Benjamin Chambers on Reducing School Violence and Suspensions with Restorative Justice

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The bad news: recent research indicates that schools suspend far more kids than they need to, and youth – especially youth of color, though not always -- suffer unfairly for it. The good news? Sure, zero-tolerance school discipline policies need revision. But there's another solution to the problem: changing school culture by implementing mediation and "restorative justice" techniques in schools. First, the background.

Coalition Responds to Cuts in Juvenile Justice Funding

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The Obama administration’s FY 2012 budget proposes to significantly cut funding for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and make the remaining funds available to individual states through a competitive process. This proposal would eliminate OJJCP’s existing grants program, the only dedicated federal source to the states for juvenile justice system improvements. The National Coalition for Juvenile Justice and its partners has responded to this proposal with a letter to the president.

What do Teens in Prison Need to be Successful?

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Imagine being ripped from your safe, normal professional life and thrust into federal prison for a year, for something stupid you did when you were a teenager, or even a young adult.

Piper Kerman doesn't have to imagine it, because that's exactly what happened to her. She was locked up in a federal prison at age 34 for a drug crime she committed in her early 20s. Because Kerman spent a year living in close quarters with many women, including 18- and 19-year-old girls, she has an unusual, nearly first-hand perspective on what teens in prison need to be successful. Here's her suggestions about what they need:

Positive attention. Kerman found the teens in particular were incredibly responsive to positive attention, creating significant opportunities for change -- opportunities that were often missed.

Cracking the Unpleasant Dealing in Walnut Grove

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National Public Radio has done a series on the nation’s largest juvenile justice detention facility in the small town of Walnut Grove, Miss. The story was triggered, in part, by a civil rights lawsuit brought by the Montgomery, Ala.,-based Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.  The suit against the private operator of the facility, GEO Group, claims that inmates are held in inhuman conditions, that sex takes place between female guards and male inmates and that inmate-on- inmate violence is rampant. In mid-2010 the Louisiana-based GEO Group was awarded a contract by the Georgia Department of Corrections to operate a 1,500 adult correctional detention in Milledgeville.

A Grant to Mentor Kids Released from Jail

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Organizations that want to help the 94,000 kids in residential confinement within the juvenile justice system may be able to get the Second Chance Act Adult Mentoring Grant. The Second Chance Act of 2007 provides a response to kids being released from prison, jail and juvenile residential facilities to help them transition back into their communities. The goal for this act is to make sure the transition will be successful and helps to promote public safety.

Sex Offender Registration Act Grant

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Jurisdictions that are either developing or trying to enhance programs designed to implement the Sex Offender Registration Act may want to consider applying for a grant sponsored by The Office of Sex Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending and Trafficking (SMART) Support for Adam Walsh Implementation Grant Program. The Sex Offender Registration Act was put in place so it could provide a legal means to protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime, prevent child abuse and child pornography and promote internet safety. It also helps build a comprehensive national system for the registration and notification of sex offenders.

A Sad Tale of Sexting

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See this story in Sunday's New York Times of 14-year-old Margarite's mistake in 2010 that led to her own humiliation and altered the lives of so many around her.

High Court Hears Arguments in Juvenile Miranda Case

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The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the case of a seventh-grade special education student who was interviewed by police without being read his Miranda rights. The boy, known as J.D.B. in court documents, was pulled out of class and questioned by police about a series of break-ins in a closed-door meeting five years ago.  During the 45-minute meeting, J.D.B. implicated himself in the crimes.  His attorney argues that J.D.B.’s rights were violated, however police say the boy was not in official custody at the time of his confession. Upon returning home from school, J.D.B. was met by police with a search warrant.  Authorities recovered stolen items from his home. The High Court will issue its decision, which could have far-reaching implications for juvenile justice, later in the year.

Ecstasy Sending More Kids to the Emergency Room, Study Says

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Emergency room visits related to use of the illegal drug Ecstasy saw a dramatic increase between 2004 and 2008.  A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found ER visits grew from 10,220 to 17,865 in those years, an increase of more than 74 percent. The national study, Emergency Room Visits Involving Ecstasy, also reports that nearly 18 percent of Ecstasy-related ER trips involved children between the ages of 12 and 17. Side effects of Ecstasy include anxiety attacks, tachycardia, hypertension and hyperthermia.  However, the severity of these effects is sharply increased when Ecstasy is used with other substances.  According to the study, more than 77 percent of Ecstasy-related ER visits involved the use of at least one other substance. “The resurgence of Ecstasy use is cause for alarm that demands immediate attention and action,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D.

Family Feud Part 2

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The Georgia House of Representatives has nixed the absorption of the Family Connection Partnership and its funding into the Governor’s Office of Children and Families (GOCF), an agency created in 2008 by then-Governor Sonny Perdue. The Senate has not yet voted on the appropriations. Officials of the GOFC had said folding the Partnership into their agency would save the state money and simplify access to information and services. Opponents of the move countered that consolidating the entities could undermine the Partnership’s commitment to community-based decision-making, jeopardize its private funding, and increase the size of state government. The House even included notes emphasizing its decision to quash the proposed transfer of the Partnership, a 20-year-old statewide public-private collaboration with an $8 million budget.