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All in Juvenile Justice News
A controversial practice of routinely handcuffing and chaining children who appear in juvenile court has been stopped by Jefferson District Judge David Holton, to the delight of children's advocates and public defenders who have decried the practice since it began in 2011.
The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would make correctional officers in juvenile prisons mandatory reporters for child abuse and neglect.
HOUSTON (KTRK) --
ABC13 Investigates has learned Harris County's Juvenile Probation Department recently transferred dozens of severely mentally ill juveniles from a psychiatric hospital to the downtown detention center. The move comes after the department canceled its contract with the Harris County Psychiatric Center on January 31.
A proposal to limit the discretionary power prosecutors wield in charging juveniles as adults in Florida has surfaced once again in the Legislature.
For several years, versions of a bill to change how minors end up in adult court have failed. But state Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, a co-sponsor of this year's SB 192, said he is optimistic the measure will move forward this time given the shift in valuing rehabilitation over punishment.
In juvenile court circles, the program is loosely referred to as the mental health docket. Its more formal title is IDD, which stands for Individualized Disposition Docket. Loosely modeled after a similar program in California, it has been a quiet collaboration between the court, Lighthouse Youth Services, Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board and Mental Health Access Point. Based on early successes, it expanded to include the Pretrial Diversion Docket (PDD) that seeks to catch kids earlier in the court system.
FRANKFORT – On February 15, the Department of Juvenile Justice will begin accepting applications for the Title II Formula Grants Program, which supports initiatives to keep low-level juvenile offenders out of the criminal justice system.
Approximately $300,000 will be available through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the U.S. Department of Justice. Individual grants of up to $100,000 may be awarded.
Austin high school student Elijah Corpus spent one month behind bars for drug possession when he was 17. An alternative school, though, had the bigger impact, he said.
Now 18, he's helping lawmakers, advocates and other students push the state to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18. Under state law, 17-year-olds are treated as adults in criminal cases. Supporters say 17-year-olds are minors and that throwing them in lockups with adults can put them in harm's way, cause mental anguish and usher them toward a life of crime. Treatment, in the juvenile justice system, is the better answer, they say.
BOSTON (WWLP) – State lawmakers are looking at changes to the Massachusetts criminal justice system, which could keep teenagers away from adult prisons.
The proposal could make Massachusetts the first state in the country to raise the age of juvenile court past 18. Four state lawmakers have filed a bill to include young adults in the juvenile justice system, rather than sending them to adult prisons.
Supporters say the proposal would reduce crime, save taxpayer dollars, and give 18 to 21 year-olds a second chance.
A Juvenile Justice Summit at the Washington Post recently brought together experts in the field to discuss how federal and state efforts — including a movement to end solitary confinement for youth — can improve the justice system for young people. The Annie E. Casey Foundation was the presenting sponsor, and news site Mic co-presented the summit.
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice is requesting $5.2 million more in the upcoming state budget to to add 60 beds at its residential facilities. Some advocates say that money could be put to better use to help kids avoid residential facilities altogether.
Wisconsin is one of just a handful of states that has allowed its youngest prison inmates to be punished by placing them in solitary confinement for more than 10 days — a practice that is at the heart of a federal lawsuit filed this week.
And it’s in the minority nationally in not prohibiting punitive solitary confinement, which inmates at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls have faced as punishment for serious misbehavior since the facility opened in 1970, according to a 2016 survey conducted by the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest.
Legislation to protect young people from establishing criminal records for petty theft, alcohol usage, vandalism, and other misdemeanor offenses is moving forward.
The Florida Senate Committee on Criminal Justice has given its nod to a bill that would require a law enforcement officer to make one of two choices when encountering a young person who has committed a misdemeanor offense for the first time: Issue a civil citation instead of an arrest; or require that the young person participate in a diversion program such as a conflict resolution class, teen court or community service.
Nearly nine out of 10 of the kids locked up in the juvenile jail in Middletown are black and Latino — a deeply ingrained racial disparity that advocates want to see broken this legislative session as officials follow the governor's order to close the sprawling jail compound by next year.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- There was often a festive atmosphere in Judge John M. Jacobsen’s courtroom on Friday mornings in the Oklahoma County Juvenile Justice Center.
Jacobsen was a juvenile court judge in Oklahoma County, and for most of the weeks his dockets dealt with young people who had been had been found to be deprived of the family support children need, but on Friday he presided over adoptions for some of those children.
A new documentary film Determined 2 Make It tells the stories of youth who have participated in Youth Arts Alliance! workshops and shows how art, music, photography and more can be powerful forms of self-expression for incarcerated youth.
Florida law enforcement officers have the discretion to issue civil citations to minors caught committing misdemeanor crimes, but a newly filed bill would make them mandatory.
More than 100 years ago, Illinois became the first state to create a separate court for juveniles. Now, Illinois is once again changing the way it treats young offenders. Read the three part series here.
With the 2015-2016 Michigan Legislative Season coming to a close, there is a lot of good—and bad—news about what made it through to Gov. Snyder’s desk during the last few weeks of session.
“Youth prisons are failing our children in this state, but particularly our children of color,” explained Andrea McChristian from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
If you take a look inside New Jersey’s juvenile justice system you’ll see the racial disparities laid bare. Seventy-five percent of incarcerated kids are black. That gap among races is the third-highest in the country.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) today released the research-based Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Guidelines to support judges, professional court staff, and families in responding to the needs of youth with substance use disorders.
