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Juvenile Justice: Death-in-Prison Sentences Constitutional in Wisconsin, at Least for Now

juvenile-justice-reform_death-row-staircaseThe Supreme Court of Wisconsin has just ruled that it's constitutional to sentence juveniles to life imprisonment without the possibility parole for intentional homicide. The defendant in that case, Omer Ninham, was 14 years old when he was charged with killing a 13-year-old boy. The case will very likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
The Supreme Court hasn't yet decided whether sentencing a juvenile to “death in prison” is cruel and unusual punishment. It has, however, indicated that how we sentence juveniles has to be different from how we sentence adults. In both Roper v. Simmons and Graham v. Florida the Court relied on scientific evidence about the adolescent brain. Ultimately that evidence allowed the Court to conclude that extreme sentences—respectively, death penalty in cases of homicide and life imprisonment in cases short of homicide—violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

OJJDP Funding 2011: Family Drug Courts, Juvenile Probation Census

juvenile-justice-system_money-prismThe Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has announced the following funding opportunities:

  • Family Drug Court Programs - The Family Drug Courts Program builds the capacity of states, state and local courts, units of local government, and federally-recognized Indian tribal governments to either implement new drug courts or enhance pre-existing drug courts for individuals with substance abuse disorders or substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders including histories of trauma, involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse, neglect, and other parenting issues.
    Deadline June 20, 2011
  • National Juvenile Probation Census Project - This program supports the implementation and ongoing development and maintenance of two complementary national data collection programs that make up OJJDP’s National Juvenile Probation Census Project (NJPCP): the Census of Juvenile Probation Supervision Offices (CJPSO) and the Census of Juveniles on Probation (CJP).
    Deadline: June 29, 2011

>>More Information

Susan Richardson on Reclaiming Futures and What's Next

Background: On May 18 and 19, 2011, Reclaiming Futures hosted its biannual Leadership Institute for its participating sites. Held in Miami, the Institute featured presentations from leaders in the fields of youth work and juvenile justice. 

About This Archived Webcast: On Wednesday, May 18, Susan Richardson, Reclaiming Futures' new national director, gave a 30-minute presentation on her vision for Reclaiming Futures, the North Carolina experience and what to look forward to in the next six months.
 

 

Gordon Bazemore on Youth Development, Restorative Justice, and Social Capital and Restorative Decision-making

Background: On May 18 and 19, 2011, Reclaiming Futures hosted its biannual Leadership Institute for its participating sites. Held in Miami this year, the Institute featured presentations from leaders in the fields of youth work and juvenile justice. 

About This Archived Webcast: On Thursday, May 19, Dr. Gordon Bazemore, a leading expert in restorative justice and juvenile justice, gave a three-part presentation on youth development, restorative justice, and social capital and "restorative decision-making." >>Download the presentation slides.
 

 

Karen Pittman on Positive Youth Development and Teens in the Juvenile Justice System (Video)

Background: On May 18 and 19, 2011, Reclaiming Futures hosted its biannual Leadership Institute for its participating sites. Held in Miami, the Institute featured presentations from leaders in the fields of youth work and juvenile justice. 

About This Video: On May 18, 2011, Karen Pittman, a national leader in youth development work, gave a one-hour presentation on positive youth development—what it is, what it means, and how it can help communities make better decisions about their young people, including those in the juvenile justice system.  It was broadcast live and then posted as an archived video. 

 

Part two -- about the last three minutes of Karen's speech -- is below the break:

Juvenile Justice Reform: Community Organizing to Stop the Rail to Jail - Apply Now!

juvenile-justice-reform_stopping-the-rail-to-jail-coverFor parents, family members, and community advocates who care about young people in the juvenile justice system:
The Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) and the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) are pleased to announce the application process for "Organizing 101: Community Organizing to Stop the Rail to Jail!" (See CJNY's publication, "Stopping the Rail to Jail" by clicking the image at right.)
This will be an intergenerational organizing intensive taking place August 11-15, 2011 just outside of Washington D.C. We are excited to offer change makers from across the U.S. an opportunity to gain skills and the means to be able to attend this intensive.
The goals of this organizing 101 intensive are:

