The Importance of Evidenced-Based Research in Establishing Juvenile Justice Policy

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Over the last few decades politicians have advocated for stricter sentencing guidelines and for trying more juveniles as adults. These decisions have been largely driven by public fear and a desire by elected officials to be seen as “tough on crime.”

They do not rely on evidence-based research, one of the least used methods for determining juvenile justice policy. Some of these attitudes seem to be changing though. Over the last few years, research has generated data that are beginning to be acknowledged by policy makers. One such study is Pathways to Desistance, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in partnership with many other groups interested in effective juvenile justice practices.

National Recovery Month Q&A with Teresa Johnston of the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery

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September is National Recovery Month in the United States. As the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration puts it Recovery Month “promotes the societal benefits of treatment for substance use and mental disorders, celebrates people in recovery, lauds the contributions of treatment providers, and promotes the message that recovery in all its forms is possible. Recovery Month spreads the positive message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.”

Nicely, and succinctly, put.

Simply ideas tend to make for movements. And that seems to be the case with Recovery Month. All over the nation events are going on aimed at increasing awareness and, yes, celebrating countless victories.

The JJIE is housed at Kennesaw State University, in metro Atlanta. We had a number of Recovery Month events here and we are fortunate enough to be the home of the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery. Its director, Teresa Johnston, is an expert in the field and a forceful advocate for those in recovery.

Raising Kids in a Different Kind of World

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You know it’s an unusual day when your middle schoolers come home early and build a cardboard bomb shelter on your front lawn. That’s what happened at my house when Mark and Benji arrived home on that awful September day, 10 years ago. Like many children, they saw the disaster at school. Like every other American, my husband and I watched in horror as we experienced the full hatred of terrorists for our country. On that morning, we’d sent our kids off to school in one world and welcomed them home to an entirely different one.

Opening slide to DCANP Sustainability Meetings

One Agency’s Budget Struggles Typical of Nation

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Alabama’s only agency designated to prevent child abuse and neglect, among the many juvenile justice departments around the nation grappling with a smaller budget, will serve nearly half the number of kids in 2012 as they did in 2011. The Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention (DCANP) is preparing to cut 74 community-based programs around the state when the new budget takes effect October 1. The cuts bring the total number of programs to just 101 for FY 2012, compared to 227 funded in FY 2005. The reduction in services represents roughly 14,000 kids that will no longer have access to community-based prevention programs.

“I’m really concerned with the burden of the system as a whole,” says Kelley Parris-Barnes, director of the DCANP. “When you take the community-level programs out you don’t have the capacity in the state to do it.”

The DCANP doesn’t deliver services directly.

Three Strategies for Changing Juvenile Justice

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A recent report from the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN), titled, "Bringing Youth Home: A National Movement to Increase Public Safety, Rehabilitate Youth and Save Money," documented the extraordinary number of states and jurisdictions (at least 24) that are closing or downsizing their youth correctional facilities, due to budget cuts, legislation, lawsuits, and pressure from reformers. (Download the report for tips on ways to downsize wisely.)

This is a good thing, because it means taxpayers can save money or avoid the high cost of incarceration, and reallocate those monies to community-based programs that are more effective at helping young people turn their lives around. Right on the heels of the NJJN report comes a new report from Jeffrey A. Butts and Douglas N. Evans from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Research and Evaluation Center in New York, titled, Resolution, Reinvestment, and Realignment: Three Strategies for Changing Juvenile Justice. In it, they ask:

Do these reforms represent a permanent shift in policy and practice, or are they merely a temporary reaction to tight budgets and low rates of violent crime? Will policymakers maintain the reforms if and when crime rises and budgets rebound?

Prison and the Crucial Role of Nonviolent Communication

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I saw a lot of violence during my years in prison in Georgia. Most of the time, however, this violence happened because of miscommunication. Rumors about what one guy had said about another, or allegations of some misconduct such as stealing, would lead to a confrontation. The accused would feel trapped into responding with violence. The culture was attuned to respect, and instances of disrespect were seen as reasonable grounds for hitting someone, or at least threatening them.

LGBT stock photo - Clay Duda, JJIE.org

Are LGBT Youth Safer in School This Year?

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It gets better. That’s the message many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth have heard since last fall when multiple cases received high-profile media attention concerning teens being bullied and/or committing suicide for being gay, or perceived to be gay. But is it safer for LGBT students entering school this year? Some LGBT leaders are doubtful, despite the positive changes that are occurring, according to an article by the Keen News Service. Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, acknowledges that more schools are aware of what to do and more resources exist, but she told a reporter for the news service that there is still "a lot of work to be done."

The Continuing Problem of Child Poverty in the South

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If you are a child in the United States living in poverty you probably live in the South. According to U.S. census data from 2009 (the last year data are available) the 10 states with the highest rates of child poverty were all in the South. All 10 states had child poverty rates more than 20 percent. In Mississippi, one out of every three children lives in poverty.

A look at teen birth rates reveals a similar cluster. The South is home to all 13 states with the most teen births.

For those who have watched Southern society for many years, the problem is as much cultural as it is economic.

According to Dr. Harvey Jackson, an expert on Southern history and Eminent Scholar in history at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, the statistics are not surprising.

“There are more children in poverty because there are more adults in poverty,” Jackson said. “This is a region of the country in which adults are poor and yet adults continue to have children even though they are poor.”

The problem is social, he says, especially concerning teen births.

“There are real cultural attitudes [in the South] that have to do with large families and premarital sex,” Jackson said. “And it is less condemned in certain communities in the South, particularly among the poor.

The Day Big Tobacco Stole My Son

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The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry finally figured out what the problem is with teens and smoking: a region of the brain called the amygdala

States Respond to Budget Shortfalls with Hodgepodge of Juvenile Justice Cuts

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Around the nation, states continue to grapple with the reality of budget shortfalls with a hodgepodge of cuts to various programs, including juvenile justice.

North Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is being forced to cut spending by 10 percent while eliminating roughly 275 positions, a 15 percent decrease in work force, under the new FY 2012 budget.

Also gone are 75 beds from the state’s seven youth development centers, raising concerns that serious offenders may end up back on the streets to make room for new juveniles entering the facilities.

Alabama’s Department of Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention has a FY 2012 General Fund roughly half that of FY 2011. The department saw a 74 percent drop in state funding and significant cuts from the federal-level.