How Communities are Keeping Kids Out of Crime; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Federal Juvenile Justice Funding Declines Precipitously (JJIE)
  When congressional lawmakers last reauthorized the landmark Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, in fiscal year 2002, they appropriated about $547 million for juvenile justice. Today, federal spending on juvenile justice totals less than half that amount — about $251 million.

• Positive Youth Justice, Part One: Rosie’s Place, Olympia, Wash. (Chronicle of Social Change)
  Last week, The Chronicle of Social Change introduced “Positive Youth Justice: Curbing Crime, Building Assets.” It is a series that imagines an entire continuum of juvenile justice services built on the positive youth development framework. We accomplish the “creation” of that continuum by profiling successful programs and organizations all over the country. Today, we begin with a program in Washington that aims to redirect youth who are, statistically speaking, hurtling towards involvement with law enforcement and the courts.

• With 'Raise the Age,' Cuomo Continues Push to Reform Juvenile Justice (Gotham Gazette)
  A classic battle between law-and-order Republicans and progressive Democrats is brewing in the state Legislature as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushes adoption of the recommendations of his Commission on Youth Public Safety and Justice - recommendations that include raising the age at which teens can be tried as adults.

• How Communities are Keeping Kids Out of Crime (Christian Science Monitor)
  Lucas County, which includes Toledo, is one of the leaders in this movement. Juvenile Court officials here do the “my kid” test with every case. They want to ensure all young people are being treated fairly, and they live by the mantra “The right kid in the right place at the right time” – targeting services to their needs and taking care not to mix children who are unlikely to commit more crimes with high-risk youths.

• To End Solitary Confinement, Rikers Steps Out Of The Box (NPR)
  New York's Rikers Island is the second-largest jail in the U.S., and one of the most notorious. But with a single move, Rikers has taken the lead on prison reform on one issue: Last month, the prison banned the use of solitary confinement for inmates under 21 years old.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

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Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Rampant medication use found among L.A. County foster, delinquent kids (LA Times)
  Los Angeles County officials are allowing the use of powerful psychiatric drugs on far more children in the juvenile delinquency and foster care systems than they had previously acknowledged, according to data obtained by The Times through a Public Records Act request.

• School drug incidents raise questions on Colo. pot policy (USA Today)
  Hundreds of Colorado's middle-school students got caught with drugs at school last year, setting a decade-high record while raising questions about the impact of the state's legal marijuana industry.

• Child Experience Study Can Identify Mental Illness Early (TWC News)
  Since the 1990s, doctors have used the Adverse Childhood Experience Study--or ACES--to understand what causes mental health problems in children. That study found that negative experiences in childhood--from abuse to even divorce--can shape the mental health of kids as they grow up.

• No help until 'crisis point' reached, report 80% of parents to children with mental health problems (Pulse Today)
  Over 80% of parents to children with mental health problems had to wait until a ‘crisis point’ before they could access support services. An NHS England-commissioned survey of over 350 parents involved in Young Minds’ ‘Parents Say’ project revealed a raft of problems that parents face when dealing with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).