Justice Department Expands Youth Violence Prevention Program

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced this week that the Justice Department will expand to 10 – from six – the number of cities participating in the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention. The planned expansion comes as the original participants continue to struggle through breaking down walls among government agencies and with community-based groups. The National Forum, established 18 months ago, is designed to allow the cities involved to fashion their individual crime prevention programs that emphasize more comprehensive approaches across government agencies. An initial evaluation by Temple University and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York found that all six cities showed some “positive indicators” of the initiative but there were no “profound perceptions” among local residents of a reduction in juvenile violence. Representatives of the six cities – Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Memphis and Salinas and San Jose, Calif.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Rates Increasing, CDC Report Finds

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According to new Centers for Disease Control data, the prevalence rates for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children has increased, with an estimated one in 88 eight-year-olds in the United States currently diagnosed with an ASD such as autism or Asperger’s syndrome. In a Surveillance Summary published last week in the Morbidity and Mortality Report, the CDC notes a 23 percent jump in autism spectrum disorder diagnoses from 2006 to 2008, with an estimated 78 percent increase in cases from 2002 to 2008. According to the findings, the diagnosis rates between black and Hispanic children and whites are closing, with African-American children being diagnosed at a rate of 10.2 cases per 1,000 compared to 12 cases per 1,000 for Caucasian children. The new data reports that 7.9 in 1,000 Hispanic children may be affected by disorders such as autism, Asperger’s syndrome or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS ). According to the findings, boys are five times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

Kindness in the Courtroom as a Child Launches into a Violent Outburst

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I had been on the bench for a couple years when I met her. Her name was Jade -- she was 12 years old when she appeared in my court. Besides being disrespectful, not following the rules at home, and staying out all night, she was caught giving oral sex to two adult males. Her mother did not know what to do. The police told her to come to juvenile court and file what is known as an unruly petition.

Young Inmates Doing Thyme in the Prison Garden

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On a football-field-sized stretch of land beside the Walton County Jail in tiny Monroe, Ga., a tractor tiller turned weed-choked rows of red clay slowly, methodically, unleashing the earthy smell of hope and the clean, blank slate of spring. At the edge of the field, a group of men in black-and-white striped uniforms awaited instructions with a guard under an evergreen, its shade a promise of future luxury when the sure-to-be-blazing sun of a Southern summer makes working in the elements more of a challenge than on this crisp, cloudy morning. A 22-year-old young man in the group breathed an audible sigh of relief when he saw DeDe Harris, the executive director of Walton Wellness and the heart and soul of this garden. She called his name, Jaylen, in recognition, and asked him how he was doing. He replied, "Better, now," while smiling at her.

New Financing Tool for Social Programs Opens Doors for Juvenile Justice

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This story originally appeared on Reclaiming Futures. Identifying the best programs for solving serious social problems is challenging for governments in the best of times, and all the more so in a constrained fiscal environment where every dollar must count. This is particularly true in areas like juvenile justice where the most effective interventions may involve combining approaches that governments currently support through separate funding streams—and where politicians’ personal views may steer disproportionate amounts of funds to programs that sound good on paper but don’t deliver results. But an innovative new financing tool called Social Impact Bonds may help solve some of these challenges. Social Impact Bonds, or SIBs, take traditional government funding structures and turn them on their head.

Georgia Governor Signs Law Making Synthetic Marijuana Illegal in State

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Last week, Georgia’s Governor, Republican Nathan Deal, signed into law a new bill that makes all forms of synthetic marijuana illegal within the state, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Under the new law, synthetic marijuana substances, commonly referred to as Spice orK2, are considered Schedule I drugs, making their possession and sale a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Deal said he applauds the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Georgia General Assembly for quickly putting the legislation together, calling the passage of the law “a pressing need” for the state. “These synthetic substances pose an enormous risk to our public safety,” Deal said shortly after signing the law. "As the usage has dramatically increased, instances of violence, bodily harm and even death have risen with it.”

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan told reporters the GBI is currently instructing law enforcement officials to notify local retailers that synthetic marijuana substances are illegal, urging them to destroy the products under officer supervision.