  • Build community with like-minded individuals
  • Deepen participants' community organizing skills
  • Introduce participants to effective strategies to hold their local juvenile justice systems accountable

Juvenile Justice, Child Welfare Proceedings on Film for Research and Training, and More: A Roundup

Positive Youth Development: Working with Kids in the Juvenile Justice System

positive-youth-development_positive-youth-justice-coverA few days ago, I posted about a framework for providing opportunities for young people in the juvenile justice system to develop important skills that build on their competencies instead of their deficits in Positive Youth Justice - a Model for Building Assets in the Juvenile Justice System. This was based on a publication authored by Jeffrey Butts, Gordon Bazemore, and Aundra Saa Meroe, and published by the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, titled, Positive Youth Justice: Framing Justice Interventions Using the Concepts of Positive Youth Development.
 
At the back of the publication, I found these inspiring "rules" for creating youth development programs: 

  1. Assume that young people are competent. When you start with the assumption that youth are damaged, some of them will likely “catch” the very problem they think they are supposed to have.
  2. When working with young people, make sure they are in mixed groups—youth and adults solving common community problems together, and making sure youth themselves come from a mix of the usual group labels—good/bad, quick/slow, etc.
  3. Jobs and activities for youth must be important, rewarding, and meaningful to create a sense of success, contribution, and belonging.

Adolescent Portable Therapy (Substance Abuse Treatment Where Young People Are): Still Innovating, 10 Years Out

 
The following post is reprinted with permission of the Vera Institute of Justice, which created the Adolescent Portable Therapy program, depicted in this video below, from 2006. - Ed.

 
I joined the Adolescent Portable Therapy program in 2001, just after its launch. At that time there was a total of four clients in the program. APT was created to fill a need for flexible substance abuse treatment for young people involved with the New York City juvenile justice system. Because that population is so fluid—kids moving between facilities and between city and state stakeholders—Vera’s innovation was to make the therapist portable. We began working with young people in detention shortly after their arrest, following them as they moved through the juvenile justice system and ultimately home to their families.

The Straight Dope on Fake Dope

adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_spiceIn Jordan Cox’s view, it was a waste of money. The high, he said, was more like the head rush he got taking his first drag off a cigarette in middle school; not at all like smoking weed.
Cox was smoking something his friends called “spice,” a mixture of dried herbs sprayed with a synthetic cannabinoid that mimicked the effects of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. At least, it was supposed to feel like smoking pot.
“It was fake and you could tell,” said Cox, a 22-year-old Georgia college student. “The high was delayed, but it was nothing intense or unmanageable.”
Spice is one common name for a whole range of products sold legally in head shops, gas stations, and smoking stores across the nation. The small, square pouches of dried plant matter bear names such as “K4,” “Spice Gold” and “Mojo.” Each package says the contents are incense, the absence of any scented ingredients notwithstanding. On the back of the pouch is a stark warning, the final brick in the wall surrounding the manufacturer from liability: “Not For Human Consumption.”

I Want to Say Hello Again to the Ice Cream Man

positive-youth-development_ice-cream-man-logo
[The following post, by a young woman in juvenile detention in King County, Washington, is reprinted with permission from the Pongo Teen Writing website, run by Richard Gold. See also his post, "Poetry as Treatment for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System."
 
NOTE: On Saturday, May 14, 2011, Pongo is holding a workshop for teachers and counselors covering techniques on therapeutic writing in Seattle - scholarships are available. -Ed.]
 
 
Ice Cream Man
by a young woman, age 16 
 
I just thought you should know
that sometimes I'm afraid of you
I don't mind you rep'ing the gangs
but sometimes when I look into your eyes
I see violence against me
I see violence against your grandma
and it hurts me inside
 
I just thought you should know
I want to work in here someday
helping kids that went through what I went through
help them understand why I ran away from home
because my parents beat me
because the stress in my life made me do something stupid
I was the girl who stopped going to school
I was the girl who stopped listening to her parents
who started drinking and smoking

