OP-ED: Incarceration is Only One Piece of a Rational, Effective Juvenile Justice System

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A visitor from another planet – or even another country – who reviewed the juvenile justice system in most states, might conclude that we are committed to continuing crime through our addiction to incarceration. The overwhelming lessons of science and experience should be enough to convince policymakers to use detention, jail or prison as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. Instead, most states perpetuate large punitive institutions at great cost even though best practices demonstrate that local community-based, family-involved treatment is more effective at reducing juvenile crime. Imprisonment fails as a strategy to rehabilitate because it seldom changes behavior except to worsen it. I do not mean that incarceration is never necessary nor that any state should ignore the need for swift action to remove a kid from the public in exigent circumstances.

OP-ED: Illinois Needs Smaller Juvenile Prison Systems

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Illinois received more evidence last week that incarcerating young people doesn’t rehabilitate them. Independent experts told a federal court that Illinois’ juvenile prison system operates an education program far below minimally accepted standards, does not meet the basic mental health needs of incarcerated youth and uses solitary confinement too often and for too long, with potentially damaging effects on youth who return to our communities. Gov. Pat Quinn has another view. "We've made very important strides in juvenile justice in Illinois," he told reporters. Can they be talking about the same prison system?

OP-ED: Celebrating the ‘My Kid Test’ and Patience in Chicago

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When you bring a couple hundred good people together on a Friday in downtown Chicago, you can expect a party to break out. But if those people also happen to be juvenile justice policy wonks, the party becomes a symposium, and some work gets done. I recently attended such a party… rather symposium. The occasion for the celebration was the retirement of the founding member of Northwestern University School of Law’s Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC), Bernardine Dohrn. A separate, but obviously related reason was to celebrate CFJC’s receipt of the MacArthur Foundation’s “Creative and Effective Institutions Award.” The best way to celebrate these momentous events for this fun-loving crowd: a symposium, of course!

OP-ED: Wise Spending Leads to Effective Solutions

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A recent conversation with a group of friends reminded me that discussions about money are complicated and can move easily from discussion to heated argument. I said that more public funds should be dedicated to research about positive outcomes for kids in the juvenile justice system and that the research would lead to development of additional evidence-based programs and practices. One friend countered that dollars should be dedicated to prevention to keep kids out of the system. Another suggested that lots of kids come from intergenerational criminal families and will continue offending no matter what the services - that spending public funds on those kids just removed funding for services to kids who don’t get into trouble. A third colleague noted that the most cost effective approach to preventing bad outcomes has nothing to do with kids in trouble with the law.

A Rational Approach to School Safety and Student Performance

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Debate is raging in communities across the country about the role of police in our nation’s schools. While the discussion is long overdue, too often the debate centers on the role and presence of police alone. Some ask how many armed police officers are needed to keep school buildings free of violence. Others push back, asking whether increasing the number of officers patrolling school hallways and playgrounds will sometimes make society less safe in the long run, by increasing arrests and incarceration of more youth who would benefit more from rehabilitation services in their home communities where they can remain in school and graduate. This debate played out late last year on Capitol Hill where Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin, D-IL, presided over a congressional hearing about ending the school-to-prison pipeline.

Raise the Age; Don’t Split the Difference

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The MacArthur Foundation's new "Mistakes Kids Make"Internet-based campaign is a welcome and innovative way to educate the public of the wisdom of giving kids an opportunity to straighten out their lives and learn from their mistakes. As I watched the campaign's clever animated video, it occurred to me that it is important for young and old to learn from our mistakes. That’s a good reminder, not just for kids in trouble but for policy makers as well. In Illinois, we recently made a significant change in our juvenile justice system that, while not a gigantic mistake, is one that other states should avoid. On the plus side, we in Illinois are learning from those actions and taking steps to correct our system.

We are the System

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Since the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School late last year, there has been an abundance of suggested policy changes to keep children safe. They include armed guards in every school building, placing police stations in schools, allowing teachers to carry guns and creating registries of kids adjudicated as delinquents. Some advocating these measures must believe that simple steps done in big ways will answer our fears. Creating policy and legislation by anecdote is easy but usually ineffective. Long-lasting and successful policy is rooted in examination of past practices, data analysis and assessment of pilot programs.

Instead of embracing every “solution” with mass appeal, we must confront the circumstances of schoolhouse shootings in recent years:  few of the changes proposed would have prevented these tragedies. If we cannot rely on big, simple changes to eradicate all risk of harm, what can we do? First, our country needs better screening and mental health treatment for those young people in, or at risk of entering, the juvenile justice system. Adequate mental health practices could provide early identification of young people most at risk for committing terrible crimes. Delivering support to them early would make it more likely they will be successful in school and in life and far less likely they will deteriorate into the evil of mass murder.

Truancy Needs Early and Innovative Intervention

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Skipping school – perhaps that makes you think of adventures with high school friends just to test your independence. Four of my high school pals skipped school one beautiful spring day and drove to a nearby mall. A DJ for a local radio station was in the midst of a live remote when he interviewed my friends about a new rock and roll group. Unfortunately, my buddies did not consider that the radio might be playing in the principal’s office. Unlike Ferris Bueller, my friends were caught in the act.