Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/featured/page/2/)
“The general purpose of this grant is, really at a high level, to engage potential government partners at the county-level, and engage and educate them about the Pay for Success opportunities in these two areas."
In Calcasieu Parish, La., a one-stop “Multi-Agency Resource Center” under the Office of Juvenile Justice Services serves as a centralized intake point for families in need of services. Interventions like this are part of a growing effort to keep youths out of court for “status offenses” such as truancy, running away from home or drinking alcohol. Now there’s a vast new online resource for jurisdictions seeking alternatives to the courts for status offenses. The Status Offense Reform Center, launched Friday by the Center on Youth Justice at the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice, brings together step-by-step guides to the reform process, case studies from the field, advice from experts on handling status offenses, a huge online library and other resources.
Funds for mental health budgets were slashed a combined $4 billion from 2008 to 2012. In the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December experts have watched that trend sharply reverse.
Earlier this week Buckshot and DJ Evil Dee, founding members of the legendary, Brooklyn-based hip-hop group Black Moon, joined forces with the Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Bodega to discuss the 20th anniversary of their debut album, “Enta Da Stage,” as well as to talk about hip-hop's unprecedented popularity and ever-increasing influence on today’s young people.
Jason Baldwin hopes to spare others from growing up, growing old – and dying – in prison. Baldwin, who was sentenced to life without parole at 16 for a crime he did not commit, served 18 years and since his release in 2011 has become a crusader against sentencing youths to life without parole. Baldwin brought his message to the nation’s capital Wednesday night at an annual reception and fundraiser of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, a national organization that seeks to abolish life-without-parole sentences for all youth.
More than a third of juveniles convicted of serious crimes said in a recent study they had falsely admitted to a crime they did not commit.
The ACLU released a new video on youth solitary confinement with a petition calling for a ban on the practice.
For Zachary Norris, the new executive director of the Ella Baker Center, a major turning point in his career came after his first arrest. Handcuffed during an act of civil disobedience protesting a new mega detention center in the area, Norris was taken to the nearby Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. That night, sharing a cell with a crowd of other young black men, he recalled, “I had this sense it was all too normal, too normalized.”
The government has a duty to protect prisoners from harm.
It also has a duty to protect people who have been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.
For low-level juvenile offenders, advocates and analysts say evening reporting centers could be excellent alternatives to detention.