Robert Listenbee

Advocates Cheer Listenbee as New Federal Head of Juvenile Justice

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Juvenile justice advocates hailed the Obama administration’s announcement Friday that Philadelphia defense attorney Robert Listenbee Jr., a long-time champion of limiting the detention and incarceration of juveniles and keeping them out of adult facilities, will be the next permanent administrator of the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Listenbee is the head of the Juvenile Unit at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, a member of the federal advisory council on juvenile justice, and a co-chair of a national blue-ribbon taskforce that recently explored the extent of American children’s exposure to violence. In 2011, the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative honored Listenbee with a Champion for Change award for his leadership in reforming the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania. Listenbee has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Several juvenile justice professionals, including those who have worked with Listenbee at the local, state and national level, expressed great pleasure at his selection.

Long-Time Reformer to Head Federal Juvenile Justice Office: Report

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Robert Listenbee Jr., a long-time champion of reforms in the juvenile justice system, including limiting the detention and incarceration of juveniles, is likely to be the next permanent administrator of the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, according to a report in the Chronicle of Social Change. The federal office on juvenile justice has not had a permanent chief since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the first time in the office’s nearly four-decade history that the seat has lain vacant for so long. Melodee Hanes became acting administrator of the office in January 2012, after Jeff Slowikowski fulfilled that role for the first three years of the Obama administration. A recent rule change by Congress eliminated the need for the administrator to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and so an appointment by the White House is all that Listenbee would need to officially take over. Listenbee is the head of the Juvenile Unit at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, a member of the federal advisory council on juvenile justice, and a co-chair of a national blue-ribbon taskforce that recently found that two out of three American children are exposed to trauma from violence during their childhood.

JJIE Adds New York Metro Bureau

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JJIE announced Wednesday the expansion of its juvenile justice coverage through the opening of a metropolitan New York news bureau. Housed at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, the new bureau is funded by a three-year, $255,000 grant from the Tow Foundation. The bureau will feature in-depth reporting from CUNY journalism students and will be run by journalist and adjunct professor Daryl Khan, who has written for The New York Times, Newsday and the Boston Globe. Leonard Witt, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism, which publishes JJIE, said the addition of the New York Metro Bureau’s in-depth reporting fills a critical gap in juvenile justice coverage. “This gives us a presence in a major metropolitan region,” Witt said.

No More Delays Mr. President: Appoint the Nation’s Next Juvenile Justice Chief

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Four years ago, President Obama was inaugurated, and we expected that within a few months the President would nominate a permanent administrator for the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). But this past week, as President Obama renewed the oath of office, we are still waiting. Each administration since the office was created in 1974 has made the appointment except President Obama’s. The President should end this delay and here's why:

The OJJDP is the leading federal agency responsible for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention issues. Created under the landmark Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974, the OJJDP plays a vital role in assisting state and local governments in addressing juvenile delinquency through federal grants, research and guidance.

Growing up Behind Bars: Q&A with Yusef Salaam

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Yusef Salaam was one of the five teenagers falsely convicted in the brutal rape of a white woman in Central Park in 1989. The convictions were overturned in 2002, when a serial rapist confessed to the crime, but Salaam had already served his full 5½-year term in prison. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Salaam about his experience and the impact it had on his life. In person, Salaam carries a dignified, purposeful, and positive aura. He seems to be using his situation as an opportunity to help youth by sharing his message with them.

Georgetown’s LEAD Conference focuses on Juvenile Justice

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A conference this week at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. focused on the work of the school’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR). The Leadership, Evidence, Analysis, Debate or LEAD Conference, put on by the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, brought together representatives of various stakeholder groups, including activists, judges, experts, students and researchers. The inaugural conference, titled Positive Outcomes for At–Risk Children and Youth: Improving Lives Through Practice and System Reform, centered around the work of the CJJR and featured a number of speakers in the filed. Sonja Sohn, an actress best known for her role in HBO’s The Wire was the opening speaker. Sohn started Rewired for Change, a nonprofit focused on assisting underserved youth and their communities, in 2008 after coming into contact with impoverished communities through her television work.

Putting a Face on Reform

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In his 1961 farewell address President Dwight Eisenhower warned the American people of the dangers inherent in an alliance of the military, arms makers and politicians. “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex” The term has since become common parlance, and his warning, while not unheeded, has done little to stop the continuing accumulation of power into a few hands. It’s such an effective description that it has been adopted by people interested in a range of issues. We can see medical, nonprofit, educational and even wedding industrial complexes referred by those opposed to the way things are done in the respective sectors. The comparison I am most familiar with is the prison industrial complex.

Retired NYPD Officers Propose Arming 500 To Protect Schools

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NEW YORK -- It’s a frigid morning on Staten Island’s South Shore, with the temperature struggling to crack 20 degrees as a stiff wind buffets the Eltingville neighborhood. The elementary school students showing up at P.S. 55 are cocooned in puffy jackets, gloves and hats as they jump out of warm cars and onto the sidewalk towing large backpacks, some adorned with the face of Justin Bieber, others with the logo of the New York Giants. Amidst an ongoing school bus strike, it’s a fairly orderly scene on this Tuesday. Parents drive up to the curb, let their children out and move on to the rest of the day. Directing traffic, and gently scolding the occasional parent who pulls a U-turn on Koch Boulevard, is Mike Reilly, a former New York City police lieutenant who is a few days shy of his 40th birthday.