New Jersey Sexting Bill Stresses Education Over Prosecution for Teens

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A bill moving through the New Jersey Legislature would force kids caught sending sexually explicit photographs and videos through their cell phone to attend an intense education program rather than face prosecution.  The measure, A-1561, passed the Assembly 78-to-0 in March and now moves to the state Senate for final approval. “Sexting,” as the practice is known popularly, has recently been in the news thanks to U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) who was caught sending lewd photos of himself to female constituents.  As JJIE.org reported recently, Weiner will likely face fewer consequences than many teens found sexting, who may face child pornography charges. “Teens need to understand the ramifications of their actions, but they shouldn’t necessarily be treated as criminals,” Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), a co-sponsor, told NewJerseyNewsroom.com. The education program would teach participants about the possible legal and social consequences of sexting.  Juveniles who successfully complete the education program would not face trial. A second co-sponsor, Assemblywoman Celeste Riley (D-Cumberland), said the measure would help kids who make a mistake not “pay for it in court.”

 

Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Sale of Violent Video Games to Children

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The U.S. Supreme Court Monday struck down a California law banning the sale of violent video games to children in a 7-to-2 decision.  The majority opinion in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, equated video game content with that of books and films.

“Like the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas — and even social messages — through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world),” Justice Scalia wrote. “That suffices to confer First Amendment protection.”

Justice Scalia wrote that violence in literature and art have never been subject to government regulation. “Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed,” he wrote. The California law defined violent video games as “patently offensive” when “the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” and lacked “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. Stores that sold violent video games to minors would have been subject to $1,000 fines.

Georgia’s Juvenile Judges Face Uncertain Situation as Compact Expires

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Beginning July 1, Georgia’s juvenile court judges will face a new, unprecedented set of challenges.  That’s the first day Georgia will no longer operate under an agreement that allows for the transfer of delinquent juveniles and runaways between the states. Georgia is the only state in the nation that has not already adopted or is not set to adopt the Interstate Compact for Juveniles (ICJ), an update of a previous compact established in 1955.  Currently, Georgia functions under the 1955 compact.  The Interstate Commission for Juveniles, the governing body of the ICJ, gave Georgia three extensions to pass legislation so the state could enter the new compact (in 2008, 2009 and 2010).  Since the Legislature failed to enact the needed legislation in 2011, Georgia will not be given any more extensions, officials at the compact say. The compact provides a framework that allows the seamless transition of juveniles from one state to another.  Without the compact, Georgia’s juvenile judges are left “scratching their heads,” Judge Mary Carden, a juvenile judge in the state, said.  “Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

When asked if individual agreements between judges in neighboring states could be worked out, Judge Carden said, “I don’t think that’s realistic.”

“The numbers to deal with are great,” she said.  “It will take an inordinate amount of time and effort.”

Judges face enormous workloads, she said.  “It’s very difficult for me to get in touch with judges in other courts.”

The Interstate Commission for Juveniles' executive director Ashley Lippert said the commission's attorney has discouraged side deals.

Peer Pressure Leading Kids to Commit Cyber-bullying and Other Online Crimes

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Peer pressure doesn’t end when kids are alone in front of a computer, new research shows, and it’s leading kids to commit cyber-crimes such as cyber-bullying and music piracy. The study, published online in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, found kids in middle and high school whose friends committed cyber-crimes were more likely to engage in the same illegal activities, especially if they also exhibit a lack of self-control. “These are the more risk-taking, impulsive kids; they’re more likely to act on opportunity,” study co-author Thomas Holt, Ph.D., assistant professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University, told PsychCentral.com.  “It’s important to know what your kids are doing when they’re online and who they are associating with both online and offline.”

Researchers surveyed 435 students in one suburban Kentucky school district.  Cyber-crime also includes activities such as hacking and viewing online pornography (which is illegal if the viewer is under 18).  

 

50 Cent Aims to Help Kids with New Anti-bullying Book

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Gangsta rapper 50 Cent is best known for being “In Da Club” but his new young adult novel takes him to an unlikely place: the playground.  The semi-autobiographical book, titled “Playground,” explores what happens when a 13-year-old bully must face the consequences of his actions. The novel arrives in the midst of a growing debate about the dangers of bullying in an age where, thanks to social websites such as Facebook, kids often can’t escape the abuse. Drawing on his own experiences as a teenage bully, 50 Cent hopes the novel will  “have a positive influence on all teenagers,” according to a statement released this week.  A similar book would have been helpful to him growing up, he said. The novel will be published in January by Razorbill Books and follows two previous books by 50 Cent—the 2005 memoir about his days as a crack dealer, “From Pieces of Weight,” and the 2008 follow-up, “The 50th Law.”

