Florida: Beaming woman in flounced light blue top, jeans, necklace, earrings talks to three young women sitting down; one is turned to her and smiling.

Why Focusing On Women, Girls Could Reduce Gun Violence

JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Rosie Brooks has experienced both of a mother’s worst nightmares involving gun violence. Her son spent a decade behind bars for an accidental shooting in which a young woman was killed. Then, instead of a joyous reunion when he was released from prison in January 2018, it was a day of mourning. He went from behind bars to standing at his mother’s side at his sister’s funeral. Brooks’ daughter Sahara Barkley had been shot on New Year’s Day at a gas station.

trauma: young guy is squatting in a corner, his arm supporting his head

Trauma-informed Care in Juvenile Detention Is Not Enough

While Florida has taken steps toward integrating trauma-informed practices in the juvenile justice system, the state needs to reconsider its treatment of youth. Notably, utilizing trauma-informed care in the juvenile justice system, while necessary, is not sufficient — prevention should be the goal, with trauma-informed services implemented in all child-involved systems. The state must also stop incarcerating children with adults and offer all juveniles in detention/incarceration access to trauma-informed services.

How Ohio’s Restore Court Focuses on Helping Sex Trafficked Youth

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has recently received much needed attention, but is by no means a new issue. Researchers have tried to approximate the scope of the problem, but it has proven extremely difficult to produce an accurate estimate of children who are victims of or at risk for CSEC in the U.S. State-level prevalence rates are equally difficult to produce, but a recent report estimated that more than 1,000 U.S.-born minors are sex trafficked in Ohio annually and thousands more are at risk for victimization.

trauma: Young african american plus size woman over grey wall wearing winter sweater skeptic and nervous, frowning upset

Assessing Noncompliance Among Justice-involved Youth? Examine Their Trauma

For many young people, adolescence can be a trying time. Over the course of a human life, adolescence marks the period of the most significant cognitive, emotional and physical change. According to the World Health Organization, adolescents are roughly ...

Healing, Not Metal Detectors, Will Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Good

Schools can be places of healing or they can be places of harm. There is no in-between. I came to learn this through my work as an attorney working at the intersections of youth justice and education equity. I worked in Philadelphia fighting to keep marginalized youth in schools, and to ensure that for the youth who were pushed into juvenile prisons, those prisons were held accountable for providing education.

Working Ranch Integrates ACEs, Animals Into Treatment for Teens

Although it’s too soon to tell if integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) sciences is making a difference for the teens living at Home on the Range, a residential treatment center in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, it’s made a huge difference for the people who work there.