Kids For Cash: Inside One of the Nation’s Most Shocking Juvenile Justice Scandals; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Massachusetts Begins Juvenile Justice Initiative (WAMC.org)
  Massachusetts has launched an initiative to reduce recidivism by signing a contract for the largest pay-for-success financial investment in the country. The goal is to improve the lives of nearly 400 at-risk youth in western Massachusetts, reduce crime, and save taxpayers money.
• Kids For Cash: Inside One of the Nation’s Most Shocking Juvenile Justice Scandals (DemocracyNow.org)
  This special on "kids for cash," details the shocking story of how thousands of children in Pennsylvania were jailed by two corrupt judges who received $2.6 million in kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities.
• The JJIE Interview: Bart Lubow, the Man Behind JDAI (JJIE.org)
  JJIE asked Lubow, 66, to talk about his tenure and legacy at Casey, particularly JDAI, the nation’s most widely replicated juvenile reform effort, now operating at more than 250 sites in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Edited excerpts of the interview are included.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Childhood Early Aggression More Related to Genes Than Earlier Thought (JJIE.org)
  Childhood aggression may have more to do with a child’s genes than his or her surroundings, a new study has found. But environment and parenting remain key factors in the upbringing of young children, according to child development experts.
• OJJDP Relaunches Updated Model Programs Guide (ReclaimingFutures.org)
  The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has relaunched its Model Programs Guide (MPG), an online resource of more than 180 evidence-based prevention, intervention, and reentry programs for juvenile justice practitioners, policymakers, and communities.
• Children at Risk for Long Term Anxiety (AllVoices.com)
  In a new study led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center researchers set out to determine whether acute clinical improvement and treatment type (ie, cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, or their combination) predicted remission of anxiety and improvement in global functioning at a mean of 6 years after randomization and to examine predictors of outcomes at follow-up.
• Doctors Say Bully-Free Zones, Acceptance Training Will Make Schools Safer (Courant.com)
  During a recent meeting of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, a group formed to investigate the factors that drove Adam Lanza to kill 20 children and six adults and to study the state's mental health system, doctors spoke of the need for schools to adopt concrete principles of inclusion and recognition, in order to become even safer places.

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.