Facing Budget Cuts, Virginia Mulls Sending Special Needs Youth to Maximum Security Facilities

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Plans to house young people with special needs at a maximum security juvenile correctional center have drawn criticisms in Virginia, reports NBC affiliate WWBT. Beaumont Maximum Security Juvenile Correctional Center in Powhatan, Va., is scheduled to become the new home for several special needs young people who are currently housed at the Oak Ridge Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield, Va. Facility officials believe an initial cost of $40,000 will be needed to renovate a wing designed specifically to hold special needs young people at the center; the youth being transferred range in ages from 12 to 20, with WWBT reporting that virtually all of the new residents are operating on “4th grade” levels. In 2011, a Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice report said such a move was “not viable,” citing concerns about how effectively low-functioning young people could be treated at the facility. Center officials, however, told WWBT that young people with special needs would not be housed alongside the rest of the facility’s maximum security population when the proposed transition takes place later this spring.

Agreement Between Denver Schools and Police Alter Role of Officers, Called Historic, Significant

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On Tuesday, representatives from the Denver police department and public school system signed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) significantly altering the roles of police officers in local schools. The new contract redefines student offenses, separating behaviors suited for in-school discipline from behaviors requiring police actions. The new model also urges de-escalation of conflicts on campus, as well as a greater focus on restorative justice policies. A teleconference featuring representatives from The Advancement Project and Padres and Jovenes Unidos was held the morning of the agreement’s signing. “Denver Public Schools and the Denver Police Department have moved into a new phase,” Judith Browne Dianis, The Advancement Project co-director, said.

Study Argues Early Exposure To Lead May be Factor In Juvenile Crime

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A new study published in the International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry explores an unexpected factor as a possible contributor to juvenile delinquency: early childhood exposure to lead. According to the study, early exposure to high lead levels can result in an array of developmental problems, from behavioral issues to lowered intelligence to hearing impairment. “Very small amounts of lead are associated with toxicity,” Summer Miller, a researcher from the Southern University Law Center, is quoted in a press release. “It has been reported that levels as low as 10 micrograms per deciliter show enough lead exposure to diagnose lead poisoning.”

She states that lead poisoning has a “progressive effect over time,” and since symptoms of toxicity include typical ailments like chest pains and headaches, high exposure detections generally go unnoticed. As a result, greater education regarding toxic metals and their potential effects on the nervous systems of children are necessary, she believes.

Proposed Neb. Bill Replaces Juvenile LWOP with 20-Year Minimum Sentence

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A Nebraska state senator is proposing legislation that would replace juvenile life without parole sentences with 20-year-minimum terms, although some offenders could be up for parole after 10 years behind bars. State Sen. Brad Ashford (I-Omaha) presented the bill to the state’s Judiciary Committee Feb. 8, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Currently, 27 inmates in Nebraska’s prisons are serving life without parole sentences for crimes committed as juveniles. In total, more than 250 other prisoners are housed in state facilities for offenses committed as juveniles.

Pictures at a (Gun) Exhibition

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CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The mood outside the Clarence Brown Conference Center really cannot be considered anything other than festive. Throngs of friends and neighbors clump together, some of them still wearing their Sunday best, laughing and chit-chatting in the parking lot. Entire families -- mothers, fathers, sons and daughters -- trickle in and out of the building. Some of the kids skip their way merrily towards the front entrance.

Texas State Senator Calls for Transfer of Violent Juvenile Offenders to Adult System

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A Texas state senator wants to create a new system of youth prisons for the state’s 17- and 18-year-old offenders, the Austin American-Statesman reported last week. Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston), chairman of the state Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said his proposal would operate as a division of Texas’ adult prison system. Under the new system, older teens with violent offenses would be transferred from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDJC). Most likely, he said that the first wave of transferred juveniles would be placed in a Youthful Offender Program in a Houston-area prison, which currently holds fewer than 100 inmates. The program might be expanded to include as many as 500 beds.

School Resource Officers: A Topic of Hot Debate, Even Prior to Sandy Hook

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In the aftermath of the deadly shooting last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., intense public debate has focused on protecting students – and the role of student resource officers (SROs), in particular – in the event of future shooting sprees. Generally, school resource officers are local law enforcement officers appointed to patrol schools and handle juvenile disciplinary issues. The effectiveness of SROs is highly debated. A National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) report claims the presence of SROs has reduced juvenile arrests in some schools by nearly 50 percent. On the other hand, the Justice Policy Institute issued a report that found SROs had little effect on curbing criminal activity in schools, and may even lead to inflated, and potentially unnecessary, juvenile arrests.

Popular Rapper Chief Keef Sentenced to Juvenile Detention

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A popular young rapper will spend the next two months in an Illinois juvenile detention center. Rapper Chief Keef was sentenced Thursday to a 60-day stay in juvie, following a June 26 probation violation. The 17-year-old Chicagoan—whose real name is Keith Cozart—was serving 18 month’s probation for allegedly pointing a firearm at several police officers when he fired a rifle at an indoor gun range while filming a video in New York, violating his parole. As a result, not only was Cozart’s probation revoked Thursday, but he was also made a ward of the state for what a judge considered “blatant violations” of court orders. Cozart became an overnight rap sensation last year, based on the strength of singles popularized on YouTube like “Love Sosa” and “I Don’t Like.” His major label debut on Interscope Records, “Finally Rich,” was released December 2012 and has sold nearly 100,000 copies.

Possession Accounts for 90 Percent of Drug Arrests, New Report Says

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A new report from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition finds that statewide drug possession arrests have increased by more than 30 percent from 1999 to 2011, with nine-out-of-10 drug arrests in the state stemming from possession charges. The statistics from the Texas Department of Public Safety include an aggregation of adult and juvenile drug-related arrests. According to the study, the price of housing individuals with drug possession offenses costs Texas tax payers more than $700,000 a day, with researchers estimating that the state will exceed its prison and jail capacities as early as the 2014 fiscal year. The authors of the report suggest that community supervision programs could serve as less costly alternatives to drug possession-related incarceration. Researchers estimate the cost of housing one inmate in Texas would cost the state about $18,500 a year, whereas placing offenders in community-based facilities, with treatment services, would only cost the state about $3,500 annually.

Texas Students Must Wear Tracking Badges or be Transferred, Judge Says

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A United States district judge in Texas ruled Tuesday that students who refuse to wear identification badges with tracking chip technologies might be transferred to other school districts. Judge Orlando Garcia ruled that a student attending classes at a Northside Independent School District campus would face transfer out of the magnet school unless the student begins wearing the identification badge by Jan. 22. The 15-year-old student said wearing the badge, which contained a tracking chip allowing administrators to physically track her whereabouts while on campus, violated her religious beliefs. However, the judge denied a request that would have halted her transferal, saying her decision was a “secular choice, rather than a religious concern.”

The school district, the 4th-largest in Texas, began using radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in student identification badges last fall.