Computer-Based Treatment Outperforms Treatment As Usual - And More: A Roundup

  • adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment_old-TVTaking the "Anonymous" out of A.A.
    Increasingly, adults in Alcoholics Anonymous are coming out of the closet and talking about their addiction and their membership in A.A. Is this a healthy sign that the stigma around addiction is decreasing, or does it threaten something that's critical to recovery -- and does all this look different when it comes to teens? Leave a comment below.
  • Computer-Based Interventions for Drug-Use Disorders: a Systematic Review According to a research survey published in the April 2011 issue of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, "Compared to treatment-as-usual, computer-based interventions led to less substance use and higher motivation to change, better retention, and greater knowledge of presented information. Computer-based interventions for drug use disorders have the potential to dramatically expand and alter the landscape of treatment." (Hat tip to Paul Savery.)

Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare: Multi-System Integration Certificate Program for Private Sector Leaders

 
juvenile-justice-reform_2010-conference-photos
Want to increase your knowledge about how to reform the way the juvenile justice and child welfare systems work together to help young people who are involved in both systems?  
Want to network with other professionals working toward the same goal?
 
Then consider applying to attend the 2011 Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare: Multi-System Integration Certificate Program for Private Sector Leaders, sponsored by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and held November 2-8, 2011 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
 
According to the program sponsors, it's "geared toward service providers that work with youth known to the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, as well as advocates, academicians, foundation staff and others whose work is closely related to improving service delivery for crossover youth and relationships between the private and public sectors."
>>More information about the curriculum for the program, the selection criteria, tuition and access the application. Applications are due July 27, 2011.
>>Questions? Email Kristina Rosinsky.
>>Apply Now

Positive Youth Justice - a Model for Building Assets in the Juvenile Justice System

positive-youth-development_diagram-positive-youth-justice-model
 
We often assume that teens land in the juvenile justice system because they're "villains" or victims (of trauma, circumstance, or a behavioral health issue like substance abuse).  But what if we used a different lens?
What if we assumed that teens commit crimes to meet needs typical of of all adolescents? After all, during this phase of development, teens want excitement, power, status, and a sense of belonging. (Plus, they're not strong on empathy, paving the way for criminal behavior.)

Webinar on Risk/Needs Assessment in Juvenile Justice



juvenile-justice-system_arrow-painted-on-streetFrom the Council of State Governments' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project comes news of a webinar you might be interested in. Here's the press release:
 


Webinar - Maximizing The Impact Of Juvenile Justice Interventions: The Importance Of Risk/Needs Assessment

 
Emerging research demonstrates that punishment and sanctions do not deter juvenile reoffending and, in some cases, may even increase it. This research shows that juvenile justice agencies are more effective when they base interventions on a youth's level of risk for re-offending and specific "criminogenic needs" (factors that contribute to the youth reoffending that can change over time), and apply these interventions in a way that is responsive to individual learning styles. This is known as the "Risk-Needs-Responsivity" principle. To promote this principle, agencies should identify youths' level of risk for reoffending and specific criminogenic needs by adopting and properly implementing an evidence-based risk assessment tool.
 
This webinar will review the foundational concepts of risk assessment and its implementation in juvenile justice agencies. Topics to be covered include how to select a tool, how risk assessment differs from mental health screening, how the approach should differ depending on the juvenile justice setting, and some key points for effective implementation.
 
 
Presenter
Gina M. Vincent, Ph.D. Dr. Vincent is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Co-Director of the National Youth Screening and Assessment Project. Dr. Vincent has received funding from NIDA, NIMH and the MacArthur Foundation for studies relevant to youth risk for reoffending, mental health problems, and substance abuse. She has published, lectured, and presented research at over 100 international and national conferences and juvenile justice facilities in the areas of juvenile callous-unemotional traits, implementing risk/needs assessment, and mental health symptoms in juvenile justice.
 
 
Date: Thursday, May 5th, 2011, 2:00-3:00pm EST
 
To register, please click here.
  

