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Ex-Lieutenant Traded Gasoline for Cocaine, Says Georgia DJJ

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A former lieutenant for Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice was given a five-year probation sentence last week after pleading guilty to theft-by-taking charges, the Savannah Morning News reports. Jerry Byrd, 42, allegedly used a fueling card as many to make unauthorized gasoline purchases for a private vehicle. According to officials, Byrd also said that he used the fueling card to make gasoline purchases for drug dealers, with authorities stating that Byrd may have made gasoline purchases in exchange for cocaine. In a press release issued by the Georgia Department of Law, DJJ investigators state that Byrd may have used the fueling card to make anywhere from 30-to-40 fraudulent gasoline purchases. Additionally, a Chatham County Superior Court judge ordered Byrd to serve 200 community service hours, obtain treatment for substance abuse, and pay $1,000 in restitution to the state DJJ. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News

Virginia Officials Consider Reopening Closed Juvenile Detention Center

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Later this summer, officials in Richmond, Va., are considering reopening a juvenile detention center closed last year because of mismanagement, theRichmond Times-Dispatch reported. The opening of the center hinges on whether Richmond’s Department of Juvenile Services (RDJS) can adhere to a set of 26 recommendations outlined in a City Audit Committee report last week. Among the city’s recommendations are the development of broader truancy programs, improved training for staff and better tracking of juvenile data regarding assessments and recidivism. The Richmond Juvenile Detention Center was shuttered last April, amid reports of staff misconduct, training document forgeries and recordkeeping oversights. Virginia’s Board of Juvenile Justice had placed the facility on probation twice since 2009, before it was eventually closed in 2012. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, The System

HB 242 Clears Final Hurdle, Awaits Signing from Governor

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Photo by Benjamin Miller
On Monday, House Bill 242– Georgia’s comprehensive juvenile reform and statute rewrite legislation — was approved by the state’s General Assembly. Last week, HB 242 passed a Senate vote; earlier this week, the House unanimously approved the Senate’s changes to the bill, passing the legislation by a 167-0 tally. From its introduction to the House up until its latest General Assembly approval, HB 242 has passed through every full legislative and committee vote with unanimous approval from Georgia’s legislators. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) and Sen. Charlie Bethel, a Republican representing Georgia’s 54th district, now heads to the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal — an early proponent of the legislation — who is expected to sign the bill into law. HB 242 would include more funding for community-based programs, prohibit the jailing of young people for status offenses and separate designated felonies into two different classes of offense, based upon the severity of the crime. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Legislation, News

Youth PROMISE Act Reintroduced in Washington

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Photo courtesy of Congressman Bobby Scott
On Thursday, Congressman Robert Scott (D-Va.) and Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) reintroduced the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support and Education (Youth PROMISE) Act. First proposed in 2009, the Act would alter elements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 and provide funding and other resources for communities to build and implement evidence-based intervention and prevention strategies to curb youth violence, drug use and gang activity. In neighborhoods with the highest rates of youth crime, the Act would establish special councils consisting of local law enforcement, school and court services representatives, who would develop programs to “redirect” young people who are involved, or may become involved, in the juvenile justice system. Councils established by the Act would also include healthcare providers, social services workers and input from other public and private organizations, such as churches and local businesses. More than 200 organizations — among them, the Children’s Defense Fund, the National Juvenile Justice Network and the American Bar Association – have demonstrated support for the Youth PROMISE Act. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Evidence-Based Practices, Legislation, News

JJIE Publisher Receives $100,000 Gift from The Harnisch Family Philanthropies

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The Center for Sustainable Journalism (CSJ) at Kennesaw State University, publisher of the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and Youth Today, last week announced it received a $100,000 gift from The Harnisch Family Philanthropies to advance the center’s mission of covering youth issues. Leonard Witt, executive director of the center, said the longtime support from Ruth Ann Harnisch, president of the Harnisch Foundation, and her husband William Harnisch, president and CEO of Peconic Partners, have been instrumental in the center’s growth over the years. “We wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for Ruth Ann Harnisch and her vision of what we could be,” Witt said. The grant, he continued, will allow the center to continue to provide a national forum for youth justice issues and publish “more high quality, ethically sound journalism.”
“The Center for Sustainable Journalism team has rapidly become the nation’s leading source of news and opinion about children who need help and are somewhere in the system,” Ruth Ann Harnisch said upon announcing the gift. “The center produces the most important journalism available for people who work with youth in education, criminal justice and social services, as well as for concerned parents and citizens.”
Harnisch continued: “This work is growing so fast that it requires more investment. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Community-Based Alternatives, News

