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Viewing Recommendations, Ideas and Opinions

Juvenile defenders can challenge solitary confinement.

Dec 20

Dec 20 Judge or jury: Who should resentence juvenile lifers?

Ideas and Opinions, Juvenile Justice News

The 2012 Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama held that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional.

The court’s 2016 decision in Montgomery v. Louisiana said the Miller decision was retroactive, meaning that everyone sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile is entitled to have their sentences reconsidered.

The next legal question for juvenile lifers that could potentially come from the United States Supreme Court is whether a jury or judge should be the one to consider and impose the new sentences.

Dec 20

Dec 20 Moving Police Officers From Enforcers to Protectors

Ideas and Opinions

“I hate the police” and other comments, profanity-filled, are shouted to Houston Police officers as they enter a classroom filled with teenagers. This is week one of the 11-week Teen and Police Service (TAPS) Academy. Mistrust is high as these adjudicated youth meet their TAPS officers for the first time.

Through a Texas Education Agency-approved curriculum that grants one high school credit to students upon completion, TAPS Academy officers and teens alike learn about conflict mediation, police interaction, drugs avoidance, bullying, safe driving, date violence reduction, bullying and other subjects to create mutual understanding and respect among each other.

Dec 20

Dec 20 St. Louis County Family Court signs agreement with feds to correct racial inequities

After 16 months of negotiations, the St. Louis County Family Court and the federal Department of Justice struck a formal agreement Wednesday to correct alleged racial inequity in the court’s handling of juvenile delinquency cases.

The agreement also addresses conflicts of interest and failures to provide fair legal representation.

Dec 15

Dec 15 Michigan House paves way for less strict school discipline policies

Juvenile Justice News, Local News

A vote in the Michigan House this afternoon will upend many of the strict, zero-tolerance policies in schools that many say are unfairly kicking kids out of school — sometimes for months at a time — for offenses that could be handled differently.

The House voted 107-1 today to provide the final legislative approval of a package of bills aimed at giving schools greater flexibility in meting out punishment to students — and ultimately cutting back on the number of kids expelled or suspended from Michigan schools.

The House vote came after the Senate voted 37-0 Tuesday night. The House originally approved the bipartisan, seven-bill package in June, but had to vote again today because of changes made to the legislation in the Senate.

Dec 14

Dec 14 Juvenile diversion program steers kids back on the straightened path

RAPID CITY, S.D. ( KOTA TV ) The State of South Dakota is awarding funds to 25 counties for successfully diverting juvenile offenders from the criminal justice system.

The counties will share a total of $242,500 in funding under a fiscal incentive program as part of the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Initiative (Senate Bill 73) passed by the 2015 Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

Dec 13

Dec 13 Juvenile detention centers struggle with transgender inmates

Juvenile Justice News, Criminal Justice News

PORTLAND, Maine – The nation's juvenile detention centers are largely ill-equipped to handle transgender teens, leaving them vulnerable to bullying, sexual assault, depression and suicide, advocates say.

Young transgender people are too often sent to girls' or boys' lockups based on their anatomy, not their gender identity, and can end up suffering psychologically and getting picked on by other inmates or staff members, according to advocacy groups. Even when they are assigned to detention centers that correspond to their gender identity, they are often victimized.

Dec 13

Dec 13 Drug overdoses now kill more Americans than guns

National News

More than 50,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year — the most ever.

The disastrous tally has been pushed to new heights by soaring abuse of heroin and prescription painkillers, a class of drugs known as opioids.

Heroin deaths rose 23 percent in one year, to 12,989, slightly higher than the number of gun homicides, according to government data released Thursday.

Dec 12

Dec 12 Sgt. Paul Pardue: Initiative has reduced juvenile arrests

Ideas and Opinions, Juvenile Justice News

The Racial and Ethnic Disparities Initiative of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office is not only working, it is changing the lives of our citizens.

The R.E.D. initiative started back in 2012 long before it had a name. The School Resource Bureau changed its policies when our on-campus arrest numbers reached the hundreds and were way out of control. We stopped arresting for probation violations and petty misdemeanor crimes and started doing what we were supposed to do - educate our children.

