All in Reading Recommendations

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 2.0

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 2.0

Mike Langenright
Research Topics, Reading Recommendations

The incarceration rate in the United States has been increasing dramatically since the 1970’s, sparking growing concerns about both the financial costs and human harms associated with having such a large portion of the population behind bars—and one that is disproportionately made up of members of racial and ethnic minority groups from low-income communities. The challenge that leaders in criminal justice face is how to reduce detention rates without increasing crime. Better yet, are there strategies that minimize both criminal activity and the prison population?

Model Policy: Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex Youth in Confinement Facilities

Model Policy: Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex Youth in Confinement Facilities

Lisa Greco
Research Topics, Reading Recommendations

The Need for Policy Guidance

The vulnerability of transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex (TGNCI) youth is well-documented. In a 2018 survey of 5,600 transgender and gender expansive youth, 84% of youth experienced verbal threats, 53% experienced bullying at school, 57% had been mocked or taunted by their families, and 16% had been sexually attacked or raped – all based on their actual or perceived gender identity. Because of pervasive stigma and discrimination, TGNC youth experience disproportionately high rates of psychological distress, homelessness, and bullying. TGNC youth of color, who experience discrimination at the intersections of race and gender identity, experience extraordinarily high rates of violence and mistreatment.

Promoting a New Direction for Youth Justice: Strategies to Fund a Community-Based Continuum of Care and Opportunity

Promoting a New Direction for Youth Justice: Strategies to Fund a Community-Based Continuum of Care and Opportunity

Mike Langenright
Research Topics, Reading Recommendations

This report identifies proven, promising, and innovative strategies for identifying funds and using those resources to invest in a robust continuum of care and opportunity, particularly in historically disenfranchised communities in which youth and families may be particularly susceptible to justice system involvement. The strategies put forth in this brief cover four areas: capturing and redirecting savings from reduced youth incarceration and facility closure; repurposing youth facilities and leveraging land value; maximizing existing state and federal funding opportunities; and implementing innovative strategies to fund community investment.

Transforming Juvenile Justice Systems to Improve Public Safety and Youth Outcomes

Transforming Juvenile Justice Systems to Improve Public Safety and Youth Outcomes

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations, Research Topics

Juvenile justice systems have undoubtedly made extraordinary improvements over the past two decades—incarceration rates have been cut in half nationwide; juvenile arrest rates remain at historical lows; and, in alignment with what research shows works to improve outcomes for youth, the majority of states have adopted data-driven tools and evidence-based programming. But other measures tell a more complex story: in spite of recent gains, most juvenile justice systems are still not operating as effectively as possible.

Transforming Juvenile Probation

Transforming Juvenile Probation

Mike Langenright
Juvenile Justice News, Reading Recommendations, Research Topics

The Annie E. Casey Foundation presents its vision for transforming juvenile probation into a focused intervention that promotes personal growth, positive behavior change and long-term success for youth who pose significant risks for serious offending. Nearly a half-million young people are given some form of probation annually and it serves as a critical gatekeeper to determine whether young people are placed in residential institutions. Probation plays a significant role in perpetuating the vast overrepresentation of African-American, Latino and other youth of color in our nation’s justice systems.

Young Offenders Weigh in on Connecticut's Juvenile Justice Overhaul

Young Offenders Weigh in on Connecticut's Juvenile Justice Overhaul

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations

Connecticut is in the process of overhauling its juvenile justice system. Plans to close the state’s juvenile jail in Middletown are underway and legislators are looking to replace it with a more effective system. To help find solutions, a new report has been created from the perspective of delinquent youth. 

Young people who’ve experienced the juvenile justice system know firsthand what doesn’t work. But the bigger question is, what do they need to succeed?

PUBLICATION ADVISORY: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Releases "Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2014: Selected Findings"

PUBLICATION ADVISORY: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Releases "Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2014: Selected Findings"

Mike Langenright
Research Topics, Reading Recommendations

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) today released Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2014:  Selected Findings, a biannual census that collects information about characteristics of facilities for justice-involved youth, such as their size, structure, type, ownership, security arrangements and the range of services they provide to youth in their care.

Juvenile Justice: An Examination of Disparities in Dispositions

Juvenile Justice: An Examination of Disparities in Dispositions

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations, Research Topics

The present study tests the utility of status characteristics and expectation states theory in the context of the juvenile court. The theory contends that there is dispositional certainty when case related factors are consistently rated serious or nonserious; the severity of the sanction will reflect the seriousness of the case. However, the likelihood of sentencing disparities based on individual characteristics (e.g., race and SES) increases as case related factors become increasingly inconsistent, with some rated serious and others rated nonserious.

Trauma-informed Care for Juvenile Justice Staff Must Include Self-care

Trauma-informed Care for Juvenile Justice Staff Must Include Self-care

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations

Juvenile justice professionals are evolving to better understand the impact of trauma on youth. In 2012 the U.S. Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence called for organizations to provide trauma-informed care and develop trauma-informed policies.

Trauma care of youth, those who are justice-involved and those who are not, begins first with good employee self-care, which is intertwined with good team care.

Juvenile Justice System Uses Physical Restraints Banned In Schools

Juvenile Justice System Uses Physical Restraints Banned In Schools

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations

While state public schools have banned staff from using Aikido-style physical restraints on students, Kentucky’s Department of Juvenile Justice continues to use the method.

This week, the Kentucky Department of Education ordered all public schools to stop using “Aikido Control Training” restraints amid questions over the method’s safety.

Members of a state oversight panel on child abuse recently raised concern that Aikido-style restraints can result in injuries, according to The Courier-Journal, which first reported the school ban.

Can a nonprofit turn around education in New Orleans' juvenile detention facility?

Can a nonprofit turn around education in New Orleans' juvenile detention facility?

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations

A decade ago, the Youth Study Center -- New Orleans’ troubled juvenile detention facility -- would have been unlikely to attract an educational trailblazer.

The roughly 40 teenagers held in the flood-damaged center rarely made it to classes because they were often on lockdown 23 hours a day. The staff had a reputation for incompetence. The building was plagued with bugs and mold.

But this summer, the Orleans Parish School Board turned over operation of the school to the national nonprofit Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings, which is known for its work tackling the academic deficits faced by juvenile delinquents.

Juvenile Justice System Should Morph Into Surrogate Grandparent, Not Parent

Juvenile Justice System Should Morph Into Surrogate Grandparent, Not Parent

Mike Langenright
Reading Recommendations

The creation of the juvenile court was a spectacular triumph of the progressive movement in the late 19th century. Advocating for a separate legal process was a bold statement about the developmental differences between adult and adolescents and, consequently, the mitigated culpability of youth who commit crimes...

Juvenile courts thus began under the legal precedent of parens patriae (parent of the nation); the same precedent that allows the state to remove abused and neglected children from their homes.

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