Social Inclusion for People in Recovery: Innovative Community Programs (Teleconference)

adolescent-mental-health_two-people-separated-by-chasmMost people need to feel included -- for young people in recovery from alcohol and drug use or living with mental health issues, it's critical for them to feel that they can contribute to their communities. 
But how can your community promote this? Check out this free teleconference from SAMHSA's Resource Center to Promote Acceptance, Dignity and Social Inclusion Associated with Mental Health (ADS Center).  It will be held May 9, 2011, from 12pm-1:30pm PST / 3pm-4:30pm EST.
In the spotlight will be three innovative programs "that are improving lives, changing communities, and transforming systems through social inclusion practices." Here are the details, quoted from the press release:

Delinquent Youths' Attitudes Toward Crime - Surprising Findings

positive-youth-development_drifting-between-worlds-coverDo delinquent teens see criminal activity as something positive? 
Many adults assume that they do. However, research by Rachel Swaner and Elise White, published in 2010 by the Center for Court Innovation, suggests that for some youth at least, their attitudes and values are not anti-social at all. Though the youth outcomes in their study were not terribly positive, it underscores the need to provide youth with opportunities to do positive activities that reinforce their positive values. 
The study, titled, "Drifting Between Worlds: Delinquency and Positive Engagement among Red Hook Youth,"  involved a small sample of 44 youth in a housing project in Red Hook, Brooklyn. About half participated in Youth ECHO, a positive youth development program that enlisted the youth themselves in choosing community problems to tackle, and creating guerrilla marketing campaigns to address them. 
A few highlights from the study:

Interrupting Violence: CeaseFire Chicago

 
 
I've written before about CeaseFire, an organization funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that approaches violence as a public health problem. It uses "violence interrupters" -- individuals who've been in gangs and involved in street violence themselves -- to work the streets to learn about potential trouble and intervene with the individuals where possible.
Now a film, "The Interrupters," has been made about the work of three of CeaseFire's staff. Check out the trailer above -- I think you'll find it riveting, scary, and inspiring.
[UPDATE May 5, 2011: The film was not a production of CeaseFire, but was made independently by Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz.]

Painkiller Abuse Among Teens - Epidemic in Ohio, White House Action Plan, What Works

adolescent-substance-abuse_prescription-drugsThe White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issued a national action plan to address prescription opiod abuse, titled, "Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis."  The key elements are education, tracking and monitoring (using prescription monitoring programs), drug disposal programs, and law enforcement.
Prescription painkiller abuse has hit Ohio particularly hard, according to The New York Times.

“We’re raising third and fourth generations of prescription drug abusers now,” said Chief Charles Horner of the Portsmouth police, who often notes that more people died from overdoses in Ohio in 2008 and 2009 than in the World Trade Center attack in 2001.

“We should all be outraged,” Chief Horner said. “It should be a No. 1 priority.”

And the impact isn't just on adults:

“Around here, everyone has a kid who’s addicted,” said Lisa Roberts, a nurse who works for the Portsmouth Health Department. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a police chief, a judge or a Baptist preacher. It’s kind of like a rite of passage.” 

>>Full story.

NAACP: More Education, Less Incarceration

juvenile-justice-system_cover-Misplaced-Priorities-reportThe NAACP  recently released a report that draws a direct connection between increasing criminal justice budgets and shrinking education budgets, Using data from six cities - New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Jackson, MS, and Houston -- the NAACP argues in Misplaced Priorities: Overincarcerate, Undereducate, that new investments need to be made in diverting young offenders from the justice system, providing support to those reentering their community after incarceration, and more.
The handling of drug-related offenses get prominent attention. Among the report's findings:

  • "The nation’s reliance on incarceration to respond to social and behavioral health issues is evidenced by the large numbers of people who are incarcerated for drug offenses. Among people in federal prisons, people in local jails, and young people held in the nation’s detention centers and local secure facilities, more than 500,000 people— nearly a quarter of all those incarcerated—are incarcerated as the result of a drug conviction."

The report appropriately points out that people of color are disproportionately represented among the incarcerated -- but also found that had schools with the worst performance were clustered in neighborhoods with the highest incarceration rates.
And nothing sums up the NAACP's basic argument about "misplaced priorities" better than this statistic:

  • "During the last two decades, as the criminal justice system came to assume a larger proportion of state discretionary dollars, state spending on prisons grew at six times the rate of state spending on higher education."

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