For a Kid, Plea At Your Own Risk

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“Everybody in there is innocent, right?” This statement, or some variation of it, usually followed by laughter, comes up in a lot of conversations when I talk about doing time. It appears to be a common perception, verging on a stereotype, that prisons are full of people proclaiming their innocence. My experience was actually the opposite. Most men in prison admitted they had done something that led to their situation. More common was a story about extenuating circumstances, or how, even though they were guilty, the police and courts had abused their power somehow to prove it.

Experts Offer Tips on Preventing ‘Summertime Learning Loss’

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It’s not exactly breaking news that over the course of summer breaks, many children tend to forget lessons they had learned over the previous school year. But according to some experts, “summertime learning loss” could potentially result in major academic problems once classes resume, especially for children with learning disabilities or underdeveloped social skills. Recently, analysts at Florida International University (FIU) released information on how parents could potentially offset “summertime learning loss,” primarily by promoting diversified games and leisure time events - especially those involving math and reading skills - as well as routine social activity. According to FIU Center for Children and Families director of outreach Jessica Robb, the summertime break may prevent children from socializing with others and even lessen their ability to follow directions from other adults, especially if it entails long periods of isolation in the home. Other experts at FIU agree that children benefit from being socially engaged over the break, whether at summer camps or on extended walks with their parents.

Trimming the Juvenile Justice Fat

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California Gov. Jerry Brown was recently quoted telling the state Legislature to “man up” on his proposed budget cuts and yet, when it comes to juvenile justice, it seems the governor consistently bends under pressure. Unfortunately, the effects of his juvenile justice compromise will soon be felt by all California residents, according to a new CJCJ publication. With scarce and finite resources, the governor’s decision to grant a reprieve for state youth correctional facilities, in his May revised budget, creates an additional strain on already scantily-funded state services. This is the second year the governor has removed a proposal for full juvenile justice realignment from his budget. In FY 2011-12, the budget allocated counties $200,000 per state-confined youth, to increase their capacity for serving high-need juvenile offenders.

Restorative Justice Is The Solution

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I get in trouble sometimes when I talk (or write) about certain things. Whether the topic is prisoners’ rights, restorative justice, brain science, the treatment of juveniles by the system, or some similar issue, some people just become angry when they hear my opinion.I have variously been accused of ignoring victims, not holding offenders accountable, not understanding the complex realities, and not being focused on justice. This is good feedback for me, because I am interested in all of these things, and most particularly in justice. If we can meet the need for justice, these other issues will be addressed. Early on in my masters classes in conflict management we discussed various types of justice.

David Domenici

David Domenici: Educators Can and Should Break the School-to-Prison Pipeline

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Speaking at the New Schools - Aspen Institute Summit 2012 last week, David Domenici challenged educators to embrace troubled (and often challenging) students and to keep them in school, instead of calling the police. (watch David's short talk at the 29:45 mark)

He listed 4 focus areas:

Teach inside the fence: many of the schools in juvenile jails need compassionate and well-equipped teachers to work with teens, many of whom are under-educated and special needs. Increase technology and capacity inside jails: computer labs and classes are often crowded and ill-equipped to handle students who want to learn. Decrease use of police inside schools: save police calls for situations that pose real threats to safety and that are criminal in nature. Educators and counselors should engage with disruptive students and try to find a solution that keeps them in school.

Los Angeles School Police Citations Draw Federal Scrutiny

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This story originally appeared on iWatchnews.org by the Center for Public Integrity. Alexander Johnson arrived at Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy to pick up his 12-year-old after school on May 19, 2011. When his son didn’t appear, Johnson went inside the Los Angeles middle school. What he found was devastating. His son and a friend had gotten into a physical altercation over a basketball game, and school staff had summoned not parents, but police officers.

New Rules Protect Juveniles in Adult Prisons

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The Justice Department released a landmark ruling on Thursday to help protect juvenile offenders from falling victim to sexual abuse in adult prisons. The ruling marks the first-ever federal effort aimed at setting standards to protect inmates, both juvenile and adult, in correctional facilities on the local, state and federal level. “The standards we establish today reflect the fact that sexual assault crimes committed within our correctional facilities can have devastating consequences – for individual victims and for communities far beyond our jails and prisons,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a DOJ release. The standard also restricts the placement of juveniles in adult facilities, aiming to protect youth from sexual abuse by limiting contact between youth and adults behind bars through four specific requirements:

Prohibiting the placement of youth in the general adult prison population
Eliminating contact between adults and youth in common areas,
Ensuring youth are under constant supervision
And limiting the use of isolation for juveniles. States that will be most affected by the new regulations are the 13 states that end juvenile court jurisdiction before the age of 18.

Significant Racial Discrepancies in Michigan’s Juvenile Life Without Parole Population, Report Finds

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A number of racial discrepancies were found among Michigan’s juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) population in a new report released by the American Civil Liberties Union in conjunction with Second Chance 4 Youth. The state’s JLWOP population is the second highest in the nation trailing Pennsylvania. The report, Basic Decency: An Examination of Natural Life Sentences for Michigan Youth, analyzes Michigan’s juvenile justice system and was overseen by lawyer Deborah LaBelle, director of the Juvenile Life Without Parole Initiative. On average, juveniles charged with murder were 22 percent less likely to receive plea offers if the victim were white rather than African-American, the report states. Additionally, the researchers say the makeup of youths serving life sentences within Michigan are heavily skewed towards racial minorities, who constitute almost three- quarters of the state’s JLWOP population despite representing only 29 percent of the state’s total juvenile population.

Well-being of Children Central to Courts’ Mission, Expert Panel Says

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The nation’s juvenile and family courts need to lower walls that have blocked the sharing of data that is key for to marshaling a child through state agencies and the justice system, according to a gathering of court experts Thursday. If the courts fail, a child’s mental, physical and emotional well-being could be damaged, according to a series of measures and recommendations put forth by the panel to guide judges and courts in handling youth in the system. “The days of sitting in your office creating your own [data] system without input from others – those days are gone,” said Sandra Moore, head of Pennsylvania’s Office of Children and Families in the Court. “We just can’t function that way anymore…The court system needs to be able to talk to the child welfare system.”

Courts Have Had Some Success

Over the years, judges and the courts have had success pushing forward the conversation on the safety of state wards and foster children, as well as dealing with matters like visitation and permanent placement, the panelists said. “The problem is, with well-being, frankly we weren’t sure how effective the courts would be,” said Gene Flango, executive director at the National Center for State Courts.

Webcast Explores How Courts Can Better Serve Overall ‘Well-Being’ of Children

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After years of focusing on the safety of children, the nation's juvenile courts are shifting to a more holistic approach that takes into account the emotional, social and academic well-being of at-risk youth. That effort, which has been underway for at least a year, will be showcased Thursday during a webcast moderated by David Kelly, head of the federal Department of Health and Human Services child protection programs.

The crux of the webcast, which starts at 2 p.m. EDT, is to explore how the courts, which are so used to patrolling a child's safety, can attend to the mental, social and physical "well-being" of a child. More precisely, the effort will vet 14 specific measurements that were developed by a committee last summer to ensure the courts are meeting every need of a child - not simply plucking them from dangerous homes or removing risky parents from their lives. About 400 people, many of them judges, attorneys and court administrators, are expected to tune into the webcast. Also participating will be Gene Flango and Nora Sydow of the National Resource Center and National Center for State Courts; Evan Klain, who is director of child welfare for the ABA's Center on Children and the Law; Associate Judge Robert Hofmann of Mason County, Texas; and Sandra Moore, head of Pennsylvania's state office of Children and Families in the Court.