focusing my efforts on helping to promote prevention, treatment and long-term recovery from substance use disorders, and that there are resources available to help me easily complete my mission. 
In August, I begin by preparing proclamations for our local government officials. In the toolkit, there are ready-made examples of both traditional and modern proclamations. Our local mayor and county commissioners have been very willing to sign on to this special initiative for the past three years. (To do this yourself, just call the office of that elected official whose support you want. There's usually someone in their office whose job it is to handle proclamations who can tell you what they need.)
Once I receive the signed proclamations, I post copies in prominent areas and ask our Reclaiming Futures Change Team members to do the same. During the month of September, I share the proclamations and information about Recovery Month and Reclaiming Futures Hocking County at any meeting I attend. I also send a copy of the signed proclamations to the Recovery Month website, where SAMHSA shares them online.

A Day on the Street with a Juvenile Probation Officer in Clayton County, Georgia

juvenile-justice-system_Ronaldo-Rinaldi-withyouth
Ronaldi Rollins’ view from his corner office on the third floor is typical of metro Atlanta. A parking lot, some two-story apartment building, all nestled in the middle of a bunch of pine trees. Welcome to Jonesboro, Ga., command central for one juvenile probation officer in charge of 20 struggling teens.
To pay a visit to Rollins, a kid has to make it past two levels of security. First, the metal detector and officer at the front door. Then comes the thick, fiberglass window and receptionist at the third floor waiting room. Just about every door, with the exception of the restrooms, requires a four-digit code to pass.
But probationers showing up unannounced may have a hard time finding Rollins behind his desk.
juvenlie-justice-system_Rollins-at-door“A big part of my job is mentoring,” Rollins [seen in photos above and at right] says. And the best way to be a mentor is to relate to the kids on common ground. And common ground means the front yards, street corners, vacant lots and schoolyards of this suburban Atlanta community they all call home.
In Clayton County, juvenile probation beats are divided by school. That means an officer assigned to Lovejoy High School, for instance, would likely supervise kids living in the city of Lovejoy.
But Rollins works a different kind of beat. He’s tasked with overseeing the Clayton County Virtual Alternative School, and that means keeping up with kids from one end of the county to the other, from Lovejoy to Forest Park.
Forest Park. That’s where 15-year-old Marko was picked up on a probation violation after taking his mom’s car, again.

Connecticut Gets A+ in Reducing School Arrests

juvenile-justice-reform_report-cardIn Connecticut, you need a good reason to arrest a kid. That shouldn’t be any big surprise. But to advocates who’ve witnessed decades of increases in school-based arrests for things like dress code violations and running in the hallway, it’s huge.
 
Connecticut’s judicial branch is now rejecting delinquency summonses and status offender complaints unless “the facts, if true, would be sufficient to be a juvenile matter, and whether the interests of the public or the child require that further action be taken …” If Judicial’s Court Supportive Service Division [juvenile probation officers] rejects an arrest, the arresting officer and the youth’s parents will receive a letter informing them of services in the community that could more appropriately address the problem behavior.
 
The credit for this enlightened policy goes largely to Court Supportive Service Division Executive Director William Carbone, who has been a champion of good, evidence-based programming throughout his tenure. Carbone was shocked by the number of children who enter the juvenile justice system for things like possession of tobacco. (No kidding -- there was at least one school district in Connecticut that had kids arrested for that.)

Elections, Liquor and Riots -- A Juvenile Justice Adolescent Treatment News Roundup

Reclaiming Futures: Improving Treatment for Youth Involved with the Juvenile Justice System

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_grass-through-barsOur mantra at Reclaiming Futures sums up our goals for youth in the juvenile justice system: more treatment, better treatment, and beyond treatment.  
While not every young person who uses or abuses drugs and alcohol is addicted, we know that addiction is a disease that usually has its onset in adolescence, so intervening early is important. But the problem is particularly acute in the juvenile justice system, which refers nearly half of all teens who enter publicly-funded substance abuse treatment.
We also know that nearly one in five youth at the door of the juvenile justice system have diagnosable substance abuse disorders-- and that the percentage goes up, the deeper youth penetrate the system. Of youth in post-adjudication placements, 47%  have alcohol and drug disorders.  Furthermore, the groundbreaking Pathways to Desistance research on serious juvenile offenders found that substance use was strongly related to their continued criminal activity.
The good news is that substance abuse programs that involve an individual’s family in the intervention are one of the few things that reduced recidivism. That's why, in the communities we work with, we promote the expansion of treatment – more treatment – and the implementation of evidence-based screening and assessment tools, such as the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) – better treatment.  Many times, trauma or other unmet needs can be a contributing factor in a youth's negative behavior choices and need to be addressed.  

