Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/series/adolescent-brain-development/)
Explore JJIE’s coverage of adolescent brain development and how it relates to youth system involvement, substance use and families and communities.
Adolescent brain development should play a greater role in determining how youths are treated in the juvenile justice system, experts said at a national juvenile justice conference Monday.
Too many kids are starting to use alcohol and drugs, addiction rates are soaring and lives are being destroyed. Now is the pivotal moment to bring these issues front and center.
Leaders and experts explore using brain science to craft new juvenile justice policies at a forum at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The de-emphasis of mental health funding is not an aberration across the United States. From 2009 until 2011, 31 states enacted major mental health budget cuts.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- For 40 years Robert Johnson, chair of the Committee on Assessing Juvenile Justice Reform at the National Research Council of the National Academies has worked with adolescents in the juvenile justice system.
Courts should evaluate the risks and rewards associated with pathologizing children who find themselves in the system, especially when their behavior is consistent with our scientific understanding (and cultural acceptance) of the neurobiology of brains still in development.
A new report from the National Research Council suggests that juvenile justice reform efforts should be grounded in the emerging understanding of adolescent development. “Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems," the report says.
Got up early this morning and began my daily reflection with my cup of coffee in hand and it hit me -- there is an interesting paradox about how we use the adolescent brain research. On one hand, those of us who call for reform in juvenile justice, especially in the area of detention, adult transfers and life sentences (especially without parole) rely heavily on this research showing that kids are wired to do stupid things. They are neurologically immature---still under construction. The adolescent brain research is often touted by advocates like me as evidence in support of detention reform. On the other hand, what does this research mean when applied to those kids who are just plain scary?
As I read about or listen to parents of adolescents, the most common comment I hear is that their kids seem to be regressing not progressing. Complaints of irresponsible behavior, disrespect, and unpredictable, often-explosive emotions seem to be the mantra of many parents of teens. In some cases this could also involve high-risk behaviors such as drinking, drug use and other illegal or morally questionable activities. Although these behavioral changes around adolescence are hard to deal with, new research in brain development suggests they are fairly easy to explain.
The young are heated by Nature as drunken men by wine. -- Artistotle
Adults' enduring perplexity about teenagers are captured in quotes by Aristotle and Shakespeare in The New Science of the Teenage Brain, the cover story of the October National Geographic Magazine. The article, by David Dobbs, explains how young people's lives are shaped by the mind-blowing reorganization occurring in the brains of adolescents between the ages of 12-25. The article is fascinating, and it's worth reading the entire piece. It's also a fabulous tool for us to use to get policymakers' attention as to why so many policies and programs like Scared Straight, lock them up, and zero tolerance don't work.