Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Juvenile Code Rewrite

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Proposals for a juvenile code re-write were approved Wednesday by Georgia’s state Senate Judiciary Committee, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Last month, the state House passed House Bill 242 (HB 242) with unanimous approval. The proposed legislation would eliminate the jailing of juveniles for status offenses such as truancy, as well as re-categorize designated felonies into two classes, based on the severity of crimes committed by young people. Before approving HB 242, the committee altered elements of the bill, most significantly, changing a requirement that extended the timeframe for which detained status offenders were guaranteed hearings. Originally, the bill required hearings for status offenders within 24 hours of being detained; however, the committee revised the period to 72 hours, citing concerns for staffers who may not be able to provide services for young people over weekends or on holidays.

Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth Wants Second Chance Program Expanded Statewide

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Oklahoma’s Commission on Children and Youth wants a Cleveland County program that assists non-violent offenders with re-entry implemented statewide, the Moore American reported. Introduced in 2009 by Sheriff Joe Lester, the Second Chance Act Program (S-CAP) offers services to women leaving the Cleveland County Detention Center. Since being implemented, the Bureau of Justice funded program has seen a staggering decrease in recidivism levels. Four years ago, 70 percent of women in the program were re-arrested; now, the rate of recidivism for S-CAP participants rests at just 10 percent. “We started this program because it is the right thing to do,” said Lester.

Bill Sealing Washington State Juvenile Records Moves Closer to Law

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The Washington state House of Representatives unanimously passed a proposal Wednesday that would effectively seal most juvenile records from public view. House Bill 1651 reverses an almost four-decades-old state law that keeps most of Washington’s juvenile records open. Exceptions, however, are included for individuals found guilty of some sex offenses, arson and serious violent offenses, the Tacoma News Tribunes reported. Under the current law, juvenile offenders may petition the court to have their records sealed, but few requests are approved. If the new bill were to become a law, only judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys would have full access to juvenile records.

Nebraska’s ‘Culture of Incarceration’ Must be Addressed, Say State Lawmakers

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Photo by Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
Several Nebraska state lawmakers are promising reform measures to cut down its youth detention numbers following the release of a prominentAnnie E. Casey Foundation report indicating Nebraska had the nation’s third-highest rate of juvenile incarceration in 2010. According to the KIDS Count data snapshot released last week, Nebraska was one of only six states in the nation to experience an increase in juvenile incarceration rates from 1997 to 2010, growing by eight percent over the 13-year study period. State Sen. Brad Ashford (I-Omaha), inan Associated Press report, said new legislation was vital in addressing the state’s “culture of incarceration.”

“I do not feel we can wait anymore for a real solution to our issues involving juvenile justice,” he told the AP. “This effort is essential.”

A “non-partisan” state senator representing Lincoln, Amanda McGill, is proposing a pilot program that would provide training and assistance to primary care doctors within the state to catch potential behavioral health issues early. Another of her proposals would create a “state fellowship program,” which is designed to draw more behavioral experts to Nebraska.

New Jersey Credits JDAI for Statewide 50 Percent Decrease of Detention Population

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Photo credit: Ryan Schill
New Jersey’s juvenile detention population dropped by more than 50 percent from 1997 to 2010, according to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s latest KIDS COUNT data snapshot, released last week. The state Office of the Attorney General(OAG) cited the state’s 16-county implementation of the AECF’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) as a major catalyst for the state’s drastic drop in juvenile detention numbers, the sixth-largest overall state decrease recorded by the Casey Foundation over the nearly decade and a half evaluation period. “JDAI continues to be a great story in New Jersey,” Judge Glenn A. Grant, current acting administrative director of the courts, said in an OAG news release. “The collaboration among government agencies, including the Juvenile Justice Commission and county and social service agencies, along with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is clearly bringing benefits to our youth and our communities at large.”

The news releases states New Jersey has been named by the AEFC the “model” for states wishing to implement JDAI programs. At least eight states, including Massachusetts and Nevada, have sent delegates to New Jersey seeking guidance on how to install the JDAI in their own states. Numerous detention alternative programs have been established in New Jersey via the JDAI.

