In Texas, Youth Reported with Mental Health Problems Grows Substantially

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More than half the juveniles in Texas detention facilities in 2012 had mental health issues, according to a recent Associated Press (AP) report based on figures released by the state’s justice officials in February. Over the last three years, officials state the number of juvenile detainees with “intensive need” for mental health treatment has ballooned by 113 percent. Official Texas Juvenile Justice Department numbers indicate 56 percent of the state’s approximately 1,000 detained juveniles had mental illness diagnoses in 2012, compared to 39 percent in 2007. In addition to the mental health findings, the AP report revealed that:

54 percent of young people in detention were confirmed to be gang members;
Of the 1,400 young people in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s custody, at least 1,100 — representing about 80 percent of the state’s underage inmates — had substance abuse issues; and
More than half of the state’s juvenile department inmates had been diagnosed with a conduct disorder.

Ex-Lieutenant Traded Gasoline for Cocaine, Says Georgia DJJ

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A former lieutenant for Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice was given a five-year probation sentence last week after pleading guilty to theft-by-taking charges, the Savannah Morning News reports. Jerry Byrd, 42, allegedly used a fueling card as many to make unauthorized gasoline purchases for a private vehicle. According to officials, Byrd also said that he used the fueling card to make gasoline purchases for drug dealers, with authorities stating that Byrd may have made gasoline purchases in exchange for cocaine. In a press release issued by the Georgia Department of Law, DJJ investigators state that Byrd may have used the fueling card to make anywhere from 30-to-40 fraudulent gasoline purchases. Additionally, a Chatham County Superior Court judge ordered Byrd to serve 200 community service hours, obtain treatment for substance abuse, and pay $1,000 in restitution to the state DJJ.

When Starting Over Needs a Helping Hand

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I found out a few days ago that next week, a dear friend of mine will be released from prison. I plan to pick him up and deliver him to the halfway house where he’ll spend the next nine months. My friend started his prison career when he was 18. Today he is nearly sixty. For more than 35 years he has lived in prison, being told what to do, what to eat, when he could go to the bathroom; told what to do in just about every facet of his life.

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.

The Carnival Hucksters Take Center Stage

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PHILADELPHIA — When a National Rifle Association-sponsored task force recently unveiled a proposal to train select school personnel to carry firearms, it copied the “now you see it, now you don’t” shell game trick that carnies love to play. You know, it’s the game where the carnie has three or four shells and puts a peanut or some other object under one of the them and mixes them up so quickly that the contestants get so confused they can’t identify which shell contains the object. It is the same trick NRA leader Wayne LaPierre used after the carnage in Newtown, Conn., when 20 first graders and six school administrators were slaughtered by a barrage of bullets from an assault weapon. During his rant at his post-Sandy Hook massacre press conference, LaPierre’s solution was to put armed personnel in every school in the nation. While the NRA task force and LaPierre’s recommendations differ somewhat, the objective was the same: Take the public’s and lawmakers’ attention away from the real issues and focus instead on the wrong shell.

Criminologists’ Critique Questions NRA Task Force School Safety Strategy

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Journal article calls gun lobby plan 'superficially simple'
Originally published at The Center for Public Integrity

Two professors at Marshall University in West Virginia who are studying incarcerated school shooters and one professor at The Citadel, South Carolina’s military school, published their jointly written critique this month in the American Journal of Criminal Justice. The criminologists began their review last December after the NRA announced its “National School Shield” project in response to a gunman’s massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators in a Newtown, Conn. school.  The NRA’s initial thrust was to urge schools to hire more police, but also persuade states to allow teachers or other willing staff or volunteers to carry arms. The NRA said it would provide training. In addition, the firearms association formed a task force to study schools’ vulnerabilities and make suggestions.

NRA Task Force Wants to Arm School Staff

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Rifle Association’s task force for improving school safety released a 225-page report Tuesday with a list of recommendations, including the modification of  state laws to allow trained staff to carry weapons on campus. Other recommendations included addressing students’ mental health needs and boosting physical security through architectural changes and elements like perimeter fencing around schools. The National School Shield task force also recommended enhanced training programs for school resource officers, who are sworn law enforcement officials on campus duty, and training armed school staff to respond rapidly in case of an emergency. Such training for armed school personnel would last 40 to 60 hours and cost about $800 to $1,000 per person, said Asa Hutchinson, the task force director and a former Congressman from Arkansas, who presented the report. The recommendations were aimed at schools, local and federal governments, and the NRA itself, Hutchinson said.

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.