Juvenile Life Without Parole: The Confusion Remains; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• OP-ED: Digging up the Past (JJIE.org & The Miami Herald)
  Sometimes, only by unearthing the skeletons of a tortured past can they be given a proper burial. That is what is happening in Marianna, in North Florida, literally and figuratively. A team of researchers, including anthropologists, archeologists, students and police detectives are searching, painstakingly, for the remains of young boys once confined to the Dozier School for Boys.
• Wisconsin Considers Keeping Non-Violent Teen Offenders In Juvenile Court (Wisconsin Public Radio News)
  Wisconsin is moving slowly towards changing the age at which teenagers are automatically treated as adults when they commit a crime. A bill introduced Thursday would allow 17-year-olds who commit nonviolent crimes to be tried in juvenile court.
• OP-ED: Juvenile Life Without Parole: The Confusion Remains (JJIE.org)
  "Last June, on the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Miller v. Alabama, I spoke to a long-time advocate for the elimination of juvenile life without parole. Like a lot of people, I was pleased with the ruling, and saw it as a victory not only for activists but for science-based research into the juvenile brain."

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• The Partnership at Drugfree.org Hosts Facebook Chat with Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Drugfree.org)
  The Partnership at Drugfree.org, the national nonprofit leading The Medicine Abuse Project, a multi-year initiative aimed at preventing half a million teens from abusing medicine over the next five years, is partnering with Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). She will be the featured guest on the next “Meet The Parents Hour,” The Partnership’s hour-long live Facebook chat and Q&A session taking place on Monday, September 16 at 12 p.m. EDT/9 a.m. PDT.
• A Teenager’s Suicide: What Can Be Learned? (The New York Times)
  Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to-24-year-olds. Only accidents and homicides claim more lives in this age group. Research demonstrates that most adolescents who commit suicide are struggling with untreated depression or other significant psychiatric disorders. In half of such cases, the signs and symptoms are present, but often undetected, for at least two years.
• Psychosis in Kids Must be Treated Early (IrishHealth.com)
  It is essential that psychosis in children and teenagers is picked up as early as possible and treatment is implemented without delay, doctors have warned. Psychosis refers to a mental state in which a person is detached from reality and experiences a number of abnormal symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and incoherent thoughts. The most well known psychotic condition is probably schizophrenia.
• 5-Fold Increase in ADHD Medication Use in Children and Adolescents (HealthCanal.com)
  Use of stimulant medications to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents has increased significantly over the past several years. This trend toward increased use of prescription stimulants extends beyond ADHD to other types of neuropsychiatric disorders in children and teens as well, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to a study published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (JCAP) , a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

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.