Experts Say be Careful of Ecstasy, Adam, Hug and Beans

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It has that reputation of giving one a sense of inner peace, even euphoria. But experts say the drug that goes by such kind and gentle names as ecstasy, Adam, Blue Kisses, Care Bears, Hug, Beans, Lovers' Special,  Molly, Rolling, Scooby Snacks and Tom and Jerries, is not nearly as warm and fussy as the names imply. Taking the drug, they say, can lead to long-term negative effects on the brain's serotonin center -- a region of the brain that regulates mood, memory and sexual desire -- and can cause depression and other serious health problems.

Salt Lake City's The Deseret  News delves into the issue in more depth in a story published this week.

Grant Helps States Looking to Prevent Underage Drinking

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Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Implementation Initiative Grant is being offered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)  This grant hopes to reduce alcohol availability to under aged kids. The Grant Aims to accomplish this through assessment, strategic planning and program implementation. Grantees will conduct an independent assessment of both state and local underage drinking and develop a long-term plan based on that assessment. This should also help reduce traffic injuries or fatalities due to underage drinking.

Wealth of Research from Center for Juvenile Justice Reform

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Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, led by Director Shay Bilchik, has published a number of research studies that tackle a wide variety of juvenile justice issues.  We've highlighted a few of the best below.  Be sure to check out the Center's website for many more resources. Improving the Effectiveness of Juvenile Justice Programs: A New Perspective on Evidence-Based Practice
Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems
Supporting Youth In Transition to Adulthood:  Lessons Learned from Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
Racial and Ethnic Disparity and Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice: A Compendium
Bridging Two Worlds: Youth Involved in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems, A Policy Guide for Improving Outcomes

Grant Helps States Respond to Juvenile Delinquency

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The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)  is offering the State Juvenile Justice Formula and Block Grants Training and Technical Assistance Program. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act allow OJJDP to offer this grant. The programs goals are to provide training and technical assistance to state and local juvenile justice systems and some non profits to respond to juvenile delinquency. It will do this by helping the grantees to plan, establish, operate, coordinate and evaluate delinquency prevention. It also will help fund projects to improve juvenile justice.

UPDATE: Juvenile Justice Experts Say Sheriff Using Illegal Scared Straight Program

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The Anniston Star has this followup on the Alabama sheriff under investigation by the FBI after allegedly using manual force on a juvenile. A Calhoun County, Al., Sheriff’s Office program for youthful offenders and suspended-from-school teenagers to work in the county jail sounds remarkably similar to programs banned by federal and state law, officials say. Those programs, commonly called “scared straight” or “shock incarceration” programs, became popular in the 1970s as a way to scare or shock youthful offenders or juveniles prone to misbehaving into more appropriate behavior, a policy expert at the Washington D.C.-based Coalition for Juvenile Justice said. But a range of state and national juvenile-justice officials said that years of research have proven the scared straight concept to be in error; those same officials say that such programs are violations of the federal and Alabama laws, which prohibit youthful offenders from being detained or confined in adult corrections facilities. And all of those officials say the description of a Calhoun County program jointly run by the Sheriff’s Office and Family Links, Inc., a children’s behavior task force for the county, falls under the umbrella of those legally questionable programs.

Read more:Anniston Star - Legality of jail program questioned

Read more of JJIE's Scared Straight coverage here and here.

Administration’s Turn-About on Juvenile Justice

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In the Good News Department it seems the Obama administration has come to the conclusion that cutting juvenile justice programs and making them competitive isn’t such a good idea after all. A few days ago, the administration announced it had altered it original proposal maintaining and adding certain crucial programs.

See the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention press release for more details.

States Reconsider Laws That Force Kids Into the Adult Justice System

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A new study by the Campaign for Youth Justice reports that states across the country are reversing legislation that is pushing 250,000 kids a year into the adult justice system. Following a spike in juvenile crime in the 1980’s and 1990’s, many states began lowering the age that children could be prosecuted as an adult.  According to the study, incarcerating youth in adult prisons, “puts them at higher risk of abuse, injury, and death while they are in the system, and makes it more likely that they will reoffend once they get out.”

Fifteen states have already completed the changes necessary to put fewer kids in adult prisons and nine more have legislation in the works.  Georgia (along with Colorado, Texas and Washington) has updated its mandatory minimum sentencing laws for juveniles. However, Georgia is still holding on to a law that automatically transfers children aged 13 and older who commit one of the “seven deadly sins” to adult court.  Offenses include murder, rape, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery,  voluntary manslaughter and armed robbery with a firearm.

Judge Steven Teske on the Politics of Fear: Debunking the Superpredator Myth

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The Second of a Three-Part Series by the Judge on the Subject of Trying Juveniles as Adults. I took the bench and asked if the parties were ready to proceed. “Yes, your Honor,” they all announced in unison. I looked up and saw a young man, 16 years old, trying hard to hold back his tears. His parents sitting to his left, his attorney to his right — his hands quivering.

VIDEO: OJJDP Highlights National Gang Survey

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In a 2008 study, the National Gang Center reported a 15 percent increase in cities, towns and rural areas that have experienced gang activity since 2002.  For a breakdown of all the numbers, check out the video below.

Witnessing Violence Creates Violent Kids, Study Says

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Children who witness violence often think it is normal, a development that can lead to violent behavior, says a new study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. The researchers, who surveyed 800 children between the ages of 8 and 12, asked the children if they had witnessed violence on television, at home or at school.  Six months later they were polled a second time.  Children who said they had witnessed violence were aggressive, according to the study. "People exposed to a heavy diet of violence come to believe that aggression is a normal way to solve conflict and get what you want in life,” the study’s authors wrote.  “These beliefs lower their inhibitions against aggression against others." The full study is available by subscription only, but you can read more at ScienceDaily.