Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/author/jjie-org/)
Amid a deepening debate over appropriate school discipline, board members of the nation's second largest school district — Los Angeles Unified — took bold steps this week sure to be noticed nationally. Continue Reading →
In 2010, the federal Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention released results from the first-ever nationally representative survey of youth confined in juvenile justice facilities. However, because interviews were conducted in 2003, the findings beg the question: What changes have occurred since 2003 in mental health care for confined youth? Continue Reading →
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With approximately 275 participants, representing 45 states and territories, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice held its annual conference in Washington, D.C. last week. Continue Reading →
The Coalition for Juvenile Justice’s annual conference is in Washington, D.C., this year between May 1 and 4. The JJIE is reporting from the event as well as giving participants an opportunity to talk about their work. Videos of the interviews will be posted here over the next few days. Dr. David Kemper – Executive Director/President, Life Bridge
Susan Kamp – Chair, Coalition for Juvenile Justice Executive Board (Vt.)
Erin Lear – Midwest Regional Representative, CJJ (Mo.)
David Schmidt, State Director – New Mexico Council on Crime and Delinquency:
Judge Jerrauld Jones, Norfolk Circuit Court, Norfolk, Va.:
Symone Sanders - Chair, National Youth Committee (Neb.)
The federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Administrator, Robert Listenbee, officially announced Friday the reorganization of the office. Continue Reading →
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch issued a new report Wednesday discussing the many negative impacts—on children and society—of including juveniles on sex offender registries. Following Wednesday’s story on this site about the report, “Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the U.S.,” JJIE called three experts in the field to ask why including juvenile sex offenders in these registries may or may not make sense. Continue Reading →
To celebrate Law Day — an annual event, celebrated May 1, that is sponsored by the American Bar Association (ABA) — the ABA teamed up with Global Youth Justice (GYJ) in an effort to help youth courts across more than 40 states launch 250 websites. According to the Global Youth Justice website, more than 1,400 juvenile justice programs utilizing youth or student courts have been set up worldwide. By 2020, GYJ aspires to have more than 1,800 youth and student courts established in all 50 states, with more than 200,000 young offenders annually referred to such juvenile diversion programs.
In seven years time, the GYJ wants almost 200,000 young people volunteering for local youth courts, with assistance from 27,000 adult volunteers and 4,5000 full-and-part-time professional staffers. Youth courts entail the training of young people to be judges, attorneys and jurors in low-level juvenile offender cases. According to an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) JuvJust release, such programs “promote accountability, provide access to youth resources and model peer leadership” for young people. Continue Reading →
Early in 2000, after a groundbreaking study revealed epidemic levels of mental illness among detained youth in Cook County – plus a severe lack of counseling and treatment – the Illinois Department of Human Services launched an ambitious new Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Initiative. Continue Reading →
The connection between the juvenile justice system and mental health is really the connection between prison and poverty. We know that poverty can lead to untreated mental health issues and those issues can lead to a juvenile conviction in the courts. But it can also happen the other way around: the mental illness labels applied to youth offenders can follow them for the rest of their lives, even after they get out of prison or complete a parole sentence, and can cement the cycle of poverty for the next generation. A diagnosis of a disorder can prevent juveniles from finding a job, having a family and being successfully integrated back into society years, even decades, after serving their sentences. Consequently, the courts should evaluate the risks and rewards associated with pathologizing children who find themselves in the system, especially when their behavior is consistent with our scientific understanding (and cultural acceptance) of the neurobiology of brains still in development. Continue Reading →
Legislators in Texas heard a proposal Tuesday from Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte that would limit solitary confinement throughout the state’s juvenile detention facilities, the Associated Press reports. Continue Reading →