 

LGBT Youth More Likely to Experience Abuse and Bullying, Says New Study

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Young people who self-identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are more likely to experience bullying, sexual abuse and parental physical abuse, according to a new study by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.  As a result, LGBT youth are also more likely to miss school. Study co-author Mark S. Friedman, Ph.D., told ScienceDaily that this abuse is one of the underlying reasons for higher rates of mental illness among LGBT youth. "However,” Friedman said, “I cannot stress enough that these youth experience sexual and physical abuse and bullying because they identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual or experience same-sex attraction; abuse does not 'cause' sexual orientation or identification." A number of studies had previously been conducted on this topic but were limited in size.  Friedman and co-authors conducted a meta-analysis of the previous data that provided more accurate results.

Russia Plagued by Flesh-Rotting Heroin Alternative

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In Russia, a nation with more heroin users than any other in the world, addicts are finding a new, even more devastating way to get high.   The drug is desomorphine, a synthetic opiate, but users know it as krokodil, or “crocodile,” because the skin at the injection site turns scaly, grey and reptilian as the surrounding tissue dies. Krokodil is derived from codeine (available over-the-counter in Russia) and freely available household products and it costs a fraction of what true heroin would cost.  Although the price in rubles may be low, the physical cost is tremendous.  Desomorphine is essentially poison and addicts soon find their skin dying and falling away leaving exposed bone.  Sores grow over their bodies or they develop abscesses where the needle misses a vein. Already, 30,000 Russians die each year from heroin overdoses, according to The Independent, but now as many as 100,000 Russians are addicted to krokodil and other homemade drugs.  Desomorphine is highly addictive with terrible withdrawal symptoms lasting up to a month. In the poorest parts of Russia where heroin is scarce, krokodil is gaining a strong foothold, due in large part tothe availability of codeine tablets over the counter in the Russian pharmacies.  Addicts create the desomorphine by “cooking,” a process that can take up to half-an-hour.  Unlike heroin, however, the high is of a shorter duration.  Addicts soon find themselves entrenched in a nearly unstoppable cycle of “cooking” and getting high.

Flogging is “Unsettling” but Better Than Prison, Says Criminal Justice Expert

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At first glance, flogging appears to be an archaic, cruel punishment too reminiscent of the Dark Ages.  But former police officer and current criminal justice professor Peter Moskos thinks flogging could be one solution to many of the problems facing the criminal justice system — problems such as overcrowding.  Moskos’ new book, In Defense of Flogging, lays out his argument. In an interview with Salon.com, Moskos said he thinks when compared to prison, flogging is “the lesser of two evils.”

“Taking away a significant chunk of someone’s life is far worse than any punishment that is virtually instantaneous,” he told Salon.  “We should be honest about prison and recognize that we’re sentencing people to years of confinement and torture.”

Moskos admits that flogging isn’t a likely alternative to incarceration, but hopes his book will get people thinking outside the box. “I wanted to throw a hand grenade into this debate because I don’t really see it going anywhere,” he said.

Conference Searches for Solutions to Stop Underage Drinking

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KENNESAW, Ga. – Convening policy-makers, law enforcement officials and representatives from the courts, The Cobb Alcohol Task Force on Monday hosted a conference to develop plans to reduce underage drinking. The daylong Justice System Response to Underage Drinking: Roadmap for Improvement held at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, brought the “significant players to the table,” according to Alisa Bennett-Hart, Cobb Alcohol Taskforce’s public relations specialist. “Sometimes we have to get everybody together to listen to what they have to say,” Bennet-Hart said.  “This [conference] is us listening.”

The morning began with presentations and an hour-long roundtable panel discussion by a mixture of experts from law enforcement, the courts and advocates. After lunch, participants split into smaller breakout sessions where they could discuss potential strategies.  Each session included a mixture of law enforcement, judicial representatives and policy makers.

Many Doctors in Florida Juvenile Justice System Taking Large Payments from Drug Companies

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In Florida, an investigation by The Palm Beach Post discovered more than a third of psychiatrists working for the state juvenile jails have accepted large speaking fees from pharmaceutical companies producing the anti-psychotic drugs regularly prescribed to kids in the Florida juvenile justice system. According to The Post, child advocates are claiming the doctors are over-prescribing the powerful psychotropic drugs to children in the juvenile jails as a “chemical restraint” and not for a legitimate medical reason. As a consequence of The Post’s findings, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters began an investigation into how psychotropic drugs are prescribed to children in DJJ custody.