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 →
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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
Maryland Gov. Not Backing Proposed Juvenile Detention Facility in Baltimore
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The proposed state budget released by Gov. Martin O’Malley last week indicates that Maryland will not be funding the construction of a controversial youth detention facility in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun reports that O’Malley’s 2014 FY capital spending plan does not include funding for a proposed 120-bed, $70 million youth jail in Baltimore City. Originally announced in 2008 by Gov. O’Malley, construction plans for the Baltimore City New Youth Detention Facility — at one point, expected to house 180 inmates at a construction cost of $100 million — has been in limbo for the last five years, with the Maryland House Appropriations Committee declaring the project suspended in April 2012. Even so, the Baltimore Sun reports that the state has already allocated $14 million for the planning and design of the youth detention facility and an additional $17 million for first phase construction costs. The planned facility has been met with criticism and protests from several groups and organizations, with a white paper released by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency arguing that such a large project was unneeded, considering the city’s decreasing crime rates. Continue Reading →
Filed under: News, Baltimore, Juvenile Justice facility, Martin O'Malley, Maryland House Appropriations Committee, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Felony Charges Dropped Against Young Undocumented Student at Heart of Immigration Debate
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A nearly three-year legal battle has come to an end for a young undocumented immigrant whose 2010 arrest sparked a national debate over U.S. immigration policy, particularly the right of undocumented immigrants to attend public universities. Thursday, a Cobb County, Georgia, judge dismissed a false-swearing charge against the now 23-year-old Jessica Colotl stemming from her arrest on March 29, 2010. A Kennesaw State University (KSU) police officer stopped Colotl, a KSU student, for a traffic infraction on campus. She was arrested the following day after failing to produce for authorities a valid driver’s license. Colotl’s case has been widely publicized nationally, drawing renewed attention to the use of 287(g) programs, which allow local police agencies to enforce immigration law and detain suspected undocumented immigrants. Continue Reading →