Health Care Reform and Young People in the Juvenile Justice System: a Webinar

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_kid-staring-at-caduceus-on-scaffoldingWhat does national health care reform mean for teens in the juvenile justice system who have substance abuse disorders?
On September 29, 2011 at 10:00am PDT / 1:00pm EDT, Doreen Cavanaugh, Ph.D., of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, presented a webinar sponsored by Reclaiming Futures, titled, "Health Reform: Opportunities for Juvenile Justice Involved Youth with Substance Use Disorders and their Families."
Dr. Cavanaugh addressed the existing and upcoming changes in the U.S. health care system by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health reform law.
She:

  • identified existing funding sources supporting treatment and recovery services for youth with substance use disorders who are involved in the juvenile justice system;
  • highlighted new opportunities for these youth and their families under health care reform;
  • discussed ways to enhance collaborative relationships across the health and juvenile justice sectors; and
  • detailed the steps to take now at state and local levels to improve access and quality of treatment and recovery services for youth in the juvenile justice system.

View the archived webinar: follow the link and scroll down for webinars under "Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment" (or search by title or the presenter's name).

New Telephone Seminar Series: Teen Drug and Alcohol Awareness

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_old-phone
CIGNA and The Partnership at Drugfree.org are kicking off a monthly series of telephone seminars that will help you better understand today’s changing landscape of substance abuse. The seminars are free and there is no registration required. They’re open to any parent, caregiver or loved one interested in learning more about teen drug addiction. Each seminar will include the participation of a leading expert within the field and a parent from The Partnership at Drugfree.org’s Parent Advisory Board, who will share his or her personal experience with the topic being presented.
 
On Wednesday, September 21, 2011, at Noon-1:00 pm EDT, the series kicks off with a call about teen abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs and what parents can do to prevent this dangerous behavior.
 
WHAT:
Did you know that one in five teens has used a prescription drug not prescribed to them by a doctor?* This month’s podcast and Q&A will explore teen abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs and what parents can do to prevent this dangerous behavior.

Call for Abstracts: Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) 2012

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_2012-JMATE-banner

 
 
 
Want to present at the 2012 Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE)? The organizers have put out a call for abstracts. (They're due November 1, 2011). Here's the official announcement: 
 

We are thrilled to announce that the 2012 Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) is taking place April 10-12, 2012 in Washington, DC. 
 
We are currently seeking abstract submissions! The deadline for submission is November 1, 2011. For complete details and instructions on how to submit your abstract, please see the attached 2012 JMATE Call for Abstracts (PDF) or visit the Abstract Submission page of the JMATE Website at www.jmate.org/jmate2012/
 
If you have any questions or additional information needs, please contact us at JMATE-info@jbsinternational.com.  Thank you for your continued work on behalf of adolescent treatment and recovery!

>>Download the call for abstracts here.

Fit for Trial in the Juvenile Justice System (and More) -- News Roundup

Your Input Needed: Building an Online Community Supporting Evidence-Based Practices and Quality Improvement in Behavioral Healthcare

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_construction-signsEvidence-based practices and how to implement them is a priority for many substance abuse treatment organizations, including those treating adolescent.  
To help with this priority, NIATx has launched a new project, the Building a Sustainable National Infrastructure for Research and Dissemination of Improved Behavioral Treatment Practices, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The informal title for this project is “The Network of Practice.”
Its aim? To build an internet-based community focused on adopting evidence-based clinical practices. The resulting tool may include features such as virtual cafes, a step-by-step guide to implementing an evidence-based practice, a library of practical information, and a cost-benefit calculator.
More than 500 organizations have completed an online survey for this project (and that number is growing). You can still complete the survey (which takes about five minutes to complete) by visiting: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/infra_survey
For more information about the project or to get involved in its development, please contact:
Anna Wheelock at anna.wheelock@chess.wisc.edu or
Kim Johnson at Kimberly.johnson@chess.wisc.edu

Senate Committee Cuts Federal Juvenile Programs Deeply, But Would Fund All of Them

juvenile-justice-system_hammer-breaking-piggybankRecommendation also zeroes out money for reentry programs
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill this afternoon that would fund the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs (OJJDP) at $251 million, approximately $24 million below the diminished budget that the agency faced this fiscal year after a last-minute spending deal.  
The committee broke up the $251 million in spending this way:  
-$60 million for the missing and exploited children programs.
-$55 million for mentoring grants.
-$45 million for state formula grants, given to states on the condition that they adhere to basic standards in regard to the detainment of juveniles, and address racial disparities in the system.
-$30 million for Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG), which go to state juvenile justice planning agencies based on the size of a state’s youth population.

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