Racial Disparities Decline in Female Arrests

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Last week, The Sentencing Project Executive Director Marc Mauer released findings from a new policy report evaluating female incarceration trends. “We’ve been looking at race and incarceration for well over two decades,” he said. “The story in general has been a discouraging one. We’ve seen high--almost shockingly high--rates of incarceration for African-American men in particular, but increasingly for women of color.”

In the new Sentencing Project analysis, however, Mauer said there is currently a “shift” in the racial dynamics of incarceration, specifically regarding females in United States prisons. According to the new report, the rate of incarceration for African-American women declined by more than 30 percent over the last decade, while rates of incarceration for Caucasian and Hispanic females rose by 47 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Report Advises Raising State Felony Age to 18

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The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission(IJJC) recently released a report urging state policymakers to reclassify 17-year-olds as juveniles within the state’s legal system. While a 2010 General Assembly act shifted the state’s 17-year-old misdemeanants to juvenile court jurisdictions, young people of the same age who commit felonies are automatically transferred to Illinois’ adult system. “To promote a juvenile justice system focused on public safety, youth rehabilitation, fairness and fiscal responsibility,” the report reads, “Illinois should immediately adopt legislation expanding the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds charged with felonies.”

The IJJC suggested the state alter its policies and raise the adult court jurisdictional age to 18 for both misdemeanor and felony offenses. “It’s a really well-researched, well-documented and well-substantiated report,” said Commission member and Children and Family Justice Center Director Julie Biehl. “It would be a positive effect to bring those young people who are charged with felonies back to juvenile court jurisdiction.”

Not only must criminal courts in Illinois hear all felony cases involving 17-year-olds, according to the report, the state’s criminal courts remain “categorically unable” to take age into account in felony cases.

Wyoming Law Eliminating Mandatory Juvenile LWOP Won’t Be Retroactive

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Photo by Ryan Schill
A recently-passed Wyoming law barring mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders will not apply to the state’s prisoners currently serving life sentences for crimes they committed as minors, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. `
A bill signed earlier this month by Gov. Matthew Mead allows opportunities for parole after 25 years for juveniles with life sentences. When the law becomes effective this summer, it will not retroactively reduce the sentences of those already serving life without parole sentences for juvenile offenses within the state, according to Deputy Attorney General Dave Delicath. “Their sentences were within the law allowed at the time,” Delicath told the Star-Tribune. “The statute doesn’t change anything for them.”

Prior to the law’s passage, juveniles in Wyoming convicted of murder could be given sentences of life with or without parole.

Northwestern’s Children and Family Justice Center Receives $750,000 Grant from MacArthur Foundation

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Update: The Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC), part of the Northwestern University School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic in Chicago, is one of several organizations that has received a 2013 MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions. The MacArthur Foundation awarded the CFJC $750,000 as part of an annual recognition of Foundation grantees, which are designed to ensure their sustainability as institutions helping “address some of the world’s most challenging problems.”

CFJC staff, faculty and students represent children in conflict with the law, seeking to provide “access to justice” for underrepresented young people via individual advocacy and systemic reform efforts. Founded in 1992, the CFJC trains more than 20 law students annually. Julie Biehl, director of the CFJC, said that the grant will help her organization move to the “next level.”

“I think this award bestowed upon our organization is an honor,” she said. “I’m so proud of and excited for my staff and the team here.”

Biehl, also a sitting member of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission’s Executive and Communication Committees, said that the organization will likely use the funding to create its first ever endowment program.

Georgia’s First Lady, State DJJ Commissioner Attend Opening of New JJIE/Youth Today Office

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On Wednesday, the Center for Sustainable Journalism, which publishes the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and Youth Today, celebrated the opening of its new Kennesaw, Ga. office in a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Georgia first lady Sandra Deal and Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Avery Niles. Initially founded in 2009 with the aid of a Harnisch Foundation grant, the Center for Sustainable Journalism (CSJ) began as a venue for experimenting with public affairs journalism” according to CSJ Executive Director Leonard Witt. “Mainstream journalists are cutting back, no one is covering important issues,” he said. “Our important issue is juvenile justice.”

The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE) launched in 2010.