Progress in Georgia, and the People Agree

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Gov. Pat Quinn announced a doubling of anti-violence program in his budget address/Photo by Gage Skidmore
Written by James Swift and Eric Ferkenhoff
During his Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Address - in which Gov. Pat Quinn announced sharp cuts to education that worried many teachers and youth workers – there was a bit of good news on the juvenile front. Quinn, battling massive pension problems and a fiscal situation that can’t seem to stop bleeding, looks to boost funding for the anti-violence and youth-engagement program Redeploy Illinois. The program, which is statewide under the Bureau of Youth Intervention Services, is expected to see its coffers swell, more than doubling to $4.9 million for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget proposal still faces the legislative back-and-forth. But according to literature on the Redeploy, it is designed as a youth deterrent targeted at those “between the ages of 13 and 18 who are at high risk of being committed to the Department of Corrections.”
It comes at a time of high crime in Chicago and Cook County, which has generated much national and even international attention – even bringing President Obama to town to discuss the violence in his hometown. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Chicago Project, News

In Kentucky, Juvenile Offenders’ Names Could be Shared After Adjudication

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On Monday, members of the Kentucky House passed a bill that would allow victims in juvenile court trials to discuss a case once a verdict is rendered, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. House Bill 115 swept through the House with unanimous approval earlier this week, garnering a 93-0 vote in Kentucky’s lower legislative body. The bill stems from a 2011 sexual assault case involving Savannah Dietrich, then 16 years old, who was attacked by two underage football players at a Louisville, Ky., party. The two assailants struck a plea deal, resulting in 50 hours of community service and counseling. Dietrich, upset with what she considered lenient sentencing, tweeted the names of her attackers, violating a state gag order which prevented her from discussing details of the case to the public. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Legislation, News

Georgia House Approves HB 242

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photo by Sayed Nairb
Thursday evening, the representatives in Georgia unanimously approved House Bill (HB) 242, which seeks to rewrite and streamline the state’s juvenile code. HB 242 would prohibit the jailing of juveniles for status offenses, as well as separate designated felonies into two classes of offense, depending on the severity of the crime. The bill incorporates recommendations from a 2012 Georgia Criminal Justice Reform Council report, urging state policymakers to keep low-risk juvenile offenders out of state facilities. A major component of the proposed legislation involves more funding for community-based programs. Gov. Nathan Deal has already offered $5 million to court-developed programs intended to steer young people away from detention facilities. Some state representatives said that diverting young people from detention could save Georgia as much as $85 million over the next five years. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Legislation, News

Study Asks, Which Onset Behaviors Best Predict Juvenile Delinquency?

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A new study in the Journal of Criminal Justice  examined the relationship between onset juvenile antisocial behavior and career delinquency, with researchers citing arrests and other police contacts as the most likely indicators of future criminality for adolescents. Researchers analyzed 252 young people — 152 boys and 100 girls — in juvenile placement in Pennsylvania. Measuring three types of “antisocial onsets” — onset of law violations and rule-breaking, onset of arrest or other police contacts and onset of referral to juvenile courts — researchers conducted various “head-to-head” tests to determine which type of onset behavior was most consistently associated with long-term delinquency. Using self-reports, researchers collected onset behavior data, additionally assessing young people for psychopathy with the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) instrument. Among the subjects, researchers indicated that 130 young people — a little more than half the entire population studied — reported diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or conduct disorder (CD). Continue Reading →

Filed under: Mental Health and Substance Abuse, News

Georgetown’s LEAD Conference focuses on Juvenile Justice

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A conference this week at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. focused on the work of the school’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR). The Leadership, Evidence, Analysis, Debate or LEAD Conference, put on by the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, brought together representatives of various stakeholder groups, including activists, judges, experts, students and researchers. The inaugural conference, titled Positive Outcomes for At–Risk Children and Youth: Improving Lives Through Practice and System Reform, centered around the work of the CJJR and featured a number of speakers in the filed. Sonja Sohn, an actress best known for her role in HBO’s The Wire was the opening speaker. Sohn started Rewired for Change, a nonprofit focused on assisting underserved youth and their communities, in 2008 after coming into contact with impoverished communities through her television work. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Evidence-Based Practices, News