Dec 12

Dec 12 Juvenile offenders face new restorative justice program

The North Bend Police Department has adopted a new program to help juvenile offenders, one that also gives power back to the victims.

Chief Robert Kappelman first heard of "restorative justice" when he was still working for his old department in Wisconsin, where troubled youth had no place to go. The juvenile detention center had closed, so his department was forced to find an alternative method, and "rightly so, because locking kids up is not the best way to change future behavior and we know that," Kappelman said.

Dec 8

Dec 8 Self-Control Is Just Empathy With Your Future Self

Research Topics

The same part of the brain that allows us to step into the shoes of others also helps us restrain ourselves.

Dec 8

Dec 8 Clash of Views on Treating Juvenile Offenders

Juvenile Justice News, Facility News

Local juvenile justice advocates opposed to incarceration of youth offenders attended a public meeting Wednesday to criticize Milwaukee County administrators who havE recommended building a state-financed 36-bed secure facility here as an alternative to the troubled Lincoln Hills boys prison in northern Wisconsin.

Dec 8

Dec 8 Task Force Recommending Six Ideas for Juvenile Justice System Reform

Criminal Justice News, Juvenile Justice News

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Next month, Tennessee lawmakers will consider changing the way juveniles are prosecuted. A juvenile justice task force has come up six tentative recommendations that would help rehabilitate juvenile offenders.

We got a copy of the suggestions from State Senator Mark Norris's office. He's the chairman of that task force.

Dec 8

Dec 8 Ed. Dept. Releases Resources for Young People Exiting the Juvenile-Justice System

In an effort to help young people transition from juvenile-justice back to their original schools or other educational settings, the U.S. Department of Education released various resources last week to help them, educators, and other navigate the process.

The new set of materials includes a guide for those leaving juvenile-justice facilities, a toolkit for administrators and other educators to assist youth in the juvenile-justice system, as well was

Dec 7

Dec 7 Why Try Level 1 Training being hosted by Calhoun County Juvenile Home in Marshall, MI

Tori Benden

MJDA Member News

The WhyTry Level 1 Training is a two-day course that will prepare you to use
the WhyTry Program in a real-world setting. The course includes a
discussion of WhyTry’s ten visual analogies, an introduction to WhyTry
music, a peek at several of WhyTry’s learning activities, opportunities to
practice teaching through role-play, as well as a discussion of how to apply
the program in your specific setting.

Dec 6

Dec 6 How States Are Making the Holidays Merry, Even for Prisoners

The “most wonderful time of the year” may be the hardest for tens of thousands of young people locked up for the holidays.

But many states try — within the confines of security rules, budgets and protocols — to make the season a little brighter for youthful offenders, who often are housed far from home

Dec 6

Dec 6 California Wraparound Program Reduces Juvenile Recidivism by Focusing on Mental Health

LOS ANGELES — Manuel Dircio, 20, a business administration student at Fullerton College boasts a 4.0 GPA.

He is also a recovering alcoholic with a history of arrest and incarceration in juvenile detention — not quite what you’d expect from a seemingly model college student with a stellar grade point.

Dec 6

Dec 6 Prop. 57 sends minors on new path through court system

Weeks after voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 57, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office and prosecutors across the state have initiated their own policies concerning juvenile offenders who face criminal charges as adults.

Under the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, which took effect the day after the Nov. 8 election, prosecutors no longer have the ability to directly file complaints in adult court involving felony crimes allegedly committed by minors. It also includes

Dec 6

Dec 6 Trump Taps Carson, Not Woodson, To Lead Housing and Urban Development

National News, Juvenile Justice News

In late November, Youth Services Insider reported on the possibility that Robert Woodson, Sr., president of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, would lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development for President-Elect Donald Trump. Woodson has worked at HUD before, is an advisor on poverty issues for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), and has overseen the development of a successful violence prevention model.

Dec 6

Dec 6 Reducing Recidivism for Justice